HAND OUT:

Imaginarul feminitii.

Femininity and Visual Culture

Prof. Mihaela URSA

Description: This course studies theories and imagery of gender stereotyping of women. The selection of texts and images follows a thematic criterion. The professor follows a few biographies of ideas: the myth of the seducer Don Juan-Casanova, Freudian complexes of Oedipus and Electra, the myth of the feminine Other. The lectures address the exhibition of body-codes in the relation between masculine and feminine and in its variation with the identity/ otherness component. Students are compelled to develop humanistic thinking, argumentative writing, gender decoding in image analysis, as well as acquire knowledge in comparative literature, philosophy or anthropology.

Syllabus: Urmtorul desfurtor calendaristic este orientativ, el putnd s sufere modificri, anunate la curs, cu cel puin o sptmn nainte ca ele s devin active. Pentru cursuri, coordonatorii de grup sunt rugai s trimit n fiecare sptmn un mail pentru a primi pdf.-ul cursului din sptmna anterioar. Cu aceeai ocazie, se vor face i alte sugestii de lectur sau se vor trimite alte materiale adiionale, acolo unde exist. 29 februarie + 7 martie - Introductory Unit. Course presentation. In this lecture, Professor Mihaela Ursa explains the theme of the course. The relations between visual culture, gender studies, comparative literature and cultural studies are interrogated. The professor than situates the definition of sex and gender in relation to the culture-nature dialectics and to gender stereotyping. 14 martie - Unit 2: Gender stereotyping: I. Masculine universalism This is the first of the three lectures dedicated to gender stereotyping. The masculine and the feminine are frequently understood in terms of a unique nature. Men and women become, in this view, particulars of the masculine essence: the first, fully accomplished, the second, deviant and unaccomplished. The animal and the pupil are favorite images of the universalist stereotype. TEXT ANALYSIS: The Taming of the Shrew (reading and interpretation in a second course). 21 martie - Unit 3: Gender stereotyping: II. Masculine-feminine dualism

The second lecture on gender stereotyping regards the Manichean opposition between men and women. Whether it is conceived as ineffable in nature or as the most wicked human being, the woman is seen in opposition to the man. The professor will analyze the witch and the lover as favorite images of this dualist stereotype. 28 martie Seminar: Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita i Marguerite Duras, Amantul cu maximum 4 moderatori de discuie, cte 2 pentru fiecare roman 4 aprilie - Unit 4: Gender stereotyping: III. Feminine easement: the supporting woman The third lecture on gender stereotyping addresses the idea that women are auxiliary in nature and should only partake in the development of their masculine partners. The professor will show the rooting of this stereotype in the dualism nurture vs. nature and will analyze, as metaphors of predilection for this fallacy, the image of the wife and the prostitute. Seminar: Virginia Woolf, O camer separat cu maximum 2 moderatori de discuie. 11 aprilie - Seminar: Salman Rushdie, Ruinea; Mario Vargas Llosa, Elogiu mamei vitrege 25 aprilie - Unit 5: Body codes, gender messages In this lecture, Professor Mihaela Ursa addresses the idea that happy love is the result of a faithful observation of a certain ritual and algorithm. The analysis is conducted on the body codes Ovid recommends in his Art of love and on parallel recommendations of women magazines such as Elle, Cosmopolitan, etc. Do not forget to bring to this course either 1 image, or 1 piece of article from a popular magazine to compare and interpret via Ovid. ACESTE TREI NTLNIRI VOR FI RECUPERATE N LUNA MAI, DUP CUM AM CONVENIT. V ROG FACEI LECTURILE LA TIMP. 2 mai - Unit 6: Confrontation and love This lecture addresses the particular relations between love and power, most visible in scenarios of seduction. Seduction is often represented as a fierce battle between a man and a woman, such as it shall be analyzed in a comparison between Tirso de Molinas, The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest and in Giacomo Casanovas, Memoirs. TEXT ANALYSIS. Do not forget to read the play and at least 50 pages of the Memoirs of Casanova. 9 mai - Unit 7: Representations of the seductress With this lecture starts an investigation of one of the most resistant cultural stereotypes regarding womanhood: that women are devils companions and that evil itself comes through their mediation. Important roots of this idea are to be found in cosmo-and anthropo-genetic narratives (Eve and Pandora in the Genesis and, respectively, Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days - TEXT ANALYSIS). 16 mai - Unit 8: Feminine identity under construction

