Back to English/WS 315 Home | Paper Guidelines
I do not accept late papers, unless you have discussed the matter with me first.
Your paper should be a close reading of one of the assigned texts, or a discussion of some of the theoretical issues we have discussed in class. (If you would like to write about something we have not yet discussed in class, whether it is on the course syllabus or not, please make sure you see me and clear your choice of text with me first.)
These topics are to help you focus your argument. You are encouraged to read a few pieces of literary or other criticism on your text, or to contextualize your discussion in other reading that you have done (for example, historical or theoretical readings). Try to engage in some kind of dialogue with these other readings, if you can, so that your paper becomes part of an ongoing critical debate.
You do not have to base your answer around one of the questions that follow, but if you decide not to, you must discuss your chosen topic with me before you start to work on the paper.
- How useful is it to use the word "lesbian" about the lives and experiences of women who lived before the late nineteenth century? (If you answer this question, you must structure your essay around a text – either a novel, a poem, or an article – with which you must engage, rather than simply stating what you believe.)
- What do you understand by the term "lesbian criticism"? Do you think it is a useful concept? (Again, if you answer this question, you must structure your essay around discussion of a text.)
- How does Katherine Philips represent the bond of "friendship"between women in at least two of her poems?
- In Millenium Hall, how is friendship between women linked to the ideals of the utopian community described in the novel?
- Discuss the representation of desire in Christina Rossetti’s "Goblin Market".