HONR 238B Images of Masculinity in American Literature and Film
MW 6:00pm-9:15pm
Dr. Sibbie O'Sullivan, Lecturer in University Honors
HONR238B has been cancelled for Summer 2003.
What's a nice gal like me doing in a place like this??? Rambo to the left of me, Puffy to the right, and men as far as the eye can see. What do men really want, anyway? What does our society want from them? How do we learn to read the multilayered images of masculinity? This course will tackle these questions and many more, including: 1) Is there a prevailing male myth in America? 2) How do we reread male experience to see it more clearly? 3) How many types of American men are there? 4) Has the American male changed throughout the 20th century? To answer these questions, we will look at what American masculinity was in the past, as well as what images are in place today.
This course requires class discussion and intense consideration of the reading. Texts: Shane, The Damnation of Theron Ware, If He Hollers Let Him Go, Unforgiven, Sands of Iwo Jima, Johnny Get His Gun, and various stories and essays. Assignments include a group presentation, three papers and active participation.
Sibbie O'Sullivan is one of the first college professors to create a course that deals exclusively with issues of American masculinity. O'Sullivan is an award-winning author who writes both academically and creatively. Her essay "Love and Friendship/Man and Woman" in The Sun Also Rises, originally published in The Arizona Quarterly, is also in Hemingway, Seven Decades of Criticism, Linda Wagner-Martin, editor. Her personal essay "Out of the Loop" is listed under Notable Essays in the 2000 edition of The Best American Essays, Robert Atwan, editor. O'Sulivan's poems have appeared in many publications, and her dramas have been performed in both Washington, D.C. and New York. She is the recipient of two teaching awards.
CORE--Literature
Maintained by The University Honors Program
Comments and questions may be directed to dhebert@deans.umd.edu