LGBT/Queer Literature, Culture, and Criticism Since 1970

 
English 486r: UVSC, spring 2008—MW 4:00-5:15, LA 103
Instructor: Dr. John Charles Goshert
Office: LA 121t  Phone: 863-6288  e-mail: gosherjo@uvsc.edu
Office Hours: MW 11:30-1:00 

English 486R is a special topics course which offers students an interdisciplinary introduction to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer literature and culture.  Beginning with the Stonewall riots in 1969, when the gay liberation movement in the United States gained widespread recognition, and working toward the present, we trace aesthetic and cultural developments in LGBT/queer communities.  During the semester, students look at novels, plays, films, and criticism from the early 1970s to the present, in order to understand the range and complexity of expression by LGBT/queer people.

Over the semester, students will have the opportunity to:

1.  engage with a set of literary works (consisting of novel, short story, poetry, drama, and film) focusing

on LGBT/queer issues;

2.  be introduced to some basic moves in LGBT/queer criticism in order to build a contemporary critical

apparatus for the study of literary works and LGBT/Queer culture;

3.  make a formal (individual or small group) presentation to the class;

4.  produce a research-intensive term paper to culminate the course.

  
Required Texts—to be purchased

Rita Mae Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle (1973) New York: Bantam, 1977. 055327886x

Larry Kramer, Faggots (1976) New York: Grove, 1978. 0802136915

Audre Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982) Freedom, CA: Crossing, 1982. 0895941228

Kushner, Tony.  Angels in America I and II (1990/91).  Theatre Comm. Group, 1995.  ISBN: 1559360984

R. Zamora Linmark, Rolling the R’s (1996) New York: Kaya, 1997. 9781885030030

Sarah Schulman, The Child (2007) New York: Carroll and Graff, 2007. 9780786718665

Required Texts—to be printed from electronic reserve (eres.uvsc.edu)

Gary Lehring.  “Essentialism and the Political Articulation of Identity.”  Playing with Fire (173-98).

Roland Barthes.  “Writing and Silence.”  Writing Degree Zero (74-78).

Susan Suleiman.  “The Politics and Poetics of Female Eroticism.”  Subversive Intent (119-40).

Joel Shatzky.  “Larry Kramer.”  Contemporary Gay American Novelists (244-47).

Christopher Bram.  “Faggots Today.”  Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review 4.4 (1997): 18-21.

bell hooks.  “Revolutionary Feminism.”  Killing Rage (98-107).

Ann Louise Keating.  “Making our ‘Shattered Faces Whole.’” Frontiers 13.1 (1992): 20-33.

Judith Roof.  Buckling Down or Knuckling Under.”  Who Can Speak (180-92).

Urvashi Vaid.  “There Are Things to Do.”  Virtual Equality  (373-401).

Ogden, Daryl.  “Cold War Science and the Body Politic.”  Literature and Medicine 19.2 (2000): 241-61.

Michael Warner.  “What’s Wrong with Normal?”  The Trouble with Normal 41-80.

Prerequisite Skills

Using reading skills and strategies of argument learned in courses such as Engl. 2600 (Critical Intro to Literature) and 2010 (Research Writing), students are expected, from the opening of the course, to be prepared to actively, critically read literary texts, and to respond orally and through writing.  This course will add to those skills and strategies through lecture, class discussion, and engagement with current critical approaches of responding to literature.

Response Paper Guidelines

2-3 page response papers are due periodically, beginning January 28.  While this paper is, primarily, an expression of your opinion, you should nonetheless develop a cogent, well-written argument.  The best responses take on a specific topic from lecture, class discussions, presentations (or, of course, from your own reading alone), which is then worked out in some critical/analytic detail.  Avoid trying to fit an entire week’s reading—an entire novel or other extended text—into your response, since this leaves you with such a broad scope that any detailed examination is rather difficult.

Avoid summarizing the text and, instead, argue for a particular position, for a particular “reading.”  Your treatment of whatever topic you choose will be enhanced not only by a strong thesis, but also by your incorporation of specific material from the texts (both literary and critical); that is, present details, such as dialogue or other citations.  This is in keeping with that old adage of “showing” rather than “telling” as you work out your argument/position.

Consider also addressing questions you have about the reading—perhaps centered on a scene, event, character, etc.  How do specific questions or parts of the novel/essay/poem inform the significance of the whole?  You may also think about developing connections between works—how do formal characteristics, topics, characters, etc. resonate across our focus period, across gender and/or ethnic boundaries?  How are those characteristics treated differently and why?

