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French and Francophone Women Writers

Please note: this course will become available for registration starting January 1, 2013

Discover. Learn about the struggles, seductions, and solitudes of French women writers in a self-paced online course that offers a survey of women’s writing in France from the Middle Ages to today.

Explore. You’ll read the texts of pioneering women writers and explore their influences on the history and culture of Western Europe and listen to modern scholars’ perspectives on their works.

Interact. After viewing the lectures and doing the reading, you’ll post your comments and questions on the class message board, and engage in a lively online discussion with the instructor.

About the instructor

Dr. Sage Goellner is a faculty associate in Continuing Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she teaches French and directs language programs. She has research interests in Francophone literature, immigration studies, and women’s writing. Her publications have appeared in The French Review.

How the course works

In audio and video material, experts share their lectures on women authors’ relation to politics, colonialism, marriage and motherhood, philosophy, and self-representation. You can view the material at any time that’s convenient for you, and post your reactions to the class message board.

Lecture topics

• Héloise The medieval woman writer Heloise (1101-1162) had a supreme intellect and became a successful independent abbess after her ill-fated affair with the philosopher Peter Abelard.
• Christine de Pisan Italian by birth, the groundbreaking scholar Pizan is considered by many as a “first feminist.” Her Book of the City of Ladies is an historical chronicle written during the early Renaissance in defense of women.
• Madame de Staël The French-Swiss Germaine Necker was a famous political philosopher who wrote about the history of ideas and favored the French Revolution.
• Marceline Desbordes-Valmore Desbordes-Valmore has been called one of the finest French poets of her time. Not only did she explore themes of motherhood, love, and poverty, her writings also bear witness to the French colonial project in Guadeloupe.
• George Sand Sand is known as a complex, cigar-smoking young woman who dressed in men’s clothing and took a man’s name as her nom de plume. She would write to defend prostitutes, the poor, and the working class.
• Colette Actress, writer, and beautician Colette defined what it meant really to be a woman, and pushed the envelope of public sexuality beyond even what she believed she could do.
• Simone de Beauvoir Feminist philosopher Beauvoir’s overreaching theme is that of the role of the woman in twentieth-century society. All the aspects of a life – as a woman, an intellectual, and a writer – were laid out in detail for readers.
• Hélène Cixous Born and raised in Arabic-speaking Algeria with a mother tongue of German and a native language of French, Cixous once wrote, “I was nobody.” Cixous embraces this otherness and writes experimental texts interweaving poetry and prose.
• Assia Djebar Born in 1936, this Algerian novelist and filmmaker is considered one of North Africa’s most famous authors. Her works underscore the painful involvement of France with its former colony Algeria and women’s roles in postcolonial Algeria.

Comments from past participants:
“This course brought me back to my roots. It was stimulating. The multimedia aspect made it all the more rich.” 

“This has been a beautiful course. I have learned so much. I feel I have gained a timeline for feminist writing in the most soul-searching and yet fully embodied French way.”

“I would rate this course as very high quality (wouldn't expect anything less from UW-Madison!). The readings were do-able, the lectures were very insightful and helpful, participants' comments were stimulating, and the summaries each week very thoughtful.”

Costs

Registration for French and Francophone Women Writers is $99. Work at your own pace and take up to a year to finish.

Contact

Dr. Sage Goellner
University of Wisconsin-Madison Continuing Studies
21 N Park St., 7th Floor
Madison, WI 53715
sgoellner@dcs.wisc.edu

How to register

Online: Register now online with our secure server.

Mail: Print and mail our registration form.

Telephone: Call 608-262-2451 or toll-free 800-725-9692 to register. Our phone is answered M-F, 7:00 am-4:30 pm Central Time. At other times please leave a message, and we will return your call.