In this course we’ll read contemporary women writers from a variety of backgrounds and with differing emotional investments, and look at how these authors use subtle style and careful craft to write about such emotions as fear, anger, joy, risk, trust. We’ll also explore the intense emotional reactions we have to some things we read, and try to understand exactly what they are, and why we have them. We’ll take up some provocative questions: What does it mean to “identify” with a character, really? How much of our own lives do we read into a character’s life? What does it mean to “escape” into a book? Why would someone want to do that, anyway? What does “being moved” by something we read involve? How do we enter worlds and beliefs very different from our own? Students will choose between writing two shorter or one longer paper, and will give a class presentation with others. Lively discussion, differences of opinion, and openness to other people’s points of view will be crucial in our class meetings. The reading list is not yet final, but may include such writers as Jeanette Winterson, Toni Morrison, Marilynne Robinson, Tsitsi Dangeremba, Julie Otsuka and one or two others.