Spring, 2004
Dr. Paula R.
Backscheider
9082 Haley Center
pkrb@auburn.edu
(334) 844-9091
Description:
“The heart believes in the success of wild enterprises and in impossible felicities,” George Sand once wrote. This course studies texts and movies that describe dreams of romantic happiness, the hopes of unlikely lovers, and the idealistic or tragic endings of such stories. Romances have been considered dangerous since the modern form’s rapid rise to popularity in the eighteenth century. It has been accused of sending men to war, distracting them from important public responsibilities, and turning them into rapists. It has been described as giving women false hopes, of constructing their idea of happiness, and, above all, of leading them to cause men trouble.
This is not just a course for women. Men write romances and dream of the perfect love. Romances, like all popular fiction, influence the ideas and actions of individuals and societies. The class will explore some of the ways romances have contributed to our ideas of “masculine,” “feminine,” “pleasure,” and “happy marriage,” and we will spend some time testing the theory that men and women mean different things when they say “romantic relationship.” We will also look at some of the ways writers have adapted the romance form in order to reach more readers as they participate in social or political controversies.
We will read some theory, and literature and films will include both “high” and “mass” literature, but all of it will once have been wildly popular, and most of it continues to be so. Student groups will present their favorite romance, and there will be a mid-term, a final, and two papers, one based on their group’s selection.
Required Texts:
Syllabus:
Jan. 13: Introduction
15: "Love Intrigues" (on e-reserve) and selection from Deborah Tannen, You Just Don't Understand (hand-out).
20: Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice, pp. 1-105; from John Cawelti, Adventure,Mystery and Romance, pp. 5-42.
22: "Five Love Letters from a Nun to a Cavalier" (on e-reserve), and Pamela Regis, A Natural History of the Romance Novel, pp. xi-16. and 107-23.
27: "Pretty Woman"
29: Regis, A Natural History of the Romance Novel, pp. 19-50 and Patricia Koski, et al., "Romance Novels as Women's Myths" (e-reserve)
Feb. 3: All for Love
5: " " "
10: The MacGregors
12: All on e-reserve: from Claudine Herrmann, "Love and Madness," 55-80; Kay Mussell, "Paradoxa interview with Nora Roberts," 155-63; J.D. Robb, "Nora Roberts" from Kay Mussell, North American Romance Writers, 191-201.
19: Pamela Regis, "Complicating Romances and their Readers," 145-54 and Jeanne Dubino, "The Cinderella Complex," 103-118 (both e-reserve); Regis, A Natural History of Romance 183-204.
24: Mid-Term; Pride and Prejudice, chapters 1-4.
26: Pride and Prejudice
Mar. 2: Pride and Prejudice; Regis, A Natural History of the Romance Novel, pp. 75-84.
4: "Gone with the Wind," Catherine Clinton, "The Road to Tara," pp. 191-213 and 226-27.
6: Helen Taylor, "Gone with the Wind: The Mammy of Them All," 112-36.
9: Love Story
11: "Kate and Leopold"
16: A
Farewell to Arms
18: A Farewell to Arms
23: A Farewell to Arms; Robyn Donald, "Mean, Moody, and Magnificent," 81-84, and Jean Duncombe and Dennis Marsden, "Can Men Love?" 238-50.
25: PAPERS DUE
BREAK
Apr. 6: Presentation of group plans
8: Fantomina (e-reserve)
13: "Sweet Home Alabama"
15: Group rehearsals
20: Student group
22: Student group
27: Student group
29: Student group
Final Exam
Students who miss 3 days or more before mid-term will take a longer mid-term and the same is true for the final. For the final, that is a total of 3 days; in other words, I do not mean 3 before the mid-term and 3 more after it. This is a discussion and thinking course; your presence is important to the quality of the class.
No late work will be accepted without prior arrangements. Assignments are due at the beginning of class. The second paper is due 2 days after your group presents.
The password for e-reserve is "Eliza," for Eliza Haywood, the first great English writer of romances.