Department of English

Benjamin Franklin Seminar. Arts & Letters Sector (All Classes).
All readings and lectures in English.

How does one write about oneself? Who is the “author” writing? What does one write about? And is it fiction or truth? Our seminar on autobiographical writing will pursue these questions, researching confessions, autobiographies, memoirs, and other forms of life-writing both in their historical development and theoretical articulations. Examples will include selections from St. Augustine’s confessiones, Rousseau’s Confessions, Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, as well as many examples from contemporary English, German, French, and American literature.