Class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays 9 to 10:15 AM in Brunet 133
A History of Women, A History of Gender Representations
Jan 14: Course Introductions: Biography, History and Representations
Jan 16: Women’s history, sexuality and gender studies: An overview
Class reading: Merry Wiesner-Hanks, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Third Edition. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
READ Chapter 1, pp. 17-49 (on BlackBoard)
Bibliography Assignment: Sources on Joan of Arc (due FRIDAY Jan 24th)
I. Joan the Visionary
Jan 21: Childhood and historical reality
This biography gives us a remarkable amount of information on Joan’s childhood. Pay attention to the sources of information that Taylor draws upon. Consider the ways in which Joan’s character is described and how the historical records about her life distort what we know of her.
Class reading: Larissa Juliet Taylor, The Virgin Warrior, Prologue & Chapter 1 (pp. xxi–xxv, 1-17)
*Response Paper 1 on Q: What is the difference between memory and history and how does it inform the picture we are given of Joan of Arc?
Jan 23: Peasant realities and saintly role-models
Given what you read about the rural life and work of people like Joan, it is a wonder that any girl would leave her village. Consider the ways in which her religious beliefs provided her the assurance of her convictions to press on. What made her a credible visionary to others? How did her intelligence and skill in “performance” (esp at Poitiers) propel her into a leadership role?
Class reading: 1. Taylor, Chapters 2 & 3 (pp. 18-50)
2. Merry Weisner-Hanks, “Women, Religion and Gender” (on BB)
**Research Bibliography Assignment 1 due FRIDAY by 5 pm
II. Joan the Military Leader
Jan 28: A Girl Inspiring Men – From the Siege of Orleans to Rouen
Given the predominantly misogynist attitude toward women in the fifteenth-century, it may seem improbably that Joan, a peasant maid of Lorraine, could lead any group of men, let alone inspire an army already defeated by overwhelming odds. How do we explain the anomalous behavior and unorthodox gender role of Joan, the warrior? What type of gender violence did most women face as victims of war?
Class reading: 1. Taylor, Chapters 4 & 5 (pp. 51-91)
Scenes from “Joan of Arc, The Messenger” (2000) Directed by Luc Besson, shown in class
Jan 30: Myth-making of Joan of Arc
Pisan’s poem creates a new image of Joan as the heroine of France. As you read the poem and the preface to The Book of the City of Ladies, consider the author’s point of view and her audience. What explains Pisan’s inspiration for this poem?
Class readings: 1. The “Querelle des Femmes” in the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries, Fairchilds, Ch 1, pp. 15-31 (on BB)
2. Christine de Pisan, “Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc” and selections from The Book of the City of Ladies (on BB)
3. Deborah Fraioli, “Why Joan Never Became an Amazon” (on BB)
*Response Paper 2 on the Q: Why did Joan never become an Amazon? (Consider Fraioli’s interpretation against the evidence in the primary source “Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc“)
Feb 4: Losses and Setbacks
Where did the interests of Joan and the King diverge? Given her military setbacks, how do you explain her determination to continue the war? How does divine inspiration guide her choices? Had she lost sight of her mission?
Class reading: 1. Taylor, Chapter 6 (pp. 92-113)
III. Joan the Convicted Heretic
Feb 6: Captured by the English, tried by Holy Inquisitors
Why do you think the Charles and his courtiers let Joan be taken by the English? How do the criminal convictions she faced fit with her actions? Why is the choice of the trial location and examiners so important?
Class reading: Taylor, Chapters 7 & 8 (pp. 114-138) do not read all of chapter 8!
Feb 11: The Trial Records, Pt. 1
Hobbins spends a great deal of time in the introduction explaining how this was put together. Pay attention to the editing of this book and how this primary source is put together. How does the editor defend the “reliability” of these trial documents? A heretic is someone who teaches false dogma. Why is Joan being tried as a heretic? Does the court seem “just” in its legal procedures? Consider the ways in which Joan tries to outsmart her interrogators. How do they respond?
