Ellen Peel

Ellen Peel teaches a so-called seminar in feminist criticsms that is cross-listed as a Women's Studies seminar. What this means is that, rather than hire a professor specializing in feminist criticism, the department thinks it's economical and crafty to let Dr. Peel teach both at the same time. If your intention is to become familiar with the feminist movement of the sixties and seventies and are amused by constant tangential discussions of cats and decades-old activism, then this class is for you. If, however, you are there to receive in depth exposure to feminist literary criticism after 1980, then don't touch this class. This presents a problem because noone else teaches this class in the department. In addition to this shallow, feel-good class format, her grading techiques are Fascistic at best. Her obsessive compulsive grading techniques involve a three page analysis of your work that begins by oversimplifying your thesis and is followed by a copyediting editing extravaganza, as well as comments that are never in the constructive critical vein. Behind all of this I sense the despair and pathological vindictiveness of a detached and out-dated professor whose conception of feminist criticism is equally ancient and sad. Further, unless you find the fact that she went to Yale grounds for unquestioning acceptance of her syllabus, lecture style, and grading, you will be frustrated and unsatisfied with every aspect of the class. Also, though I am in the Lit department, women's studies students should be wary of this class: she elicits foofy, irrelevant class discussion and then demands Ph.D. level scholarship and writing in the papers (and is MUST be in perfect MLA style). I don't know what a Women's Studies grad seminar should entail, so I can't speak for those folks who took the class. However, for a graduate literature class, it was severely lacking in the rigor of content and discussion necessary for a complete and CURRENT understanding of feminist literary criticism.

Prof. Peel and prof. Green planned this course very well. The reading is great, the music is cool, and I really learned a lot from these two ladies. The environment of the class is highly structured, but this is to the students benefit. There are in depth discussions of the music and c and literature, that are very interesting. Each professor, handles their area of the course very well. The personalities of the instructors are very different, ans so, complement each other very well.I would recomend this class to anyone who likes to read books with macabre themes.