ENG 477 - Gender and Literature: The Books

Giovanni's Room is a 1956 novel by James Baldwin. The book focuses on the events in the life of an American man living in Paris and his feelings and frustrations with his relationships with other men in his life, particularly an Italian bartender named Giovanni whom he meets at a Parisian gay bar.

Giovanni's Room is noteworthy for bringing complex representations of homosexuality and bisexuality to a reading public with empathy and artistry, thereby fostering a broader public discourse of issues regarding same-sex desire. - from Wikipedia

The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It is also widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism. The novel's blend of realistic narrative, incisive social commentary, and psychological complexity makes The Awakening a precursor of American modernist literature; - from Wikipedia 

Paradise is a 1997 novel by Toni Morrison. According to the author, Paradise completes a "trilogy" that begins with Beloved (1987) and includes Jazz (1992). The novel is structured into nine sections. The first is named "Ruby" after the town on which the book centers. The rest are named for women implicated variously in the life of the town and the Convent. The Convent women are Mavis, Grace (known as "Gigi"), Seneca, Divine (whose name is actually "Pallas"), and Consolata (also known as "Connie"). The Ruby women – or children, in the case of Save-Marie – are Patricia and Lone. Though the chapters are named for specific characters, in telling their stories, Morrison tells the parallel histories of the town of Ruby and the Convent 17 miles south of it, and how the men of Ruby become intent on destroying the Convent women. - from Wikipedia

Dawn (1987) is the first novel in Lilith's Brood  a collection of three works by Octavia E. Butler. They were previously collected in the now out of print volume, Xenogenesis. The collection was first published under the current title of Lilith's Brood in 2000. Throughout the Xenogenesis trilogy themes of sexuality, gender, race, and species are explored. The trilogy parallels the story of African slaves in America and the conflict that later generations of African Americans feel regarding their integration into American society. - from Wikipedia

The Round House is a novel by American writer Louise Erdrich first published on October 2, 2012. The Round House follows the story of Joe Coutts, a 13-year-old boy who has become frustrated with the poor investigation into his mother's gruesome attack and sets out to find his mother's attacker with the help of his best friends, Cappy, Angus, and Zack. Like most of Erdrich's other works, The Round House is set on an Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota .Indigenous reservation judicial law is a constant element in The Round House, as well as  the difficulties Indigenous women face and how their struggles stem from misogynistic perceptions about sexuality, tribal identity, and gender.