English 7365 | Syllabus | Spring 2017

English 7365: Gay and Lesbian Literature
Syllabus

Introduction
Lord Alfred Douglas, sometimes lover of Oscar Wilde and often times terrible poet, managed make famous in his poem “Two Loves” the unforgettable line about homosexuality that it was the “love that dare not speak its name.”  In this course, we will be walking back through the 20th and early 21st centuries to explore how gay and lesbian writers have attempted to speak their names, whether that be in context of great loves or not. In fact, one might be tempted to think of gay and lesbian literature as a subgenre of the romance since so much of the action of these novels involve the complicated relationship-making experiences of their characters. But is there more to gay and lesbian experience than whom one loves or sleeps with?

As we read through the various texts this semester, taking a somewhat historical approach, I hope we’ll be able to discover what else these texts (and lives) might be about. The novels and plays that I have selected encourage us to think broadly about issues of gender and sexuality, and about what it has meant for a group and for individuals to struggle to find a sense of identity amidst a rapidly changing culture. The texts we’ll read together should help us to explore answers to many of the following questions:

• How does identity shift over time, and how do these writers offer insights into what it means to be “gay” or “lesbian” (or something else) at a particular historical moment?
• What does it mean to be both gay/lesbian and a person of color? How do these identifies come into conflict, and how do we represent that in literature?
• What role, if any, have class experiences played in shaping gay and lesbian identities? What role religion?
• How do gay and lesbian texts both embrace and disrupt traditional gender constructions?
• Ultimately, do gay and lesbian texts have aesthetic value or are they merely/primarily rhetorical in nature? Hw does our answer to this question shape our value of the texts we’re reading?

Goals of English 7365
Upon completing English 7365, graduate students should be able to

• recognize the major changes that have occurred in gay and lesbian literature over the last century;
• identify and articulate conflicting notion of identity as represented in the texts we study;
• understand the intersections of identity that occur in gay and lesbian literature;
• locate, evaluate, and synthesize primary and secondary, print and electronic bibliographic sources that contribute significantly to projects developed in consultation with the professor;
• propose and carry out a research project which demonstrates 1) the ability to postulate an advanced thesis regarding gay and/or lesbian literature and 2) the ability to integrate course texts and individual research in ways that assist in supporting the thesis/argument of the project.

Required Texts

• Queer Theory: An Introduction (Annamarie Jagose)
• The Well of Loneliness (1928, Radcliffe Hall)
• Maurice (1914, 1932, 1971, E M. Forster)
• Giovanni’s Room (1956, James Baldwin)
• Rubyfruit Jungle (1973, Rita Mae Brown)
• Dancer from the Dance (1978, Andrew Holleran)
• Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985, Jeanette Winterson)
• Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1987, Fannie Flagg)
• Let the Dead Bury Their Dead (1992, Randall Kenan)
• The Normal Heart (1985, Larry Kramer)
• Angels in America, Pt1: Millennium Approaches & Pt2: Perestroika (1991, 1992, Tony Kushner)
• The Summer We Got Free (2012, Mia McKenzie)
• Two Boys Kissing (2013, David Levithan)

Instructor Expectations
Obviously, I expect a great deal of commitment from graduate students. By choosing to tackle graduate school, you have plunged yourselves further into the world off the scholar. I hope you will enjoy that work and take advantage of this time to read, write, and think about issues and ideas you may not have considered in such length or detail before, and to go further than you have in the past. Key to your success in a course like this is to practice careful, close reading of the texts one of several methodologies of studying literature. In addition to close reading of the texts, you will also have the opportunity to read some examples of literary scholarship that embrace different theoretical positions, positions you might wish to make use of in your own analyses of texts. Connecting primary and secondary source materials is essential in literary studies. If you struggle with reading any of the secondary/theoretical texts, I encourage you to contact me ASAP and to ask for help.

Projects
The following brief annotations will provide some context for the sorts of projects that this course will require of you this semester. More thorough explanations, where necessary, will become available over the core of the semester through the “Schedule” and “Assignments” links found elsewhere on this course site.

• Reading Responses  (40%) • Each Monday, three students who are serving as response leaders for the week will have provided three initial provocations (~100-150 words) into that week’s text. Using the questions/ideas from these responses, the rest of the class will construct relevant responses over the course of the week using evidence from the text(s). Response leaders are expected to keep the conversation going by asking additional questions of or challenging their peers.
• Midterm Reflection (20%) • Around midterm, in response to a prompt provided by the instructor, students will write an 800-1000 word critical reflection on the texts and theories previously discussed. This project is meant to provide a space for student to synthesize ideas and make connections across texts/authors.
• Seminar Project (30%) • After midterm, students will write 300-400 word proposals for a seminar project that engages the primary and secondary texts of the course. Seminar Projects will be 3,000 – 3,500 words (12 – 15 pages) in length and will go through a peer-review and revision process in the last two weeks of the semester.
• Studentship (10%) • Studentship referes to participating in our online space in a timely and complete fashion, demonstrating good faith and generosity in engaging the ideas of peers, and meeting all deadlines stated in the schedule.

Late Work
We all have very busy, trying lives, and as such, there come times when we have to complete some work late. Each student in this class is allowed an occasional late response to a reading, or other short piece of writing, though if you think you’ll be later than a day, please let me know so that I can make any adjustment necessary. Remember, though, that other students rely on your timeliness in responding so that they can be part of the conversation in a timely fashion, as well. Seminar Projects, however, should not be turned late; in order to participate in successful peer review, it is important that you work hard to meet the deadlines for drafts of this major project.

Conferences
Because this is an online class, I encourage students who do not understand any ideas or who are uncertain about my comments on their work to set up a conference with me by phone/Skype/Google Hangout so that we can clear up any misunderstandings.

Academic Integrity
Students are expected to be honest about individual effort and responsible to peer/secondary source materials that are included in their projects. Both plagiarizing and turning in work written partially or completely by someone else are forms of academic dishonesty and carry serious penalties, the least serious of which is a grade of zero on the particular assignment (and thus a C, at best, in the course, most likely), but could also result in failure of the class and even expulsion from the university. Students who keep up with their work and consult with their peers and their professor have no reason or need to “cheat.”

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs
East Carolina University seeks to comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodation based on disability must be registered with the Department for Disability Support Services located in Slay 138 ([252] 737-1016 [voice/TTY]).