GWSS 312 A: Money, Love and Marriage in Europe and America

Professor: Nektaria Klapaki

Email: nklapaki@uw.edu

Class Schedule (in-person): M/W, 10:30-12:20 (LOW 205)

Office: THO 225B

Office Hours (in person or via Zoom): M, 9:00-10:00 & by appointment

Zoom link:

https://washington.zoom.us/j/2656597688?pwd=MFJybXhoTVM5M3JJaXVxWG0ybmNZQT09Links to an external site.

Meeting ID: 265 659 7688

Course Description

Marriage for love or money?  The age-old clash between a romantic version of marriage versus one based on economic considerations captures a range of key issues, such as gender and class relations, feminist versus patriarchal ideology, and the relationship between desire, marriage, and capital/power.  Covering a broad chronological and geographical scope spanning across Europe (late 18^th- and early 19^th-century England), America (mid 19^th-century New York) and the Mediterranean (late 19^th- and early 20^th-century Greece), the course provides a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary examination of the relationship between desire, capital, and the institution of marriage through three case studies and four novels (alongside some of their film adaptations): Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813), Henry James’s Washington Square (1880), Konstantinos Theotokis’s Honor and Price (1912), and Alexandros Papadiamantis’s The Murderess(1903).  We analyze these novels by drawing on seminal texts in the fields of literature, history, anthropology, gender, feminist literary criticism and cultural studies.  Some of the specific topics we focus on are: forms of marriage payments; marriage settlements; the legal system of coverture; marriage as a form of patriarchal exchange; the marriage market; commodification of men and women in the marriage market; women and property rights versus women as property; the relation of dowries and fortunes to wo/men’s economic and social mobility; money and dowries as symbols of attitudes toward women and marriage; the relationship between women, wealth and desire in the 19^th-century Anglo-American and Modern Greek novel; the marriage plot in the 19^th-century Anglo-American novel; the trope of the blazon in the courtship novel.

Course Learning Objectives

• Analyze major themes in the history of marriage, dowry, and gender relations across different cultural contexts.
• Critically examine key texts from Anglo-American and Modern Greek novelistic traditions that explore the intersections of gender, marriage, desire, and capital.
• Evaluate the relationship between patriarchal and feminist ideologies as represented in literature and historical contexts.
• Apply interdisciplinary perspectives to interpret complex gender relations in various societal structures.
• Develop and articulate well-reasoned arguments about the role of economic considerations in romantic relationships and marriage institutions.
• Demonstrate enhanced critical thinking and analytical skills through literary analysis, class discussions, and written assignments.

Required Reading and Other Material

• A series of articles (available on Canvas)
• Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (New York: Open Road Integrated Media, Inc., 2016).

The entire book (above edition) is available in electronic format through the UW Libraries.

• Henry James, Washington Square (New York, NY: Open Road Integrated Media, Inc., 2016). The entire book (above edition) is available in electronic format through the UW Libraries.

Konstantinos Theotokis, What Price Honour? The Convict: Two Novellas, trans. from the Greek by J.M. Q. Davies (London: Colenso Books, 2020). The book is available for purchase at the UW Bookstore.

• A series of films and other audio-visual material (available online through links on Canvas).
• Please note: the Bibliography comprises additional articles and book chapters besided those required in the Course Schedule and Readings section. The additional articles and book chapters are completely optional and you can read them if you are interested in learning more about the topics discussed in the class.

Class Assignments and Grading

• Two in-class, closed-book quizzes  (15% each): 
• One in-class, closed-book midterm exam  (30%): 
• One in-class, closed-book final exam  (40%) OR one research paper (40%)

Grade scale

The following grade scale will be used to convert percentages to GPA points: