Fall 2005

E 385N • The Personal Essay

Course Description

The most popular form of the personal essay is the memoir, but the form also includes adventure essays, ruminations on works of art, appreciations of one writer by another, family histories, and other variations. The single element defining the personal essay, as opposed to journalism and editorials, is that the writer is included in the story he or she is telling.

Texts

We will read a variety of writers, including Mary McCarthy, Patricia Hampl, Richard McCann, Richard Rodriguez, Dennis Covington, J. R. Ackerly, Hortense Calisher, and John Hersey.

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