DESCRIPTION

This short course explores the evolving depiction of female villains in fiction by American women writers from a period running roughly from the American Civil War to World War 2. Ranging across realist and more supernatural stories and novellas, we will be encountering issues and cultural phenomena such as gender roles, the marriage problem, class distinctions, ethnic and religious differences, and conflicts around housework, but also the afterlife, superstition, and debates about what it means to be human.

The course focuses in particular on lesser-known authors and texts, in order to widen understandings of the kinds of topics and issues covered by female writers at the time, and to move past assumptions about the outputs of “nice lady writers” in an era when first-wave feminism was building momentum on both sides of the Atlantic.

READING LIST
Please note that while readings are highly recommended, they are not required to take part in this class. Dr. Downey will always provide a level of summary before each class.

Session 1: The Painted Woman 1

• Harriet Prescott Spofford, The Amber Gods (1863):
  https://archive.org/details/ambergodsandothe00spofrich/page/n7/mode/2up?view=theater
  (just read the first story, ending on p.66)

Session 2: The Painted Woman 2

• Louisa May Alcott, Behind a Mask, or, A Woman's Power (1866):
  https://freeclassicebooks.com/Louisa May Alcott/Behind A Mask or A Woman's Power.pdf

Session 3: The Female Vampire

• Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, "Luella Miller" (1903):
  https://loa-shared.s3.amazonaws.com/static/pdf/Luella_Miller.pdf
• Edith Wharton, "Bewitched" (1926):
  https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/luminist/EB/W/Wharton - Ghost Stories.pdf
  (read pp.175-199)

Session 4: Beasty and the Beast

• Yda Addis, "A Human Tigress" (1893):
  https://archive.org/details/argonaut321893sanf/page/n105/mode/2up?view=theater
  (see p.106 of the website. I have a PDF of this too if anyone has trouble opening it)
• Zora Neale Hurston, "Spunk" (1925):
  https://loa-shared.s3.amazonaws.com/static/pdf/Hurston_Spunk.pdf

COURSE LEADER

Dara Downey is a Teaching Fellow in American Literature in Trinity College Dublin, where she also teaches English on the Trinity Access Program . She is the author of American Women's Ghost Stories in the Gilded Age (2014) and editor of The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies (https://irishgothicjournal.net/). She is currently writing a book about Shirley Jackson, and is also working on a project on servants and enslaved figures in American gothic fiction and popular culture.

FOR VIRTUAL PARICIPANTS: JOINING THE ZOOM SESSION
You will receive a zoom link in your confirmation email as well as subsequent event reminder emails that will come both 24 hours before your scheduled program. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE THIS LINK as it may impact your ability to join the event. If you do not receive your personalized zoom link ahead of the session, please call CMAP at 609-751-9699 for assistance.

REFUND INFORMATION
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• Payments made electronically will be refunded electronically
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• Up to 6 business days before class begins — refunds will be issued minus a $15 processing fee
• No refund will be offered 5 business days or less before the class begins
• No refund will be offered for programs that cost $15 or less
• There will be a $15 processing fee for refunds to those who register for the same program more than once