syllabus ENGL511 READING & WRITING THE MEMOIR
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 [email protected] www.leetorda.com |
SUMMER 2014 Office Hours:
are by appointment. |
7 JULY 2014 WEEK ONE: What Memoir is/What Memoir isn’t (The Liar’s Club)
M Introduction to the Course. Overview of course materials and policies. IN-CLASS: Work on defining the genre. Work on short 300 word mini-memoir/introduction.
W READ: in Kephart (Handling the Truth) pages 1-30. Also, Torda Handout: “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” Also, Chapter 1 “Close Reading” in Reading Like a Writer. Please have the first fifty pages of The Liars’ Club read for class. IN-CLASS: Practice Reader/Writer Response. Explanation of Reader/Writer Responses. Explanation of Memoir assignment and relationship to Writer’s Notebook. DUE: 300 word mini-memoir/introduction.
R READ: to the end of Liars’ Club. DUE: First Reader/Writer Response. Also, come to class with two to three pages of Writer’s Notebook to share with your classmates. Please remember to bring a copy to turn in to me as well. IN-CLASS: Workshop & Conversation of your Writer’s Notebook. Book Club discussion of Liars’ Club.
NOTE: If you start Liars’ Club on Monday and read roughly 88 pages a day for four days, you’ll have the book read in its entirety by Thursday’s class. I have tested this pace and found it to be highly possible. It’s not hard reading. You can have roughly that number of pages read in around two hours. I am not a superlatively fast reader.
14 JULY 2014 WEEK TWO: Managing Difficult Stories (Autobiography Of A Face)
M READ: Lopate Handout “On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character” & “On the Difficulty of Turning Oneself into a Character.” Also, pages 75-90 and 104-115 in Handling the Truth.
W READ: At least the first fifty pages of Autobiography. Also, Lopate Handout: “The State of Nonfiction Today” & in Handling the Truth pages 31-45. IN-CLASS: discussion of midterm check in.
R READ: To the end of Autobiography. Also, Chapter 2 in Reading Like a Writer “Words”. DUE: Second Reader/Writer Response. Also, come to class with the next three to five pages of Writer’s Notebook to share with classmates. Please remember to bring a copy to turn in to me as well. IN-CLASS: Workshop & Conversation of your Writer’s Notebook. Book Club discussion of Autobiography.
Please check out these articles about the life and death of Lucy Grealy and her friend and fellow writer and memoirist Anne Patchett:
http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/n_8396/
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/16/books/do-you-love-me.html
Suellen Grealy on how a book about her late sister has hijacked her ...
NOTE: If you start reading Autobiography on, Friday, 11 July 2014, you can read 33 pages a day for seven days and have the entire book completed by our Thursday class.
21 JULY 2014 WEEK THREE: Sometimes You Have to Laugh (Another Bullshit Night In Suck City)
M READ: Lopate Handout “Imagination: Thin & Thick.” Also, in Handling the Truth pages 124-157.
W READ: At least the first fifty pages of Bullshit Night. Also, in Handling the Truth pages 91-103. Please have a listen to the (very short) and pretty fabulous Rubber Stamp mini-memoir/oral history from NPR's The Moth Story Hour. Here is the link: http://themoth.org/posts/stories/the-rubber-stamp.
R READ: To the end of Bullshit Night. Also, In Chapter 3 in Reading Like a Writer “Sentences.” DUE: Third Reader/Writer Response. Also, come to class with the next three to five pages of Writer’s Notebook to share with your classmates. Please remember to bring a copy to turn in to me as well. IN-CLASS: Workshop & Conversation of your Writer’s Notebook. Book Club discussion of Bullshit Night. Time in-class to write midterm check in assignment.
NOTE: if you start reading Bullshit Night on Friday, 18 July 2014, you can read roughly 41 pages a day for seven days and have the entire book completed by our Thursday class.
28 JULY 2014 WEEK FOUR: The Land Tells Our Stories (Refuge: An Unnatural History Of Family & Place)
M READ: Also, in Handling the Truth pages 57-74.
W READ: Lopate Handout “Facts Have Implications. . .” and “Research and the Personal.” At least the first fifty pages of Refuge. Also, in Handling the Truth pages 116-123. IN-CLASS: Discussion of final portfolio, class reading, memoir in our classrooms presentations.
R READ: To the end of Refuge. DUE: come to class with the next three to five pages of Writer’s Notebook to share with your classmates. Please remember to bring a copy to turn in to me as well. See, also, NOTE TWO below. IN-CLASS: Workshop & Conversation of your Writer’s Notebook. Book Club Discussion of Refuge.
NOTE: if you start reading Refuge on Friday, 25 July 2014, you can read 48 pages a day for seven days and have the entire book completed by our Thursday class.
NOTE TWO: In an effort to have a whole-class workshop, please try to email your 3 to 5 pages of writer's notebook by Wednesday night so that folks might have a chance to read and prepare a response before Thursday evenings class. Additionally, to further support a whole-class workshop, you can feel free to send me this weeks (final) reader/writer response via email by 5:00 on Saturday, 3 August 2014.
4 AUGUST 2014 WEEK FIVE: Writers in Our Own Classrooms
M READ: Pages 159 to 187 in Handling the Truth. IN-CLASS: workshopping your draft of final memoir.
W READ: Lopate Handout “On the ethics of Writing About Others.” Handout: "Into the Woods." Sharing and workshopping ideas for memoirs and memoir assignments in our own classrooms.
