Abstract

Using the theme of parent-child relations in a general education literature course will speak to students’ personal interests while opening them to a variety of literary periods, genres, and techniques. Sufficient theory accessible to students that can underpin this theme will be found in accounts of Mary Ainsworth’s research on attachment theory and in Nancy J. Chodorow’s influential model relating family structure to gender formation. These theories can help students explore parent-child relations while analyzing a number of literary works such as Jamaica Kincaid’s fiction and memoirs, Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights,” and Franz Kafka’s stories and “Letter to His Father,” as well as the works of contemporary authors Alison Bechdel, Kathryn Harrison, Julian Barnes, Tim Winton, and Jennifer Egan.