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Literature and Sexuality
Course description: This course is designed to introduce students to literature (poetry, fiction, film, and television) that explores issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity in contemporary culture. In this course, we will read, study, and critique literature and theory that represents diverse sexual and gender identities and seeks to explore how these identities are socially and culturally constructed. We will address topics such as gender performativity, homosocial desire, homoeroticism, drag, queer theory and politics, the construction of the categories “butch” and “femme,” and how sexual identity intersects with and complicates identity-categories based on gender, ethnicity, race and class.
Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities who require accommodations (academic adjustments, auxiliary aids or services) for this course must register with the Disability Services Office. Please contact the Disability Service Office immediately in the University Center, suite 320 or call 859-572-6373 for more information. Verification of your disability is required in the DSO for you to receive reasonable academic accommodation. www.nku.edu/~disability/
Academic Integrity and the NKU Honor Code: If you plagiarize or cheat, you may fail the assignment, fail the course, or face expulsion from Northern Kentucky University. If you have any further questions about your obligations in regard to academic honesty at NKU, please consult the Student Honor Code at www.nku.edu/~deanstudents/HonorCode.htm
Please see Course Policies in Dr. Krouse’s Literature Courses for administrative procedures regarding attendance, reading assignments, paper submission, and academic integrity. Students in this course are also asked to sign a contract related to course content and expectations.
Learning Outcomes:
Methods of Assessment and Components of Grade: 10% Attendance and Active Participation in Class Activities, Discussion, and Online Discussion. 10% Reaction Papers (1 page each, to be collected randomly throughout the semester, and all collected at the end of the semester) 10% Short Critical Essay (3-5 pages) 15% Test 15% Group Research Projects 20% Critical Essay with 2-3 Secondary Scholarly Sources (5-7 pages) 20% Final Exam
Required Texts: On Electronic Reserve: Auden, W.H. “Stop all the Clocks.” Ginsberg, Allen. “Howl.” Laqueur, Thomas. “Of Language and the Flesh” and “Freud’s Problem” from Making Sex Rich, Adrienne. “XXI Love Poems.” From The Dream of a Common Language Rubin, Gayle. “Thinking Sex.” Whitman, Walt. “City of Orgies” and “We Two Boys Together Clinging”
In order to keep book costs in the course down, the above reading assignments have been placed on electronic reserve. These are required texts in the course, and if you do not come to class prepared with those texts in front of you, you will be asked to leave and charged with an absence for the day. Students should expect to print/copy a minimum of 100-150 pages ($10-$15) throughout the semester. If you use university printers and exceed your number of “free prints,” this does not excuse you from printing out assignments or reserve materials by the deadline listed on the syllabus.
Books: Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex. Hollinghurst, Alan. The Swimming-Pool Library. Lawrence, D.H. Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Winterson, Jeanette. The Passion.
Films: Soldier’s Girl Brokeback Mountain
Television Episodes: “Lead, Follow, or Get out of the Way.” The L Word “The Turtle and the Hare.” Sex and the City
Supplementary Texts on Electronic Reserve: Butler, Judith. “Conclusion: From Parody to Politics.” Group Three Research Project Foucault, Michel. “The Perverse Implantation.” Group One Research Project Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. “Introduction” and “Gender Asymmetry and Erotic Triangles.” Group Four Research Project. Wittig, Monique. “One is Not Born a Woman.” Group Two Research Project
Course Schedule:
Critical Contexts for Evaluating Literature and Sexuality “It is through sex – in fact, an imaginary point determined by the deployment of sexuality – that each individual has to pass in order to have access to his own intelligibility” (Foucault 155).
8/21 Introduction to the course 8/23 “Thinking Sex” (Rubin) ERES
8/28 Library Day 8/30 Excerpts from Making Sex (Laqueur) ERES
Gay Male Sexuality “There is nothing worse than making a bid for someone’s body & getting their soul instead” (Hollinghurst 148).
9/4 Brokeback Mountain 9/6 Brokeback Mountain
9/11 Brokeback Mountain 9/13 The Swimming Pool Library
9/18 The Swimming Pool Library 9/20 The Swimming Pool Library
9/25 Poems by Whitman, Auden, and Ginsberg Group One Research Project Due 9/27 Test
Lesbian Sexuality “It is a sweet and precise torture” (Winterson 67).
10/2 Writing Critical Essays, with and without sources 10/4 Poems by Adrienne Rich
10/9 The Passion 10/11 The Passion
10/16 FALL BREAK 10/18 The Passion Short Critical Essay Due
Transgender and Intersex Sexuality “I took a long breath and began: ‘There’s something you should know about me’” (Eugenides 498).
10/23 The L Word 10/25 Soldier’s Girl Group Two Research Project Due
10/30 Soldier’s Girl 11/1 Soldier’s Girl
11/6 Middlesex 11/8 Middlesex
11/13 Middlesex 11/15 Middlesex Group Three Research Project Due
“Straight” Sexuality “The world is supposed to be full of possibilities, but they narrow down to pretty few, in most personal experience. There’s lots of good fish in the sea – maybe! But the vast masses seem to be mackerel or herring, and if you’re not mackerel or herring yourself, you are inclined to find very few good fish in the sea” (Lawrence 31).
11/20 Lady Chatterley’s Lover Critical Essay Due 11/22 - THANKSGIVING
11/27 Lady Chatterley’s Lover 11/29 Lady Chatterley’s Lover
12/4 Sex and the City 12/6 Poetry free-for-all: Each student should bring in one poem of his/her choosing that explores sexual themes. Group Four Research Project Due
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