In this course, we will consider the role of the girl in literature, philosophy, and popular culture. Our primary literary texts will be Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, and Alice Munro’s Lives of Girls and Women. We will consider the theoretical works of thinkers such as Freud, DeBeauvoir, and Deleuze. Topics we shall cover will include the differences between girls and women, the infantilization and diminution of women, girls as a driving force in popular culture, and the reclamation of girlishness by movements such as the riot girls.
