Meeting Information
Spring 2020 (January 27, 2020 – May 4, 2020)
Mondays, 1-2:40 pm
GSB 110 and Downtown Oakland Senior Center
Instructors
Professor Ruth Saxton, Ph.D.
rsaxton@mills.edu
Mills Hall 301, office hours by appointment
Shelby Gibbs, Classroom Assistant
shelbygibbs12@gmail.com
Course Description
Fiction sets a cultural tone for what we believe to be true about ourselves and others. This course explores stories of aging in a society whose mainstream vision is marked by fear, loathing, refusal, reduction. Neither fairy godmother nor wicked witch, the older woman in contemporary fiction may surprise you with her passion, anger, and generosity. We will think critically about the ramifications of fiction. The course offers critical reading, theory, and analysis, and includes book discussions with Oakland seniors, culminating with a public scholarship presentation at the senior center.
Course Goals
Required Texts
The following texts must be purchased or borrowed, in any version:
- Doris Lessing, The Diaries of Jane Somers (we will only be reading Diary of a Good Neighbor if you can find a copy)
- Cathleen Schine, They May Not Mean To, But They Do
- Becky Birtha, Lover’s Choice (we will only be reading “In the Life”)
- Margaret Drabble, The Dark Flood Rises
- Mary Gordon, “The Liar’s Wife”
- Yiyun Li, Gold Boy, Emerald Girl (we will only be reading “The Proprietess” and “Sweeping Past”)
- Jean Davies Okimoto, The Love Ceiling
- Alice Munro, Dear Life (we will only be reading “Dolly”)
Other texts will be provided via links on the schedule.
Coming to Age 