English 135.301   Creative Non-Fiction Writing   Fall, 1998
								D.Espey
407 Bennett  898-7360
despey@english.upenn.edu

	This is a course in writing the informal essay, a creative form of
non-fiction. One of the problems of non-fiction as a category is that
there are so many different kinds of non-fiction. The term "non-fiction"
includes most writing outside of fiction, poetry, and drama: academic
writing, journalism, trade books, writing in business and the professions.
These kinds of non-fiction writing observe certain conventions in style,
organization, and subject matter.   The word "creative" suggests a measure
of freedom in these choices; when you write informal essays, you can use
techniques of fiction: narration, dialogue, construction of character,
scene, and event. 

	Most of the material for your essays will be drawn from your own
memory and experience.  The readings furnish examples of the informal
essay and are intended to give you ideas for topics and approaches.  

	Class meetings will consist of two kinds of activities: discussion
of the readings and workshop critiques of each other's writing.  A
secondary aim of the course is to develop your skill as a critic, a skill
in commenting on other students' work for purposes of revision and
editing.  The primary aim is, of course, to develop your own skill and
fluency as writer, to give you a practical sense of all that you can do
with the very flexible form of the essay, to develop your "voice" as an
essayist.  

	Keep a portfolio of all your writing:  drafts, revisions,
critiques of other students' work.  I won't grade your work during the
semester.  At the end of the course, you will submit the portfolio, which
will constitute 70% of your grade.  The other 30% will be classwork:
attendance, preparation, participation, e-mail postings, etc.  I'll allow
two absences and one extension of a deadline.  

	You are responsible for making copies of your papers to distribute
one period ahead of time for workshop.  For each critique, you return the
paper with your comments to the student who wrote it, and you give me a
copy of that paper with your comments.

	The Roman numerals indicate which group is responsible for e-mail
postings.  These should be brief responses to the readings, intended to
incite discussion.

	Texts:  Photocopied Packet of Essays  (Campus Copy Center)
             The New Yorker   (Subscription)   




Tu., Sept. 10        Introduction

Th., Sept. 12        Movie Reviewing   (Film to be determined)

Th., Sept. 14        Movie Reviewing     Zinsser, "Simplicity"

Tu., Sept. 22        #1 Due   Essay/Review    Read Orwell, "Why I Write"

Th., Sept. 24         Workshop      Read Conroy, Wolff     I

Tu., Sept. 29         #2 Due   Relate "Why I Write" to "Such, such were
the joys..."

Th., Oct. 1             Workshop     Read  Powell, Greene    II

Tu., Oct. 6             # 3 Due   Childhood Narrative    Read Tan, Lee
III

Th., Oct. 8   	       Workshop       Read McCarthy     IV  Conferences

Tu., Oct. 13            Revision Due       Read Epstein, "The Personal
Essay"    I

Th., Oct. 15            Workshop      Read Sachs    II

Tu., Oct. 20            #4 Due     Profile   Read   Soto, Graham  III

Th., Oct. 22            Workshop    Read Brown, Fussell    IV

Tu., Oct. 27             Workshop    Read Seager, Capote, Conroy   I

Th., Oct. 29             Workshop    Read Eighner, Frazier, Morris   II

Tu, Nov. 3               # 5 Due      Work, Play, Travel, Place   Read
Aldrich, Barthelme III

Th., Nov. 5	         Workshop    Read Epstein, Doctorow IV

Tu., Nov. 10            Workshop   Read Harrison  Conference   I

Th., Nov. 12             Workshop   Read Shapiro, Elkin   II

Tu., Nov. 17              Revision Due    Parody    Read Baker, Garner,
Frazier, Allen III

Th., Nov. 19              Workshop   Read   Lutz, Swift   IV

Tu., Nov. 24               #6 Due   Parody, Satire, Issue, Popular Culture
Read (TBA)

