This course will cover a wide variety of American authors writing in the post-World War II era who have written on topics related to gender. We will begin with the Beats (such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and others), move on to the Confessional poets (Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, for example), and then read literature written in the context of the important social movements of the 1960's and 1970;s— Second Wave Feminism, the Sexual Revolution, and the Gay Liberation movement. We will end the term with readings from the New York School, such as Kathy Acker and Patti Smith and others, like Jeanette Winterson, writing from the perspective of the postmodern era.

Evaluation will be based on class participation, weekly quizzes and response papers, and a research project, plus a final.