Plan to put your growing critical apparatus into practice.  Develop the research and response strategies which will be required for success on your term project.  Articulate your agreement or dissention with critical responses we read, or pursue critical readings on your own which will allow you to enter into an informed conversation on literary, cultural, and theoretical concepts.

The final response paper, a narrative self-and-course evaluation, is due with the final project. 

Term Project Guidelines

The term project is essentially a research argument—typically a paper of 10-12 pages—on any topic within the scope of the course (LGBT/Q American art and culture, 1969 or so to the present).  You may use any of the course texts/authors or develop a project on texts, authors, music, films, art, and so on of personal interest with one caveat: ensure in making your choice that your subject matter merits close examination, and that you can develop a research question and a critical apparatus to explore it.  Successful students tend to settle on at least a broad subject and begin the research and writing process in the last four or so weeks of class.  Feel free to write a term paper proposal if you want sustained feedback; this is optional, but due on or before Monday 10 March.

Grade Distribution/Policies

Response papers: 30%
Presentation: 20%
Term Project: 20%
Attendance/Participation: 30%

• If you have any disability that may impair your ability to successfully complete this course, please contact the Accessibility Services Department located in WB 146. Academic Accommodations are granted for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by the Accessibility Services Department. Accessibility Services Department telephone 801‑863‑8747; TDD 801‑221‑0908.
• Plagiarism will result in failure of the course and the possibility of administrative action.
• Attendance is required.  You should plan to attend and be prepared for each class meeting.
• All written work will follow MLA style guidelines; late work will not be accepted.
• Course materials are determined by standards of academic inquiry and a commitment to the exchange of ideas; materials will not be “rated G” or censored in any way.
• Per UVSC policies: “Each student is expected to take an active role in the learning process by meeting course requirements as specified in written syllabi” (VII.A).  Thus, the course syllabus comprises a contract between instructor and students, who will be held to its terms and expectations, for “The right to receive academic credit and/or academic degrees when all specified requirements and course work have been satisfied” (V.L).  In other words, the student has the right to receive credit for work that meets or exceeds satisfactory performance; however, the student also has the right to fail based on those same conditions of performance.
• It is not only your right, but also your responsibility to ask questions, to raise challenges, to discuss readings, and to otherwise participate in the class as it unfolds over the semester.
• Students will activate their UVSC email accounts or notify the instructor of alternate email address.
• The course website (http://research.uvsc.edu/goshert/uvsc486r-b.html) will direct students toward additional resources for research, documentation, and bibliographic conventions.  Sample student papers will also be archived, as available, throughout the semester.

Course Calendar

January

Mon 7    Course Introduction

                Begin Before Stonewall

Wed 9    Complete Before Stonewall              

Mon 14  Rubyfruit Jungle 1-29

Lehring (handout)

Wed 16  Rubyfruit 30-131

Mon 21  no class

Wed 23  Rubyfruit 132-206

Mon 28  complete Rubyfruit

                Barthes (reserve)

                Suleiman (reserve)

Response paper #1 due

Wed 30  “Larry Kramer” (reserve)

                Bram (reserve)

                Faggots 1-101

February

Mon 4    Faggots 102-97

Wed 6    Faggots 198-284

Mon 11  complete Faggots

Response paper #2 due

Wed 13  Hooks (reserve)

Zami 1-80

Mon 18  no class

Wed 20  Zami 81-160

Mon 25  complete Zami 143-220

Keating (reserve)

Wed 27  Roof (reserve)

Vaid (reserve)

March

Mon 3    Angels 1-64 (through Millenium II.4)

Response paper #3 due

Wed 5    Angels 65-125 (complete Millenium)

Mon 10  Angels 126-212 (through Perestroika III)

Wed 12  no class

Mon 17  complete Angels

                Ogden (reserve)

Wed 19 

Mon 24  Rolling the Rs 1-54

Wed 26  Rolling 55-108

Mon 31  complete Rolling

                Reserve reading TBA

                Response paper #4 due

April

Wed 2    The Child 1-44

                Levy (reserve)

Mon 7    Child 45-99

Wed 9    Child 100-59

Mon 14  Child 160-227

Wed 16  complete The Child

                Warner (reserve)

                Response paper #5 due

Mon 21  Final Project due

                Response paper #6 due

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