R DUE: Final portfolio. IN-CLASS: sharing final versions of assignments and memoirs. Time to write final portfolio cover letter. Class reading of selections from memoirs. Dinner.
M Introduction to the Course. Overview of course materials and policies. IN-CLASS: Work on defining the genre. Work on short 300 word mini-memoir/introduction.
W READ: in Kephart (Handling the Truth) pages 1-30. Also, Torda Handout: “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” Also, Chapter 1 “Close Reading” in Reading Like a Writer. Please have the first fifty pages of The Liars’ Club read for class. IN-CLASS: Practice Reader/Writer Response. Explanation of Reader/Writer Responses. Explanation of Memoir assignment and relationship to Writer’s Notebook. DUE: 300 word mini-memoir/introduction.
R READ: to the end of Liars’ Club. DUE: First Reader/Writer Response. Also, come to class with two to three pages of Writer’s Notebook to share with your classmates. Please remember to bring a copy to turn in to me as well. IN-CLASS: Workshop & Conversation of your Writer’s Notebook. Book Club discussion of Liars’ Club.
NOTE: If you start Liars’ Club on Monday and read roughly 88 pages a day for four days, you’ll have the book read in its entirety by Thursday’s class. I have tested this pace and found it to be highly possible. It’s not hard reading. You can have roughly that number of pages read in around two hours. I am not a superlatively fast reader.
14 JULY 2014 WEEK TWO: Managing Difficult Stories (Autobiography Of A Face)
M READ: Lopate Handout “On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character” & “On the Difficulty of Turning Oneself into a Character.” Also, pages 75-90 and 104-115 in Handling the Truth.
W READ: At least the first fifty pages of Autobiography. Also, Lopate Handout: “The State of Nonfiction Today” & in Handling the Truth pages 31-45. IN-CLASS: discussion of midterm check in.
R READ: To the end of Autobiography. Also, Chapter 2 in Reading Like a Writer “Words”. DUE: Second Reader/Writer Response. Also, come to class with the next three to five pages of Writer’s Notebook to share with classmates. Please remember to bring a copy to turn in to me as well. IN-CLASS: Workshop & Conversation of your Writer’s Notebook. Book Club discussion of Autobiography.
Please check out these articles about the life and death of Lucy Grealy and her friend and fellow writer and memoirist Anne Patchett:
http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/n_8396/
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/16/books/do-you-love-me.html
Suellen Grealy on how a book about her late sister has hijacked her ...
NOTE: If you start reading Autobiography on, Friday, 11 July 2014, you can read 33 pages a day for seven days and have the entire book completed by our Thursday class.
21 JULY 2014 WEEK THREE: Sometimes You Have to Laugh (Another Bullshit Night In Suck City)
M READ: Lopate Handout “Imagination: Thin & Thick.” Also, in Handling the Truth pages 124-157.
W READ: At least the first fifty pages of Bullshit Night. Also, in Handling the Truth pages 91-103. Please have a listen to the (very short) and pretty fabulous Rubber Stamp mini-memoir/oral history from NPR's The Moth Story Hour. Here is the link: http://themoth.org/posts/stories/the-rubber-stamp.
R READ: To the end of Bullshit Night. Also, In Chapter 3 in Reading Like a Writer “Sentences.” DUE: Third Reader/Writer Response. Also, come to class with the next three to five pages of Writer’s Notebook to share with your classmates. Please remember to bring a copy to turn in to me as well. IN-CLASS: Workshop & Conversation of your Writer’s Notebook. Book Club discussion of Bullshit Night. Time in-class to write midterm check in assignment.
NOTE: if you start reading Bullshit Night on Friday, 18 July 2014, you can read roughly 41 pages a day for seven days and have the entire book completed by our Thursday class.
28 JULY 2014 WEEK FOUR: The Land Tells Our Stories (Refuge: An Unnatural History Of Family & Place)
M READ: Also, in Handling the Truth pages 57-74.
W READ: Lopate Handout “Facts Have Implications. . .” and “Research and the Personal.” At least the first fifty pages of Refuge. Also, in Handling the Truth pages 116-123. IN-CLASS: Discussion of final portfolio, class reading, memoir in our classrooms presentations.
R READ: To the end of Refuge. DUE: come to class with the next three to five pages of Writer’s Notebook to share with your classmates. Please remember to bring a copy to turn in to me as well. See, also, NOTE TWO below. IN-CLASS: Workshop & Conversation of your Writer’s Notebook. Book Club Discussion of Refuge.
NOTE: if you start reading Refuge on Friday, 25 July 2014, you can read 48 pages a day for seven days and have the entire book completed by our Thursday class.
NOTE TWO: In an effort to have a whole-class workshop, please try to email your 3 to 5 pages of writer's notebook by Wednesday night so that folks might have a chance to read and prepare a response before Thursday evenings class. Additionally, to further support a whole-class workshop, you can feel free to send me this weeks (final) reader/writer response via email by 5:00 on Saturday, 3 August 2014.
4 AUGUST 2014 WEEK FIVE: Writers in Our Own Classrooms
M READ: Pages 159 to 187 in Handling the Truth. IN-CLASS: workshopping your draft of final memoir.
W READ: Lopate Handout “On the ethics of Writing About Others.” Handout: "Into the Woods." Sharing and workshopping ideas for memoirs and memoir assignments in our own classrooms.
R DUE: Final portfolio. IN-CLASS: sharing final versions of assignments and memoirs. Time to write final portfolio cover letter. Class reading of selections from memoirs. Dinner.