Writing about Literature: Women's Work

What do the Wife of Bath, Homer’s Penelope, Arachne, the Lady of Shalott, Anni Albers, Jill Zarin, Ramona Singer (too many other Real Housewives to list here) all have in common? They all worked in fashion­ and textiles. Women have been producing textiles since before anyone ever put pen to parchment or even a stylus to clay or papyrus. How have literary texts represented or preserved or illuminated or even obscured this history of women’s work?

This class will explore how women’s social and economic roles – and literary representations thereof – evolved in response to progressively mechanized textile production technologies – from the warp-weighted loom to the spinning jenny, the Singer sewing machine, and even Etsy. How can ancient weavers like Penelope and Arachne help us appreciate the social mobility and cultural work of medieval women like the Wife of Bath, who derives her wealth from the textile trade? How can the Wife of Bath help us interpret the cultural work of today’s fast fashion influencers and would-be girl bosses? 

Assignments will include: short explications, scholarly article and monograph reviews, as well as a final research paper.