AJL54013 Topics in Literature: British Women Writers at the Turn of the Millennium

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2020
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Fri 11:00–12:40 G32
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
At the end of the course students should be able to understand that writing as a woman about women does not necessarily involve feminism. After reading four 1980s and 1990s novels by British women novelists, they will be able to explain how the novelists approach the lives and concerns of women. Apart from gender issues they will be able to discuss and interpret how the novels work within the context of contemporary British writing and society. The course will develop the students' skills of critical reading, literary analysis and work with secondary literature. Students will employ and apply the acquired knowledge and skills of analysis and interpretation in writing their end of term essay.
Learning outcomes
The students will be able to apply the knowledge, skills and experience gained to broaden and complement their study of British and other Anglophone literatures and cultures as well as world literature.
Syllabus
  • Week 1: Introduction. Week 2: Penelope Lively: Moon Tiger: Problematising history; women issues, narrative voices. Week 3: Jeanette Winterson: Gut Symmetries: The narrative voice, time and space; gender and identity. Week 4: A.S. Byatt: Still Life: Intertextuality, realism; women's lives, Britain in the 1950s. Week 5: Margaret Forster: Have the Man Had Enough: Social concerns, womens' lives; the novel as a document.
Literature
  • LIVELY, Penelope. Moon tiger. New York: Harper Perennial, 1989, 208 s. ISBN 0060972009. info
  • WINTERSON, Jeanette. Gut symmetries. London: Granta Books, 1997, 219 s. ISBN 1-86207-042-3. info
  • BYATT, A. S. Still life. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1986, 358 s. ISBN 0-14-010763-0. info
  • FORSTER, Margaret. Have the men had enough? :a novel. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1990, 251 s. ISBN 0-14-012769-0. info
  • FRANKOVÁ, Milada. Britské spisovatelky na konci tisíciletí (British Women Writers at the End of the Millennium). 1st ed. Brno: Masarykova univerzita v Brně, 1999, 206 pp. Spisy Masarykovy univerzity v Brně, FF, č. 325. ISBN 80-210-2148-9. info
  • FRANKOVÁ, Milada. Britské spisovatelky na přelomu tisíciletí (British Women Writers at the Turn of the Millennium). Brno: Masarykova univerzita v Brně, 2003. Spisy Masarykovy univerzity v Brně, 347. ISBN 80-210-3290-1. info
  • MASSIE, Allan. The novel today : a critical guide to the British novel, 1970-1989. London: Longman, 1990, vi, 97. ISBN 0582004071. info
  • MOI, Toril. Sexual/textual politics : feminist literary theory. London: Routledge, 1985, xv, 206. ISBN 0415029740. info
  • Feminist literary theory :a reader. Edited by Mary Eagleton. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996, xxiii, 438. ISBN 0-631-19734-6. info
  • GREER, Germaine. The whole woman. [Velká Británie]: Anchor, 2000, 452 s. ISBN 1-86230-057-7. info
  • EAGLETON, Terry. Literary theory :an introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 1983, viii, 244. ISBN 0-631-13259-7. info
Teaching methods
short introductory lectures, student presentations, class discussion on reading
Assessment methods
course participation, presentations, contributions to discussion, end-of-term essay
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
General note: This course is NOT designated for Erasmus students! List of courses offerd by the Department of English and American studies for Erasmsus students is available at http://www.phil.muni.cz/wkaa/ under "Information for Erasmus students".
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2020/AJL54013