Syllabus (as of 23 August; subject to change)
Week 1
Thursday, 24 August
Introduction
Introduction
Week 2
Tuesday, 29 August
selections from Ovid, Metamorphoses (myth of Tiresias; myth of Iphis and Ianthe)
Optional: Salmacis and Hermaphroditus (content warning: SVSH)
selections from Diodorus Sicilus, The Library of History (IV.6.5 [paragraph about Hermaphroditus], XXXII.10–12 [paragraphs about intersex figures])
Anne Fausto-Sterling, “Dueling Dualisms”
Introductory Text Due (750 words)
selections from Ovid, Metamorphoses (myth of Tiresias; myth of Iphis and Ianthe)
Optional: Salmacis and Hermaphroditus (content warning: SVSH)
selections from Diodorus Sicilus, The Library of History (IV.6.5 [paragraph about Hermaphroditus], XXXII.10–12 [paragraphs about intersex figures])
Anne Fausto-Sterling, “Dueling Dualisms”
Introductory Text Due (750 words)
Thursday, 31 August
“On the Hyena or the Brute,” in Physiologus: A Medieval Book of Nature Lore, trans. Michael J. Curley
Images of hyenas from manuscripts of medieval bestiaries (link)
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vii.1–36 (focus on stanzas 22, 29–30, 35–36); and gloss of Book III, canto vii
Leah DeVun, “The Monstrous Races: Mapping the Borders of Sex”
“On the Hyena or the Brute,” in Physiologus: A Medieval Book of Nature Lore, trans. Michael J. Curley
Images of hyenas from manuscripts of medieval bestiaries (link)
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vii.1–36 (focus on stanzas 22, 29–30, 35–36); and gloss of Book III, canto vii
Leah DeVun, “The Monstrous Races: Mapping the Borders of Sex”
Week 3
Tuesday, 5 September
Algernon Charles Swinburne, “Hermaphroditus” and “Fragoletta”
Michael Field, poem LII from Long Ago (the “Tiresias poem”)
Video lecture (~45 minutes): “Soft, Hard; Penetrable and Capable of Penetration: Bodies Against Cisness,” Emma Heaney
Analytic Essay P1 Due (750 words)
Algernon Charles Swinburne, “Hermaphroditus” and “Fragoletta”
Michael Field, poem LII from Long Ago (the “Tiresias poem”)
Video lecture (~45 minutes): “Soft, Hard; Penetrable and Capable of Penetration: Bodies Against Cisness,” Emma Heaney
Analytic Essay P1 Due (750 words)
Thursday, 7 September
Honoré de Balzac, “Sarrasine”
Anne E. Linton, “Is She or Isn’t He?: Plotting Ambiguous Gender” (excerpts)
Honoré de Balzac, “Sarrasine”
Anne E. Linton, “Is She or Isn’t He?: Plotting Ambiguous Gender” (excerpts)
Week 4
Tuesday, 12 September
Honoré de Balzac, “The Girl with the Golden Eyes” (pp. 309–67)
Analytic Essay P2 Due (750 words)
Honoré de Balzac, “The Girl with the Golden Eyes” (pp. 309–67)
Analytic Essay P2 Due (750 words)
Thursday, 14 September
Honoré de Balzac, “The Girl with the Golden Eyes” (pp. 367–91)
Honoré de Balzac, “The Girl with the Golden Eyes” (pp. 367–91)
Week 5
Tuesday, 19 September
Pedro Lemebel, “Her Throaty Laugh (Or, The Travesti Streetwalker’s Sweet Deceit),” “Wild Desire” (“Loco afán”), and “The Million Names of María Chameleon” (trans. Gwendolyn Harper)
Gwendolyn Harper’s introduction to her translation of Lemebel’s writing
Note: Translator and writer Gwendolyn Harper will be a guest speaker for this class session
Analytic Essay P3 Due (750 words)
Pedro Lemebel, “Her Throaty Laugh (Or, The Travesti Streetwalker’s Sweet Deceit),” “Wild Desire” (“Loco afán”), and “The Million Names of María Chameleon” (trans. Gwendolyn Harper)
Gwendolyn Harper’s introduction to her translation of Lemebel’s writing
Note: Translator and writer Gwendolyn Harper will be a guest speaker for this class session
Analytic Essay P3 Due (750 words)
Thursday, 21 September
John Lyly, Galatea (acts 1–3)
Recommended: reread Ovid’s account of the myth of Iphis and Ianthe
John Lyly, Galatea (acts 1–3)
Recommended: reread Ovid’s account of the myth of Iphis and Ianthe
Week 6
Tuesday, 26 September
John Lyly, Galatea (acts 4–5)
Analytic Essay Draft Due (1800 words)
John Lyly, Galatea (acts 4–5)
Analytic Essay Draft Due (1800 words)
Thursday, 28 September
Peer Review Workshops
Peer Review Workshops
Week 7
Tuesday, 3 October
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (pp. 1–54)
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (pp. 1–54)
Thursday, 5 October
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (pp. 55–83)
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (pp. 55–83)
Week 8
Tuesday, 10 October
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (pp. 84–131)
Analytic Essay Final Draft Due (1800 words)
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (pp. 84–131)
Analytic Essay Final Draft Due (1800 words)
Thursday, 12 October
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (pp. 132–180)
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (pp. 132–180)
Week 9
Tuesday, 17 October
Heldris of Cornwall, Silence (translator’s introduction, xi–xxiv; lines 1–2656)
Heldris of Cornwall, Silence (translator’s introduction, xi–xxiv; lines 1–2656)
Thursday, 19 October
Heldris of Cornwall, Silence (lines 2657–6706)
Research Essay Letter Due (200 words)
Heldris of Cornwall, Silence (lines 2657–6706)
Research Essay Letter Due (200 words)
Week 10
Tuesday, 24 October
Masha Raskolnikov, “Without Magic or Miracle: The Romance of Silence and the Prehistory of Genderqueerness”
Masha Raskolnikov, “Without Magic or Miracle: The Romance of Silence and the Prehistory of Genderqueerness”
Thursday, 26 October
Ezra Horbury, “Early Modern Transgender Fairies”
Recommended listening: “Transgender Fairies in Early Modern Literature,” Not Just the Tudors (podcast episode with Horbury)
Research Essay P1 Due (750 words)
Ezra Horbury, “Early Modern Transgender Fairies”
Recommended listening: “Transgender Fairies in Early Modern Literature,” Not Just the Tudors (podcast episode with Horbury)
Research Essay P1 Due (750 words)
Week 11
Tuesday, 31 October
William Shakespeare, The Tempest (acts 1–3)
William Shakespeare, The Tempest (acts 1–3)
Thursday, 2 November
William Shakespeare, The Tempest (acts 4–5)
Annotated Bibliography Due (~2pp.)
William Shakespeare, The Tempest (acts 4–5)
Annotated Bibliography Due (~2pp.)
Week 12
Tuesday, 7 November
Saidiya Hartman, “Venus in Two Acts”
Carnelian Seville, “how to meet the Piton mountain” (content warning: self-harm)
Alan Pelaez Lopez, “The Spine of Gorée Island”
Research Essay P2 Due (750 words)
Saidiya Hartman, “Venus in Two Acts”
Carnelian Seville, “how to meet the Piton mountain” (content warning: self-harm)
Alan Pelaez Lopez, “The Spine of Gorée Island”
Research Essay P2 Due (750 words)
Thursday, 9 November
Deborah Miranda, “Coyote Takes a Trip”
Louis Esme Cruz and Qwo-Li Driskill, “Puo’winue’l Prayers”
Deborah Miranda, “Coyote Takes a Trip”
Louis Esme Cruz and Qwo-Li Driskill, “Puo’winue’l Prayers”
Week 13
Tuesday, 14 November
Evan B. Towle and Lynn M. Morgan, “Romancing the Transgender Native: Rethinking the Use of the ‘Third Gender’ Concept”
Evan B. Towle and Lynn M. Morgan, “Romancing the Transgender Native: Rethinking the Use of the ‘Third Gender’ Concept”
Thursday, 16 November
Amy Marvin, “Transsexuality, the Curio, and the Transgender Tipping Point”
Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley, and Johanna Burton, “Known Unknowns: An Introduction to Trap Door”
Research Essay Draft Due (2400 words)
Amy Marvin, “Transsexuality, the Curio, and the Transgender Tipping Point”
Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley, and Johanna Burton, “Known Unknowns: An Introduction to Trap Door”
Research Essay Draft Due (2400 words)
Week 14
Tuesday, 21 November
Research Essay Writing Workshop
Research Essay Writing Workshop
Thursday, 22 November
NO CLASS: Thanksgiving
NO CLASS: Thanksgiving
Week 15
Tuesday, 28 November
Research Essay Writing Workshop
Research Essay Writing Workshop
Thursday, 30 November
Research Essay Writing Workshop
(Optional) Research Essay Second Draft Due
Research Essay Writing Workshop
(Optional) Research Essay Second Draft Due
RRR Week
Scheduled Instructor Conferences
Finals Week
Tuesday, 12 December
Research Essay Final Draft Due (2400 words)
Research Essay Final Draft Due (2400 words)