Autumn Quarter 2011 SCAND 427/GWSS 429
Scandinavian and Baltic Women Writers in English Translation
Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30- 3:20 in SAV 138
Instructor: Prof. Lotta Gavel Adams - lotta@uw.edu
Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 9:30 – 10:20 in Raitt 305 Z
Course Content
This course will explore issues of power and gender, sexuality and nature in the works of Scandinavian and Baltic women writers from the 1890s to the present. We will examine how the position for women has evolved during the past 120 years from the advent of the Industrial Age in Scandinavia, when women did not have the right to vote, to the 21st century when women have gained control of almost half of the political power. We will examine how the literary texts by Scandinavian women writers reflect theses changes and how feminist issues and themes have developed – and remained the same – during the past 120 years.
We will look at the phenomenon of the powerful woman in a patriarchal world by applying Bourdieu’s microtheories of social power. We will also focus on is the role of nature and the environment in the fiction by these women writers. In recent decades, when the global warming has emerged as a serious threat to our earth, women writers have increasingly felt provoked to weave in environmental issues into their writing.
Learning Outcomes
1. to gain knowledge of the literary trends and feminist “waves” in the works of Scandinavian women writers, and to understand the works in their historical, social, and economic contexts,
2. to learn critical approaches to analysis and aesthetic responses to works of literature,
3. to improve skills for interpreting and writing about literature.
Required Reading
Books:
Lagerlöf, Selma. Gösta Berlings Saga (1893 / 2009)
Undset, Sigrid. Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wreath. (1920 / 1997)
Martinson, Moa. Women and Appletrees. (1933 / 1985)
Blixen, Karen. “Babette’s Feast” in Anecdotes of Destiny (1958)
Brantenberg, Gerd. Egalia’s Daughters (1977 / 1985)
Wassmo, Herbjorg. Dina’s Book. (1989 / 1994)
Sinisalo, Johanna. Troll: A Love Story. (2000 / 2003)
Oksanen, Sofi. Purge. (2008 / 2010)