21W.022.03  Writing and Experience: Reading and Writing Autobiography

Writer Patricia Hampl describes autobiographical writing as "the intersection of narrative and reflection, of storytelling and essay writing." In this class, students will have the opportunity to draw upon life experiences as inspiration for writing lively, persuasive narrative and investigative essays. The sources for this writing are likely to vary widely from solitary experiences to those that have taken place in the broader social contexts of family, friends, community, school, work, and travel. Our discussion of works of both nonfiction and fiction by both established and student writers will help us explore and debate the rhetorical strategies and techniques needed for telling a good story. How do writers develop characters, dialogue, images, and ideas? What are the most engaging and persuasive ways to balance narrative and reflection? How can one use primary and secondary sources to enrich and support an essay? We will also consider these questions and others in our regular workshop discussions of drafts written by members of the class. Students will draft and revise three essays, and at the end of the semester resubmit these essays in a portfolio of 5,000 (or more) words. Classwork will additionally include an oral presentation, regular exchange of feedback with peers, and conferences with the instructor about each essay draft. The key aims of this class are to help students become more eloquent, dynamic, and versatile essayists; deft users of sources, include visual ones; skillful editors; and more confident, persuasive speakers. This class fulfills the CI-HW requirement.