Greensboro, NC
W: 336-334-3975
academic@karenkilcup.org
Travel Regions: 3-10
Dr. Kilcup (Ph.D., Brandeis University) is Professor of American Literature at UNC Greensboro. Her teaching and research interests include nineteenth and early twentieth century American literature and culture; poetry and poetics; gender and women's studies; multicultural literatures, especially Native American; and humor. She was named a US National Distinguished Teacher by the National Education Association (1987) and was recently the Edna and Jordan Davidson Eminent Scholar Chair in the Humanities at Florida International University in Miami.
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American Women's Humor
Analyzing humor, E.B.White once wrote, is "like dissecting a frog; the process is discouraging to all but the most scientific mind." Bearing White's caution in mind, we will delicately seek to understand its workings as we enjoy some samples of the wide variety of American Women's humor, from the incredibly popular and outspoken newspaper columns of Fanny Fern to contemporary comic strips. We will explore such matters as the ways in which humor can work to include members of a group, how women's humor varies from men's humor, and the relationship between humor and power.
"Restless, Bold, and Unafraid": Nineteenth Century American Women's Writing
From temperance work to housing reform, abolition to ecology, nineteenth century American women were involved in opening literary expression to women and, at the same time, engaged in private and public efforts to a better society. Although much of their work has been lost until recently, we have recovered a range of powerful, humorous, and persuasive writing that intervenes in American social and cultural life. In this presentation, we will read a variety of short works, from poems to sketches to newspaper writing, exploring the courage, imagination, and energy of articulate women. We will ask such questions as: Who wrote, and why? What obstacles did women have to overcome to achieve self-expression? What means did they use to achieve their goals? What can their stories (both of their lives and work) tell us about today's life?
Robert Frost: Poet for the People
Defending Robert Frost from charges of nostalgia and folksy simplicity, Randall Jarrell wrote of the poet: "His wonderful dramatic monologues or dramatic scenes come out of a knowledge of the people that few poets have had...[he had] a final identifying knowledge of the deprived and dispossessed, the insulted and the injured." This presentation will focus on Frost's narrative-dramatic poems about rural women and country life, and audiences will discuss some of the following questions: What are some the problems and benefits of rural life? How does this life affect men and women differently? How did the historical events of Frost's early work (approximately 1890 to 1923 ) shape his poetry? Why has Frost been neglected by critics in the academy, and conversely, why has he been so admired by so-called "ordinary" readers? What do his poems teach us for today's life?
Requirements for Program: none
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