127013 KO Critical Readings in Literature (2023S)

This seminar has the aim of exploring the life and works of English author and activist Cicely Hamilton (1872-1952). Methodologically, the seminar combines approaches from literary studies, cultural studies, and literary and cultural history with the aim of re-discovering the manifold contributions of a prolific, if little-known, feminist.

Cicely Hamilton was a remarkable woman. She was a well-known actor, a playwright, contributed journalistic pieces, and wrote novels. She was moreover actively involved in the political events of her time: In the early twentieth century, she supported the suffragists and the suffragettes - i.e. movements that fought for women’s right to vote. During World War I (1914-1918), Hamilton helped to set up and run a hospital in France that assisted wounded soldiers. After the war, Hamilton continued her political and feminist activism, among others by writing pieces in support of birth control and in penning dystopian, anti-war novels.

Today, Hamilton’s works are surprisingly little-known, although they speak to contemporaneous concerns. The aim of this seminar is therefore to acquaint ourselves with Hamilton’s biography and her works, to situate them in the relevant cultural contexts, and to discuss Hamilton’s relevance for feminist debates in the twenty-first century. The seminar will moreover feature a guest workshop and discussion on Hamilton’s female contemporaries with Dr. Dr. Georgina Nugent-Folan.

The class will take place on campus in the form of a ‘Blockseminar’. One additional online guest lecture, which, however, is optional and not mandatory, is scheduled for 11.05.2023, 16:15 - 17:45.