Personalizing History
AMST 245
Fall 2013 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
ENGL 246 |
How much are we shaped by our historical times and places? How much power do we have to make our historical conditions respond to our needs and desires? These are the questions at the foundation of this course. We will examine these questions and others in the literary genre of the immigrant memoir, where they are particularly crucial. The course includes both memoir writing and memoir reading. We will construct narratives about our times and selves in a series of writing workshops. There will be some exercise where you will be asked to research specific aspects of your times and places. For example, you might be asked to research and write about such questions as: when and where were you born, what were the major cultural or political currents of that time, and how was your early childhood influenced by them? Or you may be asked to bring in a photograph of someone important in your personal history and write about that person.
Immigrant memoirs are a distinct genre, with topics/themes that are particular to it. Some of the most important issues are place and displacement, language, loss/trauma/melancholia/nostalgia, self-invention or transformation, family and generational differences, and the idea of "America." The class will engage with these topics in the analysis of the readings and also in the writing of memoirs. Specific techniques will be highlighted for writing practice: the catalog, diction, dialogue, metaphor, description, point of view, and narrative structure, including temporal organization, the doubled narrative, and the narrative frame. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AMST |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (AMST)(ENGL)(ENGL-Creative W) |
Major Readings:
Mendoza and Shankar, CROSSING INTO AMERICA: THE NEW LITERATURE OF IMMIGRATION
Yezierska, THE BREAD GIVERS
Rodriguez, HUNGER OF MEMORY
McCourt, 'TIS
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Examinations and Assignments:
Because the course is, in addition to the introduction of a literary genre, a memoir writing workshop, each day will include timed writing from a given prompt, and group critique of individual work. The instructor will meet once with each student for an individual conference. |
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