Life Writing: Writing about the Self and from Experience
COL 227
Spring 2016 not offered
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| Certificates: Writing |
This course will examine both the power and the complexities of writing that derives from personal experience. Topics to be addressed, in turn, are memory (and its reliability); experience (authoritative/reportorial versus interpretative/symbolic); identity and voice of the narrator; and agency (the degree to which the narrator is in control, or not in control, of the narrative). Types of life writing that will be explored are coming of age narratives, illness and trauma narratives, confessional narratives, autobiographical poetry and song lyrics, and interviews/oral histories. Readings and materials include Shadd Maruna, William Styron, Mary Karr, Donna Tartt, James Joyce, and many others. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA COL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (COL)(ENGL)(ENGL-Creative W)(ENGL-Literature) |
Major Readings:
Readings will include (either in full or excerpts):
Paul John Eakin, HOW OUR LIVES BECOME STORIES: MAKING SELVES
Henry Adams, THE EDUCATION OF HENRY ADAMS
Richard Rodriguez, HUNGER OF MEMORY: THE EDUCATION OF RICHARD RODRIQUEZ
St. Augustine, CONFESSIONS
John Edgar Wideman, BROTHERS AND KEEPERS
Joan Didion, THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING
Esmeralda Santiago, WHEN I WAS PUERTO RICAN
George Plimpton, EDIE
Somerset Maugham, THE SUMMING UP
James Joyce, PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN
and selected fiction and nonfiction by William Styron, Virginia Woolf and Mary Karr.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Students will write three short pieces and one long piece of nonfiction deriving from their personal experience. Student writings will be presented and critiqued in a workshop format. |
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