ENG 3383 - Fall 2026 - Mariano

From the haunted women of Gothic fiction to the defiant heroines of contemporary novels, how have women been depicted in American literature, and what do these depictions reveal about the relationship between culture, power, and lived experience? This course explores how literature has constructed, reflected, and challenged societal ideals of femininity and womanhood through the use, among other things, of gendered metaphors (e.g. “motherland,” “virgin wilderness”), feminine archetypes like the femme fatale, the tragic mulatto, and the feminine grotesque; and allegorical cultural symbols (e.g. Statue of Liberty, Columbia, Lady Justice). Course work includes several analytic paper projects, discussion posts, writing workshops, and a final exam.