Readings


 

Lec # TOPICS READINGS
1 In Depth, Introduction, 2-7 Hoaglund, Edward. "What I Think, What I Am." The New York Times Book Review, June 27, 1976.

Buy at Amazon Didion, Joan. "On Keeping a Notebook." In Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1990. ISBN: 9780374521721.

Buy at Amazon Menard, Louis, and Robert Atwan, eds. The Best American Essays 2004. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. Foreword, ix-xiii; and Introduction, xiv-xviii. ISBN: 9780618357093.
2 In Depth, Discussion of Bacon, Montaigne and White Essays Bacon, Francis. "Of Marriage and Single Life." In Essays, Civil and Moral. The Harvard Classics. 1909-14. (A version of "Of Marriage and Single Life" is available through Bartleby.com.)

de Montaigne, Michel. "Of Idleness." (A version of "Of Idleness" is available at Project Gutenberg.)

Buy at Amazon White, E. B. "The Essayist and the Essay." In Essays of E. B. White. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers Inc. (now owned by Addison Wesley Longman), 1977, pp. 30-31. ISBN: 9780060145767.
3 Discussion of Fadiman and Gopnik Essays Fadiman, Anne. "Mail."

Buy at Amazon Gopnik, Adam. "The Unreal Thing." In The Best American Essays. Edited by Louis Menard, and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN: 9780618357093.
4 In Depth, Discussion of Didion, Walker and White Essays Buy at Amazon Didion, Joan. "On the Road." In The White Album. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1990. ISBN: 9780374522216.

Buy at Amazon Walker, Alice. "Am I Blue?" In Alice Walker Banned. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books, 1996. ISBN: 9781879960473.

Buy at Amazon White, E. B. "Once More to the Lake." In Essays of E. B. White. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers Inc. (now owned by Addison Wesley Longman), 1977. ISBN: 9780060145767.
5 Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #4  
6 In Depth, Discussion of Oates and Chetkovich Essays Buy at Amazon Oates, Joyce Carol. "(Woman) Writer: Theory and Practice." In (Woman) Writer: Occasions and Opportunities. New York, NY: Plume, 1989. ISBN: 9780525484943.

Buy at Amazon Chetkovich, Kathryn. "Envy." The Best American Essays 2004. Edited by Louis Menard, and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN: 9780618357093.
7 Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #6  
8 In Depth, Discussion of Mairs, Gould and Orwell Essays Buy at Amazon Mairs, Nancy. "On Not Liking Sex." In: Merton, Andrew. In Your Own Voice: A Writer's Reader. New York, NY: Longman Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780065017632.

Buy at Amazon Gould, Stephen Jay. "A Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse." In The