EN372: All About Eve

Spring Semester 2011

Wednesday 11:00-1:30

Click here for the course syllabus.

• Instructor: Robert Epstein
• Office: 120 Donnarumma Hall
• Office Hours: Wednesday 2:00-4:30, or by appointment
• Office extension: 2787
• E-mail: repstein@fairfield.edu

DESCRIPTION

This course will survey the interpretation and representation of the Eve figure of the Genesis story of creation from her origins to contemporary culture. It will study philosophical and theological works but will focus on literary and artistic representations. The course is intended to demonstrate the variety of interpretations offered of the Eve figure and particularly to show that what is often perceived as an innately misogynistic myth has fostered a long tradition of feminist interpretation. The course is also intended to develop skills in the analysis of a wide variety of texts and ultimately to apply these skills to the interpretation of popular culture.

The course will begin with close analysis of the Genesis creation story as well as versions of the story in Old Testament pseudepigrapha, Gnostic scripture, and patristic exegesis. It will then move on to medieval versions, particularly the Anglo-Norman “Play of Adam,” and to Reformation and Counter-Reformation uses of the story, notably in early modern feminist debates, as in the poetry of Aemilia Lanyer. In the middle of the semester we will focus extensively on the most influential retelling of the story of Eve, in Milton’s Paradise Lost. We will then trace the interpretation of Eve in literature from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, with attention to writers from Mary Wollstonecraft to Ursula Le Guin and beyond, and we will study the reception of Eve in modern feminism. Finally, students will be asked to find and interpret depictions of Eve in contemporary popular culture. Throughout the semester we will also view visual representations of Eve in sculpture, painting, book illustrations, and films.

REQUIREMENTS

Attendance: Most important, students are required to complete the assigned readings and to attend class prepared to discuss them. This seminar is based primarily on class discussion. As this is a literature seminar, the failure to attend class will adversely affect grade for the course. Please bring the assigned texts to class!

Response Papers: For most class meetings, a response paper will be required. These are short written assignments, about a page in length. They are due at the beginning of the class on the day assigned. If for some reason you are unable to attend class, send the response paper to me as an e-mail attachment before class time. These response papers are not graded but they are required and count towards the final grade. Their purpose is to help you organize your thoughts on the readings and to facilitate class discussion. Late response papers, therefore, can’t be accepted. At the end of the course, students will review their portfolio of response papers and submit them along with a summative essay describing how their views of and reactions to Eve have evolved over the course of the semester. As an alternative to the summative essay, students may compose their own revision of the story of Eve.

Essays: There will be two essays, each about 5-6 pages in length, due during the semester. The first will be on ancient, medieval, and early modern versions of Eve. The second will be on Milton’s Eve. There will also be a research paper due at the end of the semester. This research paper may focus on the criticism and analysis of nineteenth- or twentieth-century material on the syllabus or on any other representation of Eve in literature or popular culture.

Oral presentation: At the last class meeting, students will make brief oral presentations on the topic of their research paper, or on any representation of Eve from history, art, literature, or popular culture that they have discovered.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Here are some of the learning objectives for this course, with the Core Pathway with which each is associated:

• Learning fundamental principles, generalizations, and theories of the religious, historical, and literary traditions of the representation of Eve as first woman (Appropriating Wisdom)
• Learning to analyze and critically evaluate traditions as systems of representation and power (Appropriating Wisdom)
• Learning to analyze and critically evaluate ideas, arguments, and points of view by developing substantive claims, logical structures, and effective evidence (Rhetoric and Reflection)
• Learning to apply course material in order to innovate and participate in the creative process (Creative and Aesthetic Engagement)

GRADING

Papers are due at the beginning of class on the day indicated on the syllabus. Unless I have explicitly granted an extension before the due date, late papers will be penalized one-third of a letter grade per day. (A paper that would have earned a B+ will receive a B if it is one day late, a B- if it is two days late, and so on.)

After essays are submitted, I will read them and return them with grades and with comments and suggestions. Students will then have one week from the day the graded papers are returned to revise the papers in light of my comments and to resubmit them for re-grading. The grade for the revised essay may go up by as much as a full letter grade. (The grade might not go up at all; it will not go down.) This is to encourage you to think of every essay as a work in progress and to revise your work as thoroughly and as frequently as possible.

As you write and revise your essays, please keep in mind that there are peer-tutors in the Writing Center trained to help students of any level develop work at any stage.

Grades for the course will be determined according to the following formula:

• two critical essays, due during the semester: 25% each
• research paper, due during the exam period: 35%
• oral presentation: 5%
• portfolio of response papers with summative essay or creative revision: 10%

FORMAT OF ESSAYS

All submitted papers should follow the Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines for formatting a paper. These guidelines can be found in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed., which is available in the Reference Section of the library and in the Writing Center. They are also summarized on pp. 119-154 of Diana Hacker’s Pocket Style Manual. When commenting on your essays, I will refer to Hacker on matters of format and style.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

On any assignment, you must fully cite any sources that you use. The source must appear in the list of works cited at the end of the essay, and each source must be cited on every occasion that you make use of its words or ideas. This is true if the source is your primary source (the text you are studying) or a critical source (an analysis of the work published elsewhere), and it is true if the source is printed or electronic, including internet sources. Follow the MLA style of in-text citation and lists of works cited described in A Pocket Style Manual, pp. 128-148.

The failure to fully cite sources within your submitted work is a form of plagiarism. Plagiarism is the appropriation of ideas, data, work, or language of others and submitting them as one’s own to satisfy the requirements of a course. Plagiarism constitutes theft and deceit. Special care should be taken, when cutting and pasting materials or when paraphrasing, to cite sources correctly and to use quotation marks around exact words from source materials. Actions that result in plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional. Consequently, students must understand the concept of plagiarism. When reading, processing, or using materials from any source, appropriate documentation is always essential.

The consequences of plagiarism may range from failure on the assignment to failure for the course and university disciplinary action. Resources such as the library (ext. 2178) and the Writing Center (www.fairfield.edu/writingcenter) are available on campus to assist you in your academic endeavors. You are encouraged to take advantage of these resources.

TEXTS

The required texts for the class are available at the Fairfield Bookstore:

• Kristen E. Kvam, Linda S. Schearing, and Valarie H. Ziegler, eds. Eve & Adam: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Readings on Genesis and Gender.
• John Milton. Paradise Lost. Norton Critical Edition. Ed. by Gordon Teskey.
• Mark Twain. The Diaries of Adam and Eve.
• Diana Hacker. A Pocket Style Manual. 5th edition.

Supplemental reading assignments will be made available through handouts or electronic reserves.