AJL16061 Women in Fiction and Theory

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2026
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
( AJ01002 Practical English II || AJL01002 Practical English II )
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 12 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This semester's course will consider aspects of nineteenth and twentieth century women’s fiction and elements of twentieth century psychoanalytic and related feminist theory. By the end of the course students will have produced an essay analysing some aspects of these approaches and during the course they will be expected to engage in analytical discussion based on close textual reading of works on the course and how they relate to the development of modern female social identities.
Learning outcomes
Students who complete the course will have gained a better historical understanding of approaches to women and conceptualisations of the feminine as illustrated in the works covered. This understanding will be cultivated both through organised discussions and written analysis of relevant elements covered on the course.
Syllabus
  • Week 1:18th February: Introductory Week 2:25th February:J.Austen: Pride and Prejudice: Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy: Feminism: Psychoanalytic Feminism:Sections 1-3; Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy: Sigmund Freud Week 3: March 4th: M. Shelley: Frankenstein: Psychoanalytic Feminism: Section 4(French feminism); Internet EOP :Simone de Beauvoir Week 4: March 11th:C.Bronte: Jane Eyre (1): Stanford:Continental Feminism;Internet EOP: Jacques Lacan Week 5: March 18th:C. Bronte: Jane Eyre(2): Stanford: Liberal Feminism; Internet EOP: Michel Foucault Week 6: March 25th: E.Bronte: Wuthering Heights: Stanford: Feminist Philosophy; Internet EOP: Luce Irigaray Week 7: April 1st:G.Eliot: Mill on the Floss (1); Feminist Perspectives on the Body, F.P. on Objectification; Internet EOP: Gilles Deleuze Week 8: April 8th:G. Eliot: The Mill on the Floss (2); Feminist Ethics; Feminist Aesthetics;Internet EOP: Slavoj Zizek Week 9: April 15th:D.Richardson: The Tunnel: Germaine Greer: The Female Eunuch Week 10:April 22nd:READING WEEK:NO CLASS Week 11:April 29th:V.Woolf: The Voyage Out. Feminist Perspectives on the Self; Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender Feminist Metaphysics Week 12: May 6th:A.Carter: The Bloody Chamber; A Souvenir of Japan; Elegy for a Freelance: Week 13: May 13th: Pat Barker: Union Street Week 14: Barbie, Vertigo
Literature
    required literature
  • Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre London Penguin Classics
    not specified
  • Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
  • North and South Elizabeth Gaskell Harmondsworth Penguin Popular Classics 1994
  • Virginia Woolf The Voyage Out Penguin Books Harmondsworth 1992
  • Woolf, Virginia A Room of One's Own London Faber and Faber
  • Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
  • Greer, Germaine The Female Eunuch
  • Haraway, Donna J Simians, Cyborgs and Women London Free Association Books 1991
  • SHELLEY, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein. London: Penguin Books, 2012, v, 268. ISBN 9780141198965. URL info
  • AUSTEN, Jane. Sense and sensibility. London: Penguin Books, 2006, 406 s. ISBN 9780141028156. info
  • ELIOT, George. The mill on the floss. London: Penguin Books, 1994, vii, 534 s. ISBN 0-14-062027-3. info
  • BRONTË, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Edited by Margaret Smith. World's Classics paperback e. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980, xxvii, 473. ISBN 019281513X. info
  • AUSTEN, Jane. Pride and prejudice. Edited by Tony Tanner. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1972, 398 s. ISBN 0-14-043072-5. info
  • BRONTË, Emily. Wuthering heights. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1946, 281 s. info
Teaching methods
Teaching by close reading and weekly ninety minute seminar discussion including group or pairwork.
Assessment methods
Assessment: Oral contribution & attendance (50%) and essay(6-8pages), double-spaced, type size 12)comparing aspects of at least two of the texts analysed on the course (50%). Essays should be sent to my IS e-mail address (33697@muni.cz). If you have not received a grade after 3 days please let me know.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught every week.
Teacher's information
http://elf.phil.muni.cz/elf/course/view.php?id=1942
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2026, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2026/AJL16061