21W.731 Fall 2000

Section 1 - Lecturer Bill Corbett

Reading and Writing Autobiography: This section of Writing and Experience will focus on the autobiographical writing of Paul Auster, James Baldwin, Elizabeth Bishop, Joe Brainard, Guy Davenport, Allen Ginsburg, and Siri Hustvedt, and on my own memoir, Furthering My Education. You will also see and write about one movie. You will draw the material for the essays you produce from your own life. By the end of the semester you will have written autobiographical essays exploring your intellectual growth and development, your years in high school, the influence of place upon your character and personality, the role politics and religion play in your life, and other topics. The emphasis will be on clarity, specificity, and investigating several forms of writing - narrative, analytical, expository - suitable to the task at hand.

section home | schedule and syllabus | handouts | student work | 21w.731 home | comments?