Transforming Identities in Literature This course is designed to develop techniques for reading and writing about literary works through the lens of our chosen theme: the transformation of identities (in terms of race, class, gender, etc.) in literary works.  We will read a range of plays, poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction across temporal and national boundaries, exploring the different critical methods and interpretive tools available to us.  Both the thematic and skill-building arcs of the course will culminate in a reading of Toni Morrison’s novel The Song of Solomon in the context of several different--and sometimes contradictory--critical and theoretical approaches.  Other readings will include Shakespeare’s Othello, Hwang’s M. Butterfly, essays by Virginia Woolf and Durga Chew Bose among others, and short stories by James Joyce, Margaret Atwood, and Octavia Butler.

Reading Women's Writing: Living a Feminist Life from Mary Wollstonecraft to Sara Ahmed In this course we will investigate the tradition of women's writing in English from the sixteenth century to the present day, focusing on the complex relationships among writing, sexuality, race, and gender.  We will consider the ways in which writers identifying as female respond to--and often subvert--traditional literary themes and conventions. An organizing focus of our reading will be the articulation or suppression of female anger and other related emotions in a variety of repressive contexts. Though our focus will be primarily on the interpretation of literary works, we will also develop an awareness of relevant debates in feminist theory, from Mary Wollstonecraft’s revolutionary contribution to notions of female education to Sara Ahmed’s concept of the feminist “killjoy.”  Other texts may include: Jane Austen, Mansfield Park; Margaret Cavendish, The Convent of Pleasure; Grace Cho, Tastes Like War; Brittney Cooper, Eloquent Rage; Harriet Jacobs, The Life of a Slave Girl; Toni Morrison, Sula; Carmen Maria Machado, Her Body and Other Parties; Meredith Talusan, Fairest; and Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, and Mrs Dalloway.

Gender, Power, and Politics on the Early Modern Stage (I) (Pre-1800) In this class we will explore the representation of gendered embodiment on the early modern stage, considering as we do so how theatrical embodiment intersects with other treatments of the body in early modern culture.  We will read both early modern and contemporary theoretical accounts of gender as performance, investigating among other issues the use of boy actors, the representation of specifically “female” disorders (e.g., “suffocation” or hysteria), the performance of maternity, and the treatment of same-sex eroticism. Of particular importance will be the representation of the articulate or angry woman as the “shrew” or “scold,” and we will begin the class with an investigation of so-called “shrew-taming” narratives. Primary readings will include: Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and The Winter’s Tale, Webster’s Duchess of Malfi, and Cavendish’s Convent of Pleasure. We will end the semester with a look at how this material plays out in our current political moment, focusing in particular on the representation of Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Christine Blasey Ford.

Reading Women's Writing: Living a Feminist Life from Mary Wollstonecraft to Sara Ahmed In this course we will investigate the tradition of women's writing in English from the sixteenth century to the present day, focusing on the complex relationships among writing, sexuality, race, and gender.  We will consider the ways in which writers identifying as female respond to--and often subvert--traditional literary themes and conventions, looking critically as we do so at our own interpretive assumptions as readers. An organizing focus of our reading will be the articulation and/or suppression of female anger and other related emotions in a variety of repressive contexts. Though our focus will be primarily on the interpretation of literary works, we will also develop an awareness of relevant debates in feminist theory, from Mary Wollstonecraft’s revolutionary contribution to notions of female education to Sara Ahmed’s concept of the feminist “killjoy.”  Other texts may include: Jane Austen, Mansfield Park; Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway; Toni Morrison, Sula; Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions; Brittney Cooper, Eloquent Rage; Carmen Maria Machado, Her Body and Other Parties; Kristen Roupenian, You Know You Want This, Rebecca Traister, Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger.

Critical Conditions: Gender, Literature, and Illness (Pre-1800) In this course we will explore the literary representation of illness and pain in a range of texts from the classical period to the present day, focusing in particular on the intersection of illness with questions of gender, race, and sexuality. Beginning with Sophocles’s tragedy Women of Trachis, we will explore the classical representation of acute pain in the context of early Greek medicine, before examining medieval and early modern literary works inspired by the Black Death, including selections from Boccaccio’s Decameron. The second half of the class will focus on modernist and contemporary accounts of illness, including Virginia Woolf’s treatment of both the 1918 influenza epidemic and so-called “shell-shock” in her novel Mrs Dalloway. We will intersperse our literary readings with theoretical explorations of cure, disability, and ableism by writers such as Eli Clare, as well as work from the emerging field of narrative medicine.

Virginia Woolf in Context In this seminar we will focus on the novels, essays, and short stories of Virginia Woolf, considering them in the light of her social, political, and artistic contexts and commitments.  We will explore in particular the tension in her work between Victorian values and aesthetics and the progressive goals of the modernist movement. Our readings will take us from the early novels (Voyage Out, Night and Day) to the later experimental works (To the Lighthouse, Orlando, The Waves). Some of the topics central to the seminar will be Woolf’s engagement with modernism and its key figures (such as James Joyce); her treatment of gender and sexuality in her essays and elsewhere; and her struggles with mental illness.  We will intersperse our reading of Woolf’s prose with consideration of some film versions of her work, and we will conclude the seminar with a reading of Michael Cunningham’s 1998 creative homage to Mrs. Dalloway: The Hours.

Marion Wells

Reviews and ratings for Marion Wells at Middlebury College.Marion Wells teaches Reading Literature, Reading Women's Writing, Gender,Power,Politics on Stage and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Marion Wells good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

Prof. Well is a bit of a harsh grader, especially when it comes to her essays and exams. Her exams are random passages that you have to recognize and she took off points for small things. Also, aside from a few authors, the class materials consisted of identical backgrounds and similar identities. It would have been valuable to read a diverse array of female writers. 

Overall a very good class, she chose interesting books to focus on but she has weird quizzes where asks where specific passages are from, some are obvious but others are harder. Its just a strange format.

this course was so interesting -- i loved seeing the modern connections in all the very old plays that we read. Professor Wells gives such helpful feedback and is always receptive to meeting with students. She is an expert at leading discussion and making everyone feel like their opinions are valid and important.