AJL24054 Contemporary British Women Novelists

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Tue 16:00–17:40 G31, except Mon 18. 11. to Sun 24. 11.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 18 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 18/18, only registered: 0/18
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 27 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
At the end of the course students should be able to understand that writing as a woman about women does not necessarily involve feminism. After reading six 1980s and 1990s novels by British women novelists, they will be able to explain how the novelists approach the lives and concerns of women. Apart from gender issues they will be able to discuss and interpret how the novels work within the context of contemporary British writing and society. The course will develop the students' skills of critical reading, literary analysis and work with secondary literature. Students will employ and apply the acquired knowledge and skills of analysis and interpretation in writing their end of term essay.
Learning outcomes
The students will be able to apply the knowledge, skills and experience gained to complement and broaden their study of British and Anglophone literatures and cultures as well as world literature.
Syllabus
  • Week 1: Introduction Week 2: Penelope Lively: Moon Tiger Problematising history Week 3: Penelope Lively: Moon Tiger Women issues, narrative voices Week 4: Fay Weldon: The Shrapnel Academy Social/political satire, feminism Week 5: Jeanette Winterson: Gut Symmetries the narrative voice, time and space Week 6: Jeanette Winterson: Gut Symmetries Winterson's other works Week 7: A.S. Byatt: Still Life Intertextuality, realism Week 8: A.S. Byatt: Still Life Women's lives, Britain in the 1950s Week 9: Margaret Drabble: The Radiant Way Social concerns, womens' lives Week 10: Margaret Drabble: The Radiant Way Chronicles: the novel as a document Week 11: Jane Gardam: Crusoe's Daughter Growing up (un)free, changing times Week 12: Jane Gardam: Crusoe's Gaughter "Angels and Deamons - the anatomy of a novel"
Literature
  • BYATT, A. S. Still life. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1986, 358 s. ISBN 0-14-010763-0. info
  • DRABBLE, Margaret. The radiant way :a novel. London: Penguin Books, 1988, 396 s. ISBN 0-14-010168-3. info
  • GARDAM, Jane. Crusoe's daughter. London: Abacus, 1986, 224 s. ISBN 0-349-11410-2. info
  • LIVELY, Penelope. Moon tiger. New York: Harper Perennial, 1989, 208 s. ISBN 0060972009. info
  • WELDON, Fay. The Shrapnel academy. Kent: Coronet Books, 1987, 203 s. ISBN 0-340-39875-2. info
  • WINTERSON, Jeanette. Gut symmetries. London: Granta Books, 1997, 219 s. ISBN 1-86207-042-3. info
  • FRANKOVÁ, Milada. Britské spisovatelky na konci tisíciletí (British Women Writers at the End of the Millennium). 1st ed. Brno: Masarykova univerzita v Brně, 1999, 206 pp. Spisy Masarykovy univerzity v Brně, FF, č. 325. ISBN 80-210-2148-9. info
  • FRANKOVÁ, Milada. Britské spisovatelky na přelomu tisíciletí (British Women Writers at the Turn of the Millennium). Brno: Masarykova univerzita v Brně, 2003. Spisy Masarykovy univerzity v Brně, 347. ISBN 80-210-3290-1. info
  • MASSIE, Allan. The novel today : a critical guide to the British novel, 1970-1989. London: Longman, 1990, vi, 97. ISBN 0582004071. info
  • MOI, Toril. Sexual/textual politics : feminist literary theory. London: Routledge, 1985, xv, 206. ISBN 0415029740. info
  • Feminist literary theory :a reader. Edited by Mary Eagleton. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996, xxiii, 438. ISBN 0-631-19734-6. info
  • GREER, Germaine. The whole woman. [Velká Británie]: Anchor, 2000, 452 s. ISBN 1-86230-057-7. info
  • EAGLETON, Terry. Literary theory :an introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 1983, viii, 244. ISBN 0-631-13259-7. info
  • WHEELER, Kathleen M. A critical guide to twentieth-century women novelists. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998, xiii, 442. ISBN 0-631-21211-6. info
Teaching methods
short introductory lectures, student presentations, class discussion
Assessment methods
Course participation, presentation, contributions to discussion, end-of-term essay
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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