Women and Satire satire Home Spring 2014

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E106 | Women & Satire: From Juvenal to the Vagina Monologues| Spring 2014

Satire is both a radically disruptive and a deeply conservative form, and it often produces results that satirize the satirist as well as the explicit object of criticism. Satires against women have at various times been a significant sub-genre. Juvenal’s great 2nd century tirade against women provided a pattern imitated for centuries by satirists who assumed a male normative and a male dominated culture. Juvenal's satire excoriates women but at the same time creates an image of women as strangely powerful. Women have also talked back, sometimes by satirizing male satirists, smetimes by defending women. The Vagina Monologues, the last work we will read (and if possible see), removes the satiric ground from satirists by allowing women to have their say from the point of view of their vaginas. In this course we will read satires against women, satires in which women provide a vehicle for social critique, satires by women against men, and satires that assume or can imagine a female normative culture. We will also read criticism that deals both with questions of literary form and with historical issues brought into view by the satires. E106 is the advanced seminar for English majors and has as prerequisites E01W (or its equivalent) and 2 other upper-division courses in the major. Students will write a significant course paper, with drafts and peer critiques, and will also write informally for class and message board discussion. Participation will be an important element of the course.

Be sure to consider the Paragraph & Sentence Pointeres at any time you revise.
Be sure to consider the Paragraph & Sentence Pointeres at any time you revise.
Be sure to consider the Paragraph & Sentence Pointeres at any time you revise.

