Spring 2010

Intermediate Non-Fiction: Exploring Personal Culture - LLSW 3510 A

Professor(s):  Elizabeth Kendall 
Day(s):  MW
Time(s):  2:00 pm - 3:40 pm 
CRN:  4838
Credits:  4
Prerequisite(s):  Prerequisite: a grade of B or higher in Introduction to Non-Fiction, or permission of the Chair.

Course Description
In this course students focus on the theme of Personal Culture – their own, and that of selected nonfiction writers. They consider what constitutes a personal culture, and then study the works of certain movie, music, fashion, dance, and sports critics. They write reviews of and personal pieces about selected New York City events. Travel writing, also a highly personal form of fact-based narrative, are read and written, as well as comedy writing, one of the most challenging nonfiction genres. Finally, they work on what might be called the sum of personal culture expression: the Personal Essay, or the Memoir Fragment (or something in between). Emphasis is on tone, style, prose rhythms, beginnings and endings, and the search for, and enhancement of, each student’s own inimitable writing voice. Authors read include various movie critics, plus Lester Banks, Geoff Dyer, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Mikhail Zoshchenko, James Baldwin, Czeslaw Milosz. Guest critics and editors speak to the class.