Tu., Dec. 1           Workshop               Read   (TBA)     I

Th., Dec. 3           Workshop              Read (TBA) II

Tu., Dec. 8           # 7 Due     Free Topic     Read (TBA)

Th., Dec. 10         Workshop             

Fri., Dec 18         Portfolio Due







	ENGLISH 135            BULKPACK             TABLE OF CONTENTS
			Fall, 1998           D. Espey

1.  Zinsser, "Simplicity" (Language Awareness, St. Martin's,1997, 50-52)
2.  Orwell, "Why I Write" (Such such were the joys, Harcourt Brace, 1953,
3-11)
3.  Orwell, "Such, such were the joys.."     (    "    12-63)
4.  Conroy, "A Yo-yo Going Down..."   (Stop-time, Penguin, 1977, 110-129)
5.  Wolff, " from (This Boy's Life, Harper, 1989, 23-28)
6.  Greene, "The Lost Childhood," (The Norton Book of Personal Essays,
1997,180-185)
7.  Powell, "What Are You Doing in My Dreams?"    (   "    118-124)
8.  Tan, "Two Kinds"   (Speculations, Prentice Hall, 1996, 10-19)
9.  Lee, "Coming Home Again" (Best American Essays, 1996, Houghton
Mifflin, 227-237)
10.  Tan, "Mother Tongue" (The Contemporary Essay, St. Martin's, 1995,
529-536)
11.  McCarthy, "Ask Me No Questions" (Memories of a Catholic Girlhood,
HBJ, 1981, 195-245)
12  Epstein, "The Personal Essay"    (Norton Book of Personal Essays,
1997, 11-24
13.  Sachs, "A Neurologist's Notebook" (New Yorker, 3/16/92, 30-38)
14.  Soto, "Black Hair" (Contemporary Essay, 519-525)
15.  Graham, "Invisible Man," (Best American Essays, 1993, Ticknor &
Fields, 114-130)
16.  Fussell, "The Stationary Tourist" (Random House Reader, 1981,
233-245)  
17.  Brown, "I Now Walk into the Wild," New Yorker, February 8, 1993,
36-47.
18.  Conroy, (from Stop-Time, 251-277 )
19.  Seager, "The Joys of Sport at Oxford" (Norton Reader, 19-30)
20.  Capote, "A Ride Through Spain" (Contemporary Essay, 184-189)
22.   Morris, "Women and Journeys."   (Temperamental Journeys, U. Ga.,
1992, 25-32)
23.  Eighner, "On Dumpster Diving" (Travels with Lizbeth), St.Martin's,
1993, 111-125)
24.  Frazier, "Take the F," (Best American Essays, Houghton Mifflin, 1996,
169-177.
25.  Aldrich, "Hair," (Best American Essays, 1993, 1-7) 
26.  Epstein, "I Like a Gershwin Tune," (The Norton Book of Personal
Essays, 367-382)
27.  Doctorow, "Standards," (Best American Essays, 1992, 48-58)
28.  Harrison, "P.C. on the Grill," (Best American Essays, 1993, 141-157)
29.  Barthelme, "Let's Hear It for the Ed Sullivan Show," Norton Anthology
of Pop Culture, 		  1973, 177-181)
30.  Shapiro, "One Violent Crime" (Best American Essays, 1996, 319-332)
31.  Elkin, "Out of One's Tree," (Best American Essays, 1994, 92-109)
32.  Baker, "Little Red Riding Hood Revisited," (Exploring Language,
Harper, 1992, 408-410)     
33.  Garner, "Little Red Riding Hood," (Language Awareness, St Martin's,
1997, 227-230))
34.  Lutz, "Doubts About Doublespeak, (Exploring Language, Longman, 1997,
486-489)
35.  Frazier, "Dating Your Mom" (Contemporary Essay, 188-189)
36. Allen, "My Speech to the Graduates" (The Essay, MacMillan, 1981,
21-24)
37.  Swift, "A Modest Proposal,"  (The Crowell College Reader, Crowell,
1974, 283-290)