DATES Apr. 1--June 5	In class today NB (Please note): Satire is aggressive. Sometimes a genre, sometimes an attitude, sometimes a mode, SATIRE IS INHERENTLY OFFENSIVE. The works we read may offend you.	Supporting Materials Description of the English Major
Tuesday, Apr. 1 "The Birth and Origin of the Pope" Cranach on the Papacy	Introduction: What is satire? Robert C. Elliott, "Satire," Britannica Online Encyclopedia Satire and the body: Satire's use of the body is a crucial element of the course. Look up embody in the OED (Oxford English Dictionary). Critical methods: We will make an effort to historicize the satires we read, and we will examine them as part of a literary historical tradition (these two methods sometimes overlap). And we will use "Gender" as an analytic category. What is gender (noun) or gender (verb)? ------------------------------------ Start exploring Lefkowitz & Fant, Women's Life in Greece and Rome (on the Diotima site). A look at the course web site Some trash talk about women from the recent past, along with defenses. We will use RL commentary to speculate about how far particular performances or texts can be said to represent cultural values. Doonesbury "A Boy to be Sacrificed" from NYT	The Devil Playing Martin Luther
Thursday, Apr. 3	If your last name begins with "A" to "G," please write an entry on the message board on one of the following topics: 1) what satire does to the body or 2) the first section of Juvenal (beginning to line 81). For the second you can use one of the SQ if you'd like. Some ancient views of women: a) *Genesis* b) Hesiod, Theogony, on the creation of women c) Semonides, "Women" (Poem Seven), (from Diotima site) c) Hesiod on Pandora from Works and Days (Diotima site) Juvenal (~55-140 CE), Satire VI - The great tirade against women--up to line 81 ("recalls some armoured thug, some idol of the arena.") Looking ahead to the annotated bibliography: Collection of articles on masculinities	Prometheus and Pandora Hesiod's Theogony, Myths and Meaning Satire VI Ancient History Source Book: Juvenal, Satire VI Questions: Juvenal Further Juvenal SQ by Students
Tuesday, Apr. 8	Juvenal, Satire VI, line 82 to line 345: "what altar does not attract its Clodius in drag?" Lefkowitz and Fant, Women's Life in Greece and Rome (Diotima). Women's "Legal Status in the Roman World," "Men's Opinions." "Philosophers on the Role of Women"	Sample draft of Paper #1
Thursday, Apr. 10	Juvenal, Satire VI -to end of poem. Conversation on the Message board: Let's imagine that this poem is not mainly about marriage or about women. What is it about? And why are women and marriage good vehicles? Try to draw at least some examples for your reasoning from the last part of the poem. In-class writing CONTEST Start reading J. Scott, "Preface to the Revised Edition" of Gender and the Politics of History and "Some More Reflections on Gender and Politics."	Alexis de Tocqueville, "How Americans Understand the Equality of the Sexes" For Joan Scott essays, please see email.
Tuesday, Apr. 15	Due: Bring to class a draft of your paper on Juvenal. Peer reading in class. Discussion of J. Scott, "Preface to the Revised Edition" of Gender and the Politics of History and "Some More Reflections on Gender and Politics." Please print out the Scott materials and bring them to class. What do you think? "Free to Be Mean: Does This Student Satire Cross the Line"?	Juvenal VI. Youtube Juvenal entry Encyclopedia. com Men Going Their Own Way Forum: Satire VI Guide to Juvenal VI SQ for Joan Scott material
Thursday, Apr. 17	Some dates that will help you think about Juvenal Continue discussion of Scott Suzanne Dixon, The Roman Family: "Roman Family Relations and the Law" and "Marriage." See email.	agnate agnatic intestate
Tuesday, Apr. 22	Paper #1 due: 3-page paper, with 1-page commentary. "The Men's Tribune," a very useful anti-feminist, pro-male site Continued discussion of the Scott and Dixon. Discussion of paper topics	Women in Ancient Rome Review of Dixon's The Roman Family by Nicholas F. Jones Journal of Social History, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Spring, 1994), pp. 627-629
Thursday, Apr. 24	Late Antiquity and the Medieval period: The Church Fathers from Woman Defamed and Woman Defended ( pp. 50-82). Read the whole section but pay special attention to Jerome and Augustine. Questions: the Church Fathers	ascetic (OED)
Tuesday, Apr. 29	*Introduction to Women Defamed and Women Defended. "The Book of the Wiles of Women" (130-135); The Lamentatons of Matheolus* (177-197).** Preface, and 3 articles from Satiric Advice on Women and Marriage. From Plautus to Chaucer: "Preface"; Elizabeth A. Clark, “Dissuading from Marriage: Jerome and the Asceticization of Satire”; Barbara Feichtinger, “Change and Continuity in Pagan and Christian (Invective) Thought on Women and Marriage from Antiquity to the Middle Ages”; P. G. Walsh, “Antifeminism in the High Middle Ages” [Ovid, Remedia Amoris]	Satiric Advice on Women and Marriage. From Plautus to Chaucer Further from Limbauth Limbaugh: Our Culture Has Been "Chickified" By Women Taking The Same Career Paths As Men Limbaugh Dismisses Gender Pay Arguments As "Tripe": "We Don't Get It" But "We're Not Single Women [Who] Hate Men"
Thursday, May 1	Continue working on the articles above--in order to think about annotated bibliographies. Sample of short annotations on Chaucer's The Nun's Priest's Tale. Augustan Satire: bibliography with short annotations	Sample annotated bibliography entry \|\| Notes leading to annotation
Tuesday, May 6	Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" (198-222). Jerome, Against Jovinianus, Book I. (Book II - Link in case you want to read further)	Questions: Wife of Bath and Christine de Pizan
Thursday, May 8	*Christine de Pizan, The Letter of the God of Love, The Quarrel of the Rose, The City of Ladies* (278-302).**	Questions: Wife of Bath and Christine de Pizan
Tuesday, May 13	17th & 18th c.: John Oldham, "Satyr Upon a Woman, Who by her Falshood and Scorn was the Death of my Friend" (1678). This edition is in 1710. For interesting comparison see edition of 1770: Satire upon... Annotated Bibliography DUE: in class and on your Paper Thoughts forum DISCUSSION OF TOPICS FOR PAPER #2. Post a "writing-thoughts" entry on the message board. IDEALLY, you would post your topic and your tentative claim, but TOPIC and first thoughts are enough.	Questions: Oldham DNB entry: Oldham See also link to DNB archive. *Robert Gould, Love Given O're (1682)* from Satires on Women. Introduction to Satires on Women. Questions: Gould** DNB entry: Gould. See also link to DNB Archive. Sign-up sheet for Writer-Peer-Instructor conferences. SIGN UP early to get the best times.
Thursday, May 15	Richard Ames, The Folly of Love (1691) Recommended: Sarah Fige, The Female Advocate" (1687) from Satires on Women. You must make a decision about a paper topic by today's class session.	Questions: Ames DNB entry: Ames DNB entry: Fige (or Fyge)
Tuesday, May 20	Jonathan Swift, "The Lady's Dressing Room"(1730). Lady Mary Wortley Montague, "The Reasons that Induced Dr S to write a Poem called 'The Lady's Dressing Room'" (1732-4 ). See also Mary Evelyn, "Mundis Muliebris: or, The Ladies Dressing-Room Unlock'd" (1690). See also Mundus foppensis: or, the fop display'd Being the ladies vindication, in answer to a late pamphlet, entituled, Mundus muliebris: or, the ladies dressing-room unlock'd, &c. In burlesque. Together with a short supplement to the fop-dictionary: compos'd for the use of the town-beaus, 1691. Please read and respond to items on the annotated bibliographies of 2 other students.	DNB entry: Swift Last day to sign up for conferences on Paper #2. The Lady's Dressing Room - interpretation \|\| Youtube Another interpretation \|\| Youtube
Thursday, May 22	Drafts of Paper #2 due. By Sunday (May 25), e-mail your comments to the writers of the papers you read. Bring copies of these e-mails to peer conferences on May 29. Further discussion of Lady's Dressing Room poems Let's also look at "A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed" (see Links page).	P E E R---R E A D I N G G U I D E L I N E S
Tuesday, May 27	Writer-Peer-Instructor conference schedule No regular class session & no regular office hours
Thursday, May 29	Vagina Monologues. We hope to find a production that we can see during the quarter.	Eve Ensler bio: Americans who tell the truth May 14, 2012 in the Huffington Post Eve Ensler
Tuesday, June 3	*Vagina Monologues*	SQ Ensler
Thursday, June 5	Final papers due. 12-15 pages plus 1 to 2-page commentary.	\|\| CHECKLIST Review the checklist before turning in your paper.
OR Monday, June 9 by 2:30.	Final papers REALLY due June 9. I'll be in my office between 1:30-2:30.