Writing Historical Biography
HIST 344
Spring 2011 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 305 |
| Certificates: Writing |
This first-year seminar offers students the chance to write serious historical biography. How does character-driven narrative nonfiction differ from traditional, i.e., explanatory, history-writing? Can narrative life stories advance an argument in the same way that more theoretical books do? How does the biographer conduct research and use his or her subject to make larger claims about that subject's time and place? Some writing exercises will be traditional, others more experimental. The final assignment will be a biography of a grandparent. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Interpretation, Writing
This course requires students to spend considerable time evaluating and interpreting primary sources: images, objects, documents. The course also requires students to write critically and imaginatively about primary as well as secondary sources--e.g., articles and books written by modern historians.
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS HIST |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None |
Major Readings:
Tentative List:
Evan S. Connell, MR. BRIDGE
Robert Dallek, AN UNFINISHED LIFE: JOHN F. KENNEDY, 1917-1963
Joseph J. Ellis, HIS EXCELLENCY: GEORGE WASHINGTON
Peter Gay, FREUD: A LIFE FOR OUR TIME
Stephen Greenblatt, WILL IN THE WORLD: HOW SHAKESPEARE BECAME SHAKESPEARE
R. W. B. Lewis, EDITH WHARTON: A BIOGRAPHY
Robert K. Massie, NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA
Diane Middlebrook, ANNE SEXTON: A BIOGRAPHY
Lytton Strachey, QUEEN VICTORIA
Stella Tillyard, ARISTOCRATS: SARAH, EMILY, LOUISA, AND SARAH LENNOX, 1740¿1832
Colm Toibin, THE MASTER
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly writing assignments, plus a final piece of thirty pages--nonfiction or fiction. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
TBA |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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