Emily Ogden / English

In “Sex and Sentiment,” my course on nineteenth-century American novels and advice literature, we spend a lot of time thinking and talking about the expectations for (primarily) young women in nineteenth-century America. The novels we read raise questions about how women should behave, whom they should marry, and what the proper limits of their social, sexual, and working lives are. I’d like to make a space for speaking more informally with my students about how they face similar or different expectations in their own twenty-first century lives. To that end, I propose to host a Sex and Sentiment Book Club during the fall semester for current students of the course.

Here’s how I envision the Book Club working in broad outlines. On four to six Thursday evenings (depending on whether student read 2 or 3 books) throughout the semester, we’ll adjourn to the English Department’s Bowers Library just after the regular class meeting ends, at 6:30. There, we’ll have an hour of conversation and light snacks from Feast while we discuss a contemporary book with connections to the course’s themes of advice literature and women’s lives. At the first meeting, I imagine us discussing Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In; at the second meeting, we’ll discuss Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother?; and at the third meeting, we’ll discuss a book to be chosen by the group. I’d like to present participants with copies of each book, complete with custom-printed Sex and Sentiment Book Club book plates, in order to create a tangible memento of the experience.

Here’s how I envision some of the important details of the project. Providing books to the students will prevent financial concerns from being a barrier to entry; it will give the students a memento of their experience; and most importantly, it will give them a reason to stop by my office to pick up their books—creating a chance for personal interaction. Luxuries like Feast snacks and customized book plates create a vital sense of occasion. Mindful of students’ many other commitments, I’ll likely point students who are pressed for time to certain sections of the books to focus on, so that difficulty in getting through a whole extra book need not be an obstacle to participation.

I hope and expect that providing books and making the occasion of the book club special will attract a healthy group of voluntary participants. I have budgeted based on an estimate of 30 participants. I have also included an alternate budget for very high participation, however: 40 students. And by limiting the number of books the Mead Foundation purchases for students to one of the books we discuss, a budget of $3,000 could even accommodate more students than that.

Budget for 30 participants:

• Feast snacks and beverages serving 15 on four to six occasions: $750
• Bowers Library meeting space: provided by the English Department (approval pending; other departmental meeting spaces are also available)
• Lean In: 30 copies @ $15 = $450
• Are You My Mother?: 30 copies @ $15 = $450
• Book 3, to be chosen by students: 30 copies @ $15 = $450
• Book plate design and printing for 100 book plates, from rock.paper.scissors: $90
• Total for 30 participants: $2,190
• Budget for 40 participants:
• Feast snacks and beverages serving 40 on four to six occasions: $1,125
• Bowers Library meeting space: provided by the English Department (approval pending; other departmental meeting spaces are also available)
• Lean In: 40 copies @ $15 = $600
• Are You My Mother?: 40 copies @ $15 = $600
• Book 3, to be chosen by students: 40 copies @ $15 = $600
• Book plate design and printing for 120 book plates, from rock.paper.scissors: $110

Total for 40 participants: $3,035