Class reading: 1. “The Preparatory Trial” in Hobbins (ed.), The Trial of Joan of Arc, READ pp. 1-19 and 33-85
*Review guidelines for Essay 1. Due Monday, February 23rd
Feb 13: The Trial Records, Pt. 2
Did the examiners give Joan every opportunity to redeem herself? Where do you see the suspension of judgment on the part of the inquisitors? Or did the trial condemn her from the beginning?
Class reading: 1. “The Preparatory Trial” pp. 86-116, and selections from
2. “The Ordinary Trial” in Hobbins (ed.), The Trial of Joan of Arc, pp. 118-178.
**READ, pp. 118-124, SKIM articles 1-70 (pp. 124-155), READ pp. 157-178**
3. Scenes from “Saint Joan” (1957) Directed by Otto Preminger, shown in class
Feb 18: Joan’s Recantation, Relapse and Execution
In your opinion, did her punishment fit her crimes? Consider the criminalization of her cross-dressing and idolatry. What were the boundaries of gender and sexuality that women were expected to respect? How did certain women, such as Joan, successfully transgress these boundaries? How did Joan’s accusers use her transvestism as a religious sin, if not a social threat? In your opinion, does Joan’s relapse show a weakness of character?
Class reading: 1. Taylor, chs. 8&9 (pp. 139-171) and finish The Trial, pp. 178-203
2. Bonnie Wheeler, “Joan of Arc’s Sword in the Stone” (on BB)
Scenes from “The Passion of Joan of Arc” (1928) directed by Theodore Dreyer, shown in class
Feb 20: From Rehabilitation to Canonization
What inspired the rehabilitation trial of Joan of Arc? How was it successful?
Class reading: 1. Taylor, ch. 10 and Epilogue (pp. 172-190)
2. The Trial, pp. 204-218
**Essay 1 due Monday, Feb 23rd by 1 pm**
IV. Women’s Education, Gendered Work, and “The Woman Question”
Feb 25: Women and Scientific Learning
How do we understand the shift in attitudes toward women’s education? Did women have an Enlightenment? Consider how Findlen makes the case for being “on the verge” of science. What were the gendered understandings of education and knowledge that dictated even the most privileged, elite women’s course of study?
Class reading: Paula Findlen, “Women on the Verge of Science: Aristocratic Women and Knowledge in the Early Eighteenth-Century” (Posted on BlackBoard)
Hand out Independent Research Guidelines
Feb 27: Library Session
This session will be focused on your Independent Research for this course. Consider a topic that allows you to delve deeply into questions of biography, history and representation as they relate to Joan of Arc or Marie Antoinette. The possibilities are nearly endless!!
Research presentation by Lynda Kachurek. Submit your idea for a research topic by Friday, Feb 28th.
*Oral Reports on your research topics given March 19th. Proposal and bibliography due FRIDAY March 20th.
March 3: Women in the Gendering of Work
In this set of readings will be examining how gender roles influenced the family economy and the public attention to an elite subculture of sex workers called the “demimonde.” Consider the possibilities and limitations that women faced as they sought ways to earn a living.
Class readings: 1. Jacob D. Melish, “The Power of Wives: Managing Money and Men in the Family Businesses of Old Regime Paris”
2. Nina Kushner, “The Business of Being Kept: Elite Prostitution as Work” (Both readings posted on BlackBoard)
*Response Paper 3: question TBA
March 5: Female Authorship and the Salons
The Woman Question is brought into the foreground when literary giants like Moliere consider it a subject of farce. What does social criticism do to further the problem of women’s education? What effect did the salon culture have upon men?
Class reading: 1. Claude Dulong, “From Conversation to Creation” in A History of Women in the West: Renaissance and Enlightenment Paradoxes Edited by Natalie Zemon Davis and Arlette Farge, pp. 395-419. (on BB)
2. Moliere, The Learned Ladies (“Les Femmes Savantes” 1672), dramatic reading in class.
***SPRING BREAK***
V. Marie-Antoinette the Blue-Blooded
Mar. 17: Antonia’s Beginnings at the Hapsburg Court
What were the greatest aspirations for the young duchess, given all that was available to her? How do you characterize the designs that her mother, Maria-Theresa, had for her? Which interests did Maria-Theresa’s serve when choosing a spouse for her daughters?
