Women writers in the European literatures

Students will acquire the knowledge of the literary creativity of European female authors. With the help of theoretical insights of feminist theory and theories of gender studies students will be qualified to give judgments on literary texts, compare them and make judgments about the reception of female authors. They will became aware of the importance of the category of gender as an important element that constitutes the social and symbolic order at various levels. The particular role of gender and his influence in literary texts will be discussed. The main objective is to develop a sensitivity for the detection of concealed mechanisms which are used in the texts and contribute to the repetition of traditional hierarchies referring to the sexual identities.

The successful integration in the study course is connected with the knowledge of other literary-historical formations in the field of Slovenian literature. The integration is also related to the ability of connecting the knowledge in this course with that offered by other courses in the field of literary studies.

Students became familiar with the historical context of female authorship and with the historic structure and evolution of the literary canon which accepts or rejects the literature written by female authors. Emphasis will be placed on readings and the discussion of selected literary works of European female writers, poets, essayists, journalists and playwrights.

Students will understand the micro- and macropoetics of the literature of female authors in both the European and the world literary context.

• Giorgio, Adalgisa in Waters Le Guin Julia, ur.: Women’s Writing in Western Europe: Gender, Generation and Legacy. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007.
• Rich, Adrienne: O lažeh, skrivnostih in molku. Ljubljana: ŠKUC, 2003.
• Lukic, Jasmina: Poetics, Politics and Gender. In: Women and Citizenship in Central and Eastern Europe. Ashgate, 2006.
• Lanser, Susan Sniader: Fictions of authority : women writers and narrative voice.London : Cornell University Press, 1992.
• Woolf, Virginia: Lastna soba. Ljubljana: Založba/cf*, Lila zbirka, 1998.
• Mores, Ellen: Literary Women. London: The Woman Press, 1978.
• Irigaray, Luce: Jaz, ti, me, mi: za kulturo različnosti. Ljubljana: Znanstveno in publicistično središče, 1995.
• Poniž, Katja Mihurko: Drzno drugačna. Zofka Kveder in podobe ženskosti. Ljubljana: Delta, 2003.
• Zeiger, Melissa F.: Death, Sexuality, and the Changing Shapes of Elegy: Reading Women Writing, 1997.
• Chadwick Whitney: Women, Art and Society. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc., 1990.
• Borovnik, Silvija: Pišejo ženske drugače? Ljubljana: Mihelač, 1995.
• K. Ursula: Dancing on the Edge of the World. New York: Grove Press, 1989.
• Mezei, Kathy: Ambiguous discourse: feminist narratology & British women writers. Chapel Hill, London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1996.
• Database WomenWriters, the Reception of their Works: http://www.womenwriters.nl/index.php/Database_WomenWriters

Seminar (70%), oral examination (30%)

MIHURKO PONIŽ, Katja. Labirinti ljubezni v slovenski književnosti od romantike do II. svetovne vojne, (Zbirka Sodobna družba, 2008, 20). Ljubljana: Sophia, 2008. V, 254 str. ISBN 978-961-6294-93-5. [COBISS.SI-ID 238032384]
MIHURKO PONIŽ, Katja. Nation and gender in the writings of Slovene women writers : 1848-1918. Aspasia, 2008, vol. 2, str. 28-43. [COBISS.SI-ID 931323]
MIHURKO PONIŽ, Katja. Tujci in tuje v romanih : Prišleki in Francoski testament. Dve domov.. [Tiskana izd.], 2010, [Št.] 31, str. 153-167. [COBISS.SI-ID 31567405]
MIHURKO PONIŽ, Katja. Die Macht der männlichen literarischen Eliten und ihr Einfluss auf der Kreativität der slowenischen Autorinnen. V: GIERZINGER, Georg (ur.), HÖLZL, Sylvia (ur.), RONEN, Christine (ur.). Spielformen der Macht : Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven der Macht im Rahmen junger slawistischer Forschung, (Conference Series). 1. Auf. Innsbruck: Innsbruck University Press, 2011, str. 377-393.