Readings from this class include works by Edith Wharton, Jane Austen, and Virginia Woolf. (Left and center images taken from Wikipedia; right image courtesy of George Charles Beresford.)
Instructor(s)
Faye Kasemset
Dr. Holly Sweet
Jocelyn Rodal
MIT Course Number
ES.260
As Taught In
Spring 2006
Level
Undergraduate
Course Description
Course Description
This pass/fail seminar should be a fun setting where we can all enjoy a love of good books together. Students will read approximately one novel every two weeks, and the class will discuss each novel in a relaxed and interactive setting, with attention to whatever themes and issues interest them most about each book. We will read a wide mixture of classic and contemporary novels written by women, including: Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth; Toni Morrison, Jazz; Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway; Alice Walker, The Color Purple; Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre; Sheri Reynolds, The Rapture of Canaan; Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice; and Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar. Recurrent issues likely to be discussed include: gender, race, and class; romance, love, and marriage; depression and suicide; and conception, childbirth, and parenthood.