English 4710: Advanced Studies in Women and Literature
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Woolf as Writer, Reader, and Cultural Icon"
Tues. Thurs. 3:30-4:45 PM
Dr. Kristina Groover
In this course we will study Virginia Woolf as writer, as reader, and as cultural icon: as a prolific writer of novels, letters, diaries, and essays; as a reader of Greek philosophers, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and T. S. Eliot; and as the subject of films, plays, novels, paintings, photographs, poems, and songs. We will examine these texts not only through close reading, but also by researching the various contexts in which they were written – biographical, historical, and cultural. The class will be conducted as a seminar, with most class sessions devoted to discussion of the assigned texts. Students will present their own critical papers and research projects, lead class discussion, and respond to the work and ideas of others. Assignments will include weekly reading notes, short critical essays, and a researched seminar paper.
Texts will include Woolf’s novels Jacob’s Room, Mrs. Dalloway, and To the Lighthouse; selections from her diaries, essays, and letters; and the works of some contemporary writers influenced by Woolf.
Students are welcome to contact Dr. Groover for more information: grooverkk@appstate.edu.
Flyer for ENG 4710
