EN 161: Sex, Gender, and Literature

This course analyzes literature through the lens of gender and sexuality. Students will examine and analyze the cultural conditions which shaped the authors’ lives and the literature they produced. How does literature represent, construct, and challenge ideas about sex and gender? Through a range of texts -- which may include novels, poetry, drama, and nonfiction -- students will examine how literature engages with questions of identity, power, and the body. How are concepts such as masculinity, femininity, androgyny, sexuality, marriage, parenthood, and ambition shaped by social, political, and cultural forces? Students will develop skills in close reading, critical analysis, and argumentative writing, while also reflecting on how literature reflects and influences shifting understandings of sex and gender. By the end of the course, students will be able to articulate interpretations of literary texts and engage with ongoing debates.