Department of English

This course is for those students who are interested in writing the personal essaywhich encompasses memoir, humor, travel, commentary, nature, portraiture and other forms and fictional narrative. Well study a number of essays and short stories selected from The Art of the Personal Essay ( Phillip Lopate, ed.) and The Art of the Tale, (Daniel Halpern, ed.), and in many cases note the similarities between the two forms. The published essays and stories will serve as bass lines during our workshop discussions of student work. Student work will go through the workshop process at least twice during the term, there will be a number of brief writing assignments, and a single longer assignment of 13 pages will be due at the end of the term. Class participation, of course, is vital and expected.