Class reading: 1. Evelyn Lever, Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France, Chs. 1-3 (pp. 3-26)
2. Larry Wolff, “Hapsburg Letters: The Disciplinary Dynamics of Epistolary Narrative in the Correspondence of Maria Theresa and Marie-Antoinette” on BB
Mar. 19: Public ceremony and private pastimes
How did M-A and her courtiers spend their time? In what ways did life at Versailles exemplify the “domestication” of the nobility?
Class reading, 1. Lever, chs. . 4-6 (pp. 27-53)
**ORAL REPORTS ON FINAL PROJECTS given in class
***Proposal and annotated bibliography of independent research due FRIDAY***
VI. Marie-Antoinette’s Image Problem
March 24: Fulfilling the role of queen
Marie-Antoinette faced enormous pressures to fulfill her public role as queen of France. To what extent does the biography reveal how she internalized these pressures? The power that she had to address those who accused her of being a bad queen? How did her Austrian ties pose a political threat to the French state?
Class reading: 1. Lever, chs. 7-10 (pp. 54-86)
***Tonight! FREEMAN LECTURE, Dr. Pippa Holloway. 7:30 PM in the CWIC Commons ***
Response Paper on lecture – Write a 500-word response to the lecture, due Friday at 5 pm.
March 26: French Queens and Salic Law
How did Marie-Antoinette understand the roles of wife and mother?
Class reading: 1. Lever, chs. 11-14 (pp. 87-121)
2. Fairchilds, ch 12 “Rulers” (on BB)
***Hand out Guidelines for Essay 2 assignment, due Wednesday, April 15***
March 31: Mistresses, Lovers and the Problem of Happiness
How did the queen’s isolation at court encourage her to delve into other pursuits?
Class reading: 1. Lever, chs. 15-20 (pp. 122-172)
2. Clare Crowston, “Madame Deficit” (on BB)
Response paper 4: What does Claire Crowston demonstrate about Marie-Antoinette’s reputation as “Madame Deficit” and how does it fit into her larger argument about credit, fashion and sex?
April 2: Scandalous Behavior? Or easy scapegoating? The Diamond Necklace Affair
In what ways did M-A’s court blunders affect the public’s opinion of her?
Class reading: 1. Lever, chs. 21-24 (pp. 173-207)
2. Sara Maza, “The Diamond Necklace Affair Revisited: The Case of the Missing Queen” (on BB)
VII. Marie-Antoinette, Victim of the French Revolution
April 7: Rebellion and Reaction
How did M-A confront the public challenges to what they saw as despotism? How did she respond to the call for liberty and equality?
Class reading: 1. Lever, chs. 25-28 (pp. 208-241)
2. Selections from Mme Campan and revolutionary republican women (on BB)
Apr. 9: Taken captive by the mob, the prisoners plan their escape
What role did M-A play in the flight to Varennes? Did her family ties to Austria help or hurt her in the end? Why did the world of pornography choose the queen as their favorite subject?
Class reading 1. Lever, chs. 29-31 (pp. 242-268)
2. Lynn Hunt, “The Many Bodies of Marie-Antoinette” (on BB)
Apr. 14: The fall of the monarchy
To what extent were the events leading to the king’s death contingent upon the prevailing climate of the Revolution? What protection did M-A and her have, if any, while imprisoned and awaiting trial? How did she meet the end of the monarchy?
Class reading: 1. Lever, chs. 32-34 (pp. 269-291)
2. Pierre Saint-Armand, “Terrorizing Marie-Antoinette (on BB)
***Essay 2 due Wednesday by 5 pm***
April 16: The death of Marie-Antoinette
On what grounds was the queen put to death? To what extent was she a victim of the Terror? What responsibility did her execution and the execution of her children play to end the Old Regime?
Class reading: 1. Lever, chs. 35, 36 & Epilogue (pp. 292-309)
2. Madame de Stael, “Reflections on the Trial of the Queen” (on BB)
3. Carlyle, The French Revolution (selections on BB)
April 21 & 23: Class presentations of independent research
****Finished report of findings due Friday, April 24th ****
***April 29 (Wednesday) 2-5 pm Final Exam ***