Starting from the idea that gender identity is constructed by social action, Professor Mihaela Ursa interprets fairy tales as a source of social manipulation and of gender formation. Rites of puberty are residual in narratives of feminine development in the tales collected by the Grimm brothers, Charles Perrault, written by Hans Christian Andersen or transformed into movies by Disney. 23 mai - Prima parte: seminar (Sei Shonagon, nsemnri de cpti maximum 2 moderatori de discuie). A doua parte: verificarea pe parcurs, contnd 30% din media final. Tot atunci: predarea referatului/ -telor. 30 mai Unit 9: Symbolic gender implications This last lecture continues the analysis of the previous unit with a few symbolic and psychoanalytic analyses. Deriving conceptual frames from Bruno Bettelheim and Arnold van Gennep, fairy tales are seen as codified deposits of gender representations. 6 iunie - A reviewing survey will end the course. LECTURI OBLIGATORII (indiferent de ediie): toate textele discutate la curs i seminar, dup cum urmeaz: W. Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew Hesiod, Munci i zile. Theogonia Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita Marguerite Duras, Amantul Virginia Woolf, O camer separat Salman Rushdie, Ruinea Mario Vargas Llosa, Elogiu mamei vitrege Ovidiu, Arta iubirii Tirso de Molinas, The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest Giacomo Casanovas, Memoirs (mcar 50 de pagini) Facerea Basmele amintite din fraii Grimm, Ch. Perrault i Chr. Andersen Sei Shonagon, nsemnri de cpti Bibliografie facultativ (se poate consulta n orice limb sau ediie) Alter, Robert (ed.), Genesis: Translation and Commentary, Armstrong, Nancy, How Novel Thinks. The Limit of British Individualism from 1719-1900, Bataille, Georges, L' erotisme,

Baudrillard, Jean, Fatal strategies, Bayley, John, The Characters of Love: A Study in the Literature of Personality, Bettelheim, Bruno, The Uses of Enchantment Blake Hobby (ed.), Blooms Literary Themes: Human Sexuality, Bock, Gisela, Women in European History, Bruckner, Pascal, The Temptation of Innocence, Cixous, Helene, The Laugh of the Medusa. From New French Feminisms, Corbin, Alain, Jean-Jacques Courtine, Georges Vigarello (eds.), History of the Body, vol. IIII, De Rougemont, Denis, Mythes de l'Amour, Evola, Julius, The Metaphysics of Sex, Foucault, Michel, A History of Sexuality, Gagnon, John H. and William Simon, Sexual Conduct:The Social Sources of Human Sexuality, Holden, Lynn, Encyclopedia of Taboos, Gorton, Kristyn, Theorising Desire. From Freud to Feminism to Film, Laqueur, Thomas, Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud, Le Rider, Jacques, Modernity and Crises of Identity, Lipovetski, Gilles, The Third Woman, Luhmann, Niklas, Love as Passion. The codification of Intimacy, Ryan, Marie-Laure, Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media, Van Gennep, Rituri de trecere i Formarea legendelor, Wunenburger, J.J., La vie des images Evaluarea cursului (A NU SE LUA N CONSIDERARE CERINELE DE LA CAPTUL FIECRUI .pdf DE CURS, CI URMTOARELE): 1) Media este compus din 1 pct din oficiu + max. 3 pcte activitate + max. 3 pcte V.P. + max. 3 pcte referat. Vezi detalii mai jos. Referatul de 5-7 pagini va avea ca subiect un articol dintr-o istorie literar gender-biased, unde evaluarea critico-estetic este nlocuit de prejudecata de gen. Formatul lucrrii: caractere Times New Roman, 12 pcte, 1.5 spacing, justified, margins: 3cm sus-dreapta-jos, 3.5 cm stnga, cu 1 pagin de titlu (neinclus n numrul de pagini cerut) care va conine: numele, anul de master, titlul lucrrii, i nc 1 pagin xerox cu articolul ales. Termen de

predare: pn n 23 mai, ora 19, n format imprimat. Nu se accept lucrri trimise pe mail, acestea vor fi considerate netrimise. Lucrrile nepredate la timp sunt notate cu 0 pcte. Verificarea pe parcurs se susine n scris pe data de 23 mai, n cadrul cursului. Va consta n rezolvarea unei cerine pe un subiect creative-speculativ, pornind de la materialul studiat i cu posibilitatea de a accesa orice surse bibliografice pe parcursul rezolvrii cerinei. Activitatea la curs i seminar: maximum de 3 pcte alocate se acord pentru intervenii substaniale la cel puin jumtate din totalul ntlnirilor, fiind evaluat i calitatea comentariilor, dar i consecvena interaciunii. Pentru cazurile de TIMIDITATE ACUT, care ar impieta asupra acestei componente, max 2 pcte de activitate pot fi compensate prin realizarea unui referat suplimentar ASTFEL: Decupai sau scanai un articol dintr-o revist pentru femei pe care l putei asocia unei recomandri a lui Ovidiu din Arta iubirii (despre dragoste, comportamentul erotic, exigene cosmetice, tactici de seducie i manipulare etc.). Respectnd specificaiile tehnice deja formulate, comentai n 4-6 pagini despre corespondena (congruene i incongruene) dintre cele dou texte. TERMENUL de predare este identic cu al referatului obligatoriu. 2) Pentru situaii speciale, n care cursul nu poate fi frecventat din motive obiective: studenii aflai n aceast situaie sunt rugai s ia legtura de urgen, la nceputul semestrului, cu titularul de curs. Numai dup obinerea acordului verbal al profesorului, ei vor putea alege evaluarea pe baza a 5 teme, fiecare notat cu maximum 2 pcte, dup cum urmeaz: ASSIGNMENT 1: Read Shakespeares The Taming of the Shrew and write a comparative essay of 5-7 pages, analyzing the play in the light of the theoretical system of masculine universalism. To compare, use one of the movies made after the play (ex. 10 things I hate about you, the dedicated episode of the Blue Moon series etc.) Please specify the movie of your choice on the first page, after the title of your paper. DUE: May 2. ASSIGNMENT 2: Read the lines dedicated to Pandora in Hesiods Theogony. Works and Days, find a visual representation that you find most suited to illustrate the conception (painting, sculpture, photography) and explain your choice in an interpretation of 4-5 pages. Use the reference to the theory of masculine-feminine dualism. DUE: May 9. ASSIGNMENT 3: Find a piece or article in a woman magazine that you can relate to one of Ovids recommendation in The art of Love (regarding love, erotic behavior, cosmetic requirements, seduction techniques). Comment in 4-6 pages on the correspondence between

the two texts. Please attach a pdf. file containing the article and specifying its source and do not forget to specify which of Ovids recommendations you have picked. DUE: May 16. ASSIGNMENT 4: Find a fairytale of this kind in your own folklore (original or borrowed by a writer), resume it in a few lines and give it an interpretation of 5-7 pages, following the symbolic reading of rituals of initiation or rites of passage. DUE May 23. ASSIGNMENT 5: Find a piece of article in a literary history that you think is gender biased (i. e. the work of a writer is considered good or bad because she or he is a woman or a man), xerox its first page, attach the copy to your paper and interpret in 5-7 pages its gender fallacy. DUE May 30. CERINE: Lucrrile vor fi redactate n limba romn, ca fiiere word (cu denumirea standard: NumePrenume_temaNr.doc, adic IcsulescuGic_tema1.doc) i trimise pn la fiecare dat-limit pe mail la adresa mihaela_ursa@yahoo.com, ca attachment al unui mail cu subiectul: MAST-NumelePrenumele-temaNr (ex. pt. tema 1, subiectul mailului va fi MASTIcsulescuGic-tema1). Formatul lucrrii: caractere Times New Roman, 12 pcte, 1.5 spacing, justified, margins: 3cm sus-dreapta-jos, 3.5 cm stnga, cu 1 pagin de titlu (neinclus n numrul de pagini cerut) care va conine: numele, anul de master, titlul lucrrii. V rog s respectai termenele de predare, lucrrile nepredate la timp sunt notate cu 0 pcte.

. PENTRU ORICE PROBLEME LEGATE DE CURS, V ROG S M CONTACTAI LA ADRESA mihaela_ursa@yahoo.com, adresndu-mi un mail la al crui subiect ai nceput cu MASTER. V mulumesc!