126-468 The Origin of the Other Sex: Women and Images of the Female in the German Enlightenment

Note

Available as 126-368 at 3rd-year level.

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Subject Description

In the 18th century, the European Enlightenment gave most attention to philosophical questions relating to individualism. Inevitably these included: Is there a specifically female identity? This course sets out to examine such questions in their historical and literary context It takes as its starting point the new perspective on the female body which was offered by 18th century science and which is expounded in Thomas Laqueur's study: Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (1990). After this, works by women and men writers of the German Enlightenment will be analysed with a focus on their characterisation of relations between the sexes. Finally, the anthology "Bist du Luftbild oder Leben?" Brautbriefe aus zwei Jahrhunderten (1750-1833) will be used to illuminate the practice of "the enlightenment of woman" among pairs of lovers of the period. In these ways the course communicates insights into historical phenomena and into the culture of sentiment that dominated a time which laid the bases of modern literary psychology. The subject also sets out to make a contribution to the central debate of contemporary feminism on the issue: Is there such a thing as a female mode of written discourse?

Assessment

Written work in German of no more than 5,000 words for MA, 4,000 words for 4th year and 3,000 words for 3rd year.

Prescribed Texts

Extracts from the Anthology "Bist du Luftbild oder Leben?" Brautbriefe aus zwei Jahrhunderten (1750-1833) will be distributed as handouts.

• Lessing, Gotthold Ephraïm, Miß Sara Sampson; Emilia Galotti.
• La Roche, Sophie von, Das Fraulein von Sternheim.
• Auszuge aus der Anthologie, Bist du Luftbild oder Leben? Brautbriefe aus zwei Jahrhunderten (1750-1833). werden als Fotokopien verteilt.