This course is a survey of contemporary women writers whose work has been translated from Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Catalan, or who are writing within a Romance Language tradition.
Their books cover many different topics and styles: from history to memoir, autofiction to thriller, fantasy to horror; migration and violence, politics and the family, race, class, and sexuality as well as gender, and much else. Amid all this variety, we will ask what if anything these texts may have in common.
Does it make sense to talk of “women’s writing” here? Does the fact that these authors all write or are fluent in a Romance language make this a meaningful category?
All texts will be made available and discussed in English, though students are welcome to read them in the original.