The Unsex'd Female ....

I am now, officially, an "unsex'd female." Now, do not ask me what that means 'cause I'm not quite sure yet! "The Unsex'd Female: Women Writers in the French Revolution" module started today with all 3 participants (Professor Caroline Franklin, Rahima, & me). Yes, this is the class that has the 2 students. Very small class ... so small that we are meeting in her office! This has proved beneficial as she can pull books straight from her bookshelves and we have the internet at our fingertips if necessary.

So, "Unsex'd" met today and I think it may be a bit of a challenge. The main focus of this class is on Mary Wollstonecraft and her two popular works, Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman. Luckily, I have read both of these works, but I did not bank on the fact that my professor just PUBLISHED a book on Wollstonecraft! And of course she continually referred to her book, saying it was a great piece to look at for reference information. And you all say I have an ego! But generally speaking, Professor Franklin seems very amicable and I think we will all get along though she has constructed the course along the lines of a Research Masters rather than a Taught module. This is because, well ... I don't know why she did. But she did and Rahima and I will have to do a lot of outside reading to stay afloat.

So our assignkment this week (because we only meet once a week for two hours) is to read a poem called "The Unsex'd Female" which is a satire. The guy who write it, Pouwele I think, despises Wollstonecraft and a list of other female authors because they are more radical in their thinking. But he also admires other female authors because of their traditional, conservative views. At least that is what CF tells us. We have to read the poem and determien who he likes and dislikes and then research two in each category, preferably the obscure ones, and report back on Tuesday. Woohoo ... can't wait. :-)

Other than that, nothing else exciting. It is cold though which I dislike immensely. Oh well, I can't control the weather!