Today, we will be discussing Good Girls Don’t Wear Trousers in small groups on zoom. Each group has a time slot of ten minutes in which we will discuss a series of questions.
The groups and time slots are as follows:
12:40-12:50 Ella, Sophie, Denise, Christine
12:50-1:00 Samiha, Annie, Alyssa, Giselle
1:00-1:10 Dawn, Max, John, Edwin
1:10-1:20 Cecily, Naia, Carolina, Clara
1:20-1:30 Misha, Alexis, Giovanna, Emily
1:30-1:40 Valeria, Margarita, Sofia, Ivy
1:40-1:50 Daniel, Howard, Sally, Carla, Alicia
We will be discussing the following questions: How could we categorize Good Girls Don’t Wear Trousers in terms of genre? What kind of readership do we imagine the book would have? Do we notice anything – especially in terms of form and language – that marks the book as a translation? What specifically and why?
This is an experiment! We’ll see how this type of discussion works and if it turns out to be effective, it may become a regular part of our classwork together.
Homework:
- Read pgs. 80-118 of Good Girls Don’t Wear Trousers.
- Freewrite 1-2 paragraphs, reflecting on the reading. After finishing the novella, what do you think the trousers signify for Annetta? On p. 118, the last page, Aunt Vannina asks Annetta a question – how do you interpret her response? In Italy, this book is widely regarded as a feminist classic – do you agree or disagree and why?
- Write down any final, unanswered questions about Good Girls Don’t Wear Trousers; have those questions ready for our next class.
Translating Women 