HENK0361AU Engelsk - Frit emne: OBS! Nyt kursus:Four Novels by women writers with male narrators

Iris Murdoch's first novel Under the Net (1954) has a male protagonist and narrator, Jake, a hack translator and would-be serious writer who in shifting, partly absurd, episodes encounters several male and females characters.

Jeanette Winterson's second novel The Passion (1987) is set in the Napoleonic wars. It has two narrators, Henri and Vilanelle, who both display mixtures of male and female elements, and it appears that Henri is the main protagonist and Vilanelle's importance is secondary.

Siri Hustvedt's third novel What I Loved (2003) is a story of epic scope with a male art historian, Leo Hertzberg, as narrator. His friendship with Bill Wechler, his relationships with women, his son, Matt, and Bill's son, Mark, are central in the novel which covers about forty years.

Her fourth novel The Sorrows of an American (2008) again has a male narrator, a psychoanalyst and therapist, Erik Davidsen, whose life and personal relationships are in focus and past memories and the present are interwoven. The Sorrows of an American is a family saga of epic scope.

The four novels are widely different but they have in common the use of male narrators from whose points of view the stories are told. We shall among other things discuss whether the narrators appears convincing. The four novels are challenging to read and may form the basis of fruitful discussions.

 Active participation and oral presentations are expected of the participants.