EN357: All About Eve

Spring Semester 2006

Monday and Thursday 3:30-4:45 in CNS 104

Syllabus

Subject to revision

Thursday 1/19:Introduction

Readings: Genesis 1-3.

Monday 1/23: Ancient Jewish Variations

Readings: Selections from Old Testament pseudepigrapha:

• Sirach in Eve & Adam, pp.48-50.
• The Book of Jubilees in Eve & Adam, pp.50-54.

Thursday 1/26: No class meeting-- University Convocation.

Monday 1/30: Ancient Jewish Variations

Readings:

• The Life of Adam and Eve:
• Chapters 1-29 in the Coursebook;
• Chapters 30-44 in Eve & Adam, pp. 57-60;
• The Apocalypse of Moses:
• Chapters 15-30 in Eve & Adam, pp. 60-63;
• Chapters 31-43 in the Coursebook.

Thursday 2/2: The Gnostic Eve

Readings:

• Elaine Pagels, Chapter 3, “Gnostic Improvisations on Genesis,” from Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, in the Coursebook.
• Selections from Gnostic scriptures:
• Hypostasis of the Archons (The Reality of the Rulers), in the Coursebook.
• Thunder: Perfect Mind, in the Coursebook.

Monday 2/6: Medieval Eve

Readings:

• Tertullian, “On the Apparel of Women” in Eve & Adam, pp.131-132.
• Origen, “Homilies on Genesis” in Eve & Adam, pp.133-135.
• St. Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis in Eve & Adam, pp.147-155.
• Marina Warner, Chapter 4, “Second Eve,” from Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary, in the Coursebook.

Thursday 2/9: Medieval Eve

Readings: The Service for Representing Adam (“The Play of Adam”).

Monday 2/13: Eve’s Renaissance

Readings:

• Aemilia Lanyer, “Eve’s Apology, in Defense of Women” in the Coursebook.
• Torquato Tasso, selections from The Creation of the World [handout]
• Isotta Nogarola (with Ludovico Foscarini), “Of the Equal or Unequal Sins of Adam and Eve” in the Coursebook

Thursday 2/16: Paradise Lost, Book 1

Monday 2/20: No class meeting -- President's Day Holiday.

Thursday 2/23: Paradise Lost, Books 2-3

First essay due.

Monday 2/27: Paradise Lost, Book 4

Thursday 3/2: Paradise Lost, Books 5-6

Monday 3/6: Paradise Lost, Books 7-8

Thursday 3/9: Paradise Lost, Book 9

SPRING BREAK

Monday 3/20: Paradise Lost, Book 9 (continued)

Thursday 3/23: Paradise Lost, Book 10

Monday 3/27: Looking Back on Milton’s Eve

Readings:

• John Milton, Paradise Lost, Books 11-12
• Mary Wollstonecraft, Selections from The Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in the Coursebook
• Three essays on Milton's Eve and feminism in Paradise Lost, pp. 501-520.

Thursday 3/30: Victorian Eve

Readings: Selections from Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “A Drama of Exile” in the Coursebook.

Second essay due.

Monday 4/3: Victorian Eve

Readings: Christina Rossetti, “Eve,” “A Helpmeet for Him,” and “Goblin Market” in the Coursebook.

Thursday 4/6: No class meeting

Monday 4/10: Eve and the Woman Question

Readings:

• Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Eden Bower” and “Lilith” in the Coursebook.
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton et al., The Woman’s Bible in Eve & Adam, pp.346-356.
• Mark Twain, The Diaries of Adam and Eve.

Thursday 4/13: Individual Conferences on Class Presentations

Monday 4/17: No class meeting -- Easter Holiday.

Thursday 4/20:Twentieth-Century Eve

Readings: A collection of 20th-century poems (handout):

• Ralph Hodgson, “Eve” (1913).
• Robert Frost, “Never Again Would Birds’ Song Be the Same” (1942).
• Richard Wilbur, “She” (1961)
• Dorothy Livesay, “Eve” (1967)
• John Hollander, “Adam’s Task” (1971)
• Rob Holland, “Eve in Old Age” (1977)
• Linda Pastan, “A Symposium: Apples” (1975)

Monday 4/24: The Evolution of Eve

Readings:

• Judith Plaskow, "The Coming of Lilith: Toward a Feminist Theology," in Eve & Adam, pp. 422-425.
• Lilly Rivlin, “Lilith Lives” (handout)
• Ursula K. Le Guin, “She Unnames Them” (handout)
• Michael Brown, Chapter 1 from The Search for Eve (handout)

Thursday 4/27: Class presentations on representations of Eve in popular culture.

Monday 5/1: Class presentations.

Monday 5/8: Final paper due.