ENG-240 - Sex and Sexualities in Western Literature

3 credits

This course will focus on the diverse ways issues of sex and sexuality have been played out on the textual stage of Western literature. Armed with critical frameworks (including Foucault’s History of Sexuality), students will grapple with the continuum of sexualities depicted in literary works as well as the medicalization of sexuality originating in the 19th century and continuing into the present day. The primarily 19th and early 20th century readings will be weighted towards those sexualities that have been historically marginalized including what we now term gay/lesbian/and bisexual. These texts will span the genres of poetry, drama, fiction and non-fiction, and include works by Chaucer, Shakespeare, William Bradford, Christina Rossetti, Tennyson, Melville, Oscar Wilde, EM. Forster, D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf Radclyffe Hall, and Tennessee Williams. Historical contextualization will be offered by the writings of Krafft-Ebing, Havelock Ellis, and Freud.

Prerequisite(s): ENG-102 (minimum grade of C-)

Mass Transfer Block: Credits earned in this course are counted towards the MassTransfer Block Humanities and Fine Arts requirements.

Course previously known as: ENGL-309