A great deal of Romantic women`s wrting grows out of a struggle with and against a highly moralized celebration of woman`s sensibility vs. man`s rationality. This dichotomy is one of the most contentious issues in the debates about gender politics as well as their implications for the aesthetics of women`s writing - but also of their male counterpart. The seminar will explore the debates about what constitute woman`s and man`s sensibility/reason and trace how these debates shaped both the novels and poetry of many women writers of the period. Particpants are expected to have their own copy of the following texts and have read them before the beginning of the semester: Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1811). A reader with the poetry and further material will be available at the beginning of the summer term. The Lektürekurs (0068) is designed as a close reading of additional Romantic women`s poetry. Please register at least a week before the beginning of the term: stephan.lieske@rz.hu-berlin.de |
