tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334205599297722121.post7158641256357294773..comments2023-12-06T14:43:06.715-08:00Comments on Transwoman Times: I Can Be Healed; I Wish I Could Heal ThemJustine Valinottihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10852069587181432102noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334205599297722121.post-50780412994260176262009-09-22T04:21:55.436-07:002009-09-22T04:21:55.436-07:00I can't say I've read those stories, but a...I can't say I've read those stories, but at least I know to avoid them now. :)EdMcGonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05892046331126818396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334205599297722121.post-88586294825633830372009-09-19T23:25:44.552-07:002009-09-19T23:25:44.552-07:00Ed, I wish any Shakespeare at all had been include...Ed, I wish any Shakespeare at all had been included in that class. I agree with you about "The Bell Jar," but it still would've been better than most of what we read.<br /><br />The highlight of the reading list was Walt Whitman's poetry. Then there were three novels, none of which I'd heard of, much less read before the course: Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton's "Who Would Have Thought It?," Julia Ward Howe's "The Hermaphrodite" and Frank Norris's "The Octopus." All were written in the later part of the 19th Century and were forgotten until recently. They all dealt with, in one way or another, the way gender roles of the time affected one aspect or another of society. Of the three, "Hermaphrodite"--which Howe never finished and was not published until about 100 years after her death--was the most interesting. It dealt with what happened when the eponymous character's father decided to raise her as a male. It was certainly ahead of its time, at least conceptually.<br /><br />The majority of the reading list, however, consisted of books and articles by gender theorists who fancied themselves as literary scholars, or vice versa. It was deadly dull, and what's truly unfortunate was that the literature was used to undergird the theories; I would have preferred it the other way around.<br /><br />Oh, well. You live and learn, right?Justine Valinottihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10852069587181432102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334205599297722121.post-84874030927120577622009-09-19T03:24:08.710-07:002009-09-19T03:24:08.710-07:00When you mention that class, I was trying to think...When you mention that class, I was trying to think what books I would include in such a class. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night comes to mind immediately.<br /><br />Arguably, Sylvia Plath's Bell Jar could be in there too, although I found the book a bit too self-pitying.<br /><br />Now you have me curious: What books were in that class?EdMcGonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05892046331126818396noreply@blogger.com