This is a self-evaluation and exercise guide for each unit. It will provide some startup questions, supplementary theoretical texts that will help you navigate the theoretical aspects of the course and that are covered by prior courses in the Faculty of English Language and Literature. To facilitate reading, all selections have been made from The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, 2nd edition. It will also provide some multiple-choice exercises that will help you gauge your understanding of the unit’s material.
Preparatory questions:
Have you ever heard of anorexia, bulimia, agoraphobia? In what context?
Why do you think people are willing to subject their bodies to extreme treatments of diet, surgery, or exercise?
Think of famous fat people. How are they portrayed by culture?
Ageism is the bias against either very old or very young people. How are old people usually portrayed as? How does culture/the law treat the old?
Think of famous old people. How are they portrayed by culture?
Think of the concept of the “desperate (suburban) housewife”: what images are attached to it?
What do you think about Idgie and Ruth’s relationship?
Do you think Evelyn Couch is justified in wanting to commit suicide?
Supplementary readings:
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “Capital” (all excerpts)
Hélène Cixous, “The Laugh of the Medusa”
