Life Writing across Genres
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Overview
Subject area
BAM
Catalog Number
70300
Course Title
Life Writing across Genres
Department(s)
Description
Whether they are scholars or practitioners of biography and memoir, students should be attuned to the diverse ways in which narratives are constructed through the writing of a life. By immersing themselves in different life writing discourses, students will understand how the messy raw material of a life is organized and structured through a variety of genres, which can differ in terms of how a life is presented, paced, begun and ended, chronologized or not, and broken down into appropriate “beats” or chapters.
The readings and exercises in this class will require students to hone these understandings, and call on them to display a range and facility that will strengthen them as writers and readers. Class discussions of the readings will deepen their critical and analytical skills, while writing assignments will help them to expand their creative potential, career prospects, and intellectual and critical understanding. Above all, and as an intensive introductory setting for their work in the Biography and Memoir program, this course will help students to build a foundation for their other graduate work (including their theses) and ensure larger success at the Graduate Center and beyond.
Students will emerge from this core introductory course with a developing expertise in different life writing genres, including the particular conventions demanded of each. Their intensive reading and discussion of texts will sharpen the skills that will allow them to discern the stylistic, syntactic, and rhetorical demands of different discourses, from the obituary to the elegy, the popular narrative or the academic analysis. In turn, their weekly writing exercises will lead them to expand as writers as they put their analytic abilities into practice and hone their critical skills by workshopping their writing in class. Through writing and class discussion, they will learn how to construct a life according to the particular demands of a genre; develop flexibility and facility in writing across a range of styles and discourses; and acclimate themselves to different challenges, from treating a life academically through a rigorously researched and footnoted academic paper to developing a range of life writing modes which can be used in more public-facing and creative projects.
The readings and exercises in this class will require students to hone these understandings, and call on them to display a range and facility that will strengthen them as writers and readers. Class discussions of the readings will deepen their critical and analytical skills, while writing assignments will help them to expand their creative potential, career prospects, and intellectual and critical understanding. Above all, and as an intensive introductory setting for their work in the Biography and Memoir program, this course will help students to build a foundation for their other graduate work (including their theses) and ensure larger success at the Graduate Center and beyond.
Students will emerge from this core introductory course with a developing expertise in different life writing genres, including the particular conventions demanded of each. Their intensive reading and discussion of texts will sharpen the skills that will allow them to discern the stylistic, syntactic, and rhetorical demands of different discourses, from the obituary to the elegy, the popular narrative or the academic analysis. In turn, their weekly writing exercises will lead them to expand as writers as they put their analytic abilities into practice and hone their critical skills by workshopping their writing in class. Through writing and class discussion, they will learn how to construct a life according to the particular demands of a genre; develop flexibility and facility in writing across a range of styles and discourses; and acclimate themselves to different challenges, from treating a life academically through a rigorously researched and footnoted academic paper to developing a range of life writing modes which can be used in more public-facing and creative projects.
Typically Offered
Offer as needed
Academic Career
Graduate School Graduate
Liberal Arts
Yes
Credits
Minimum Units
3
Maximum Units
3
Academic Progress Units
3
Repeat For Credit
Yes
Total Completions Allowed
2
Components
Name
Seminar
Hours
3
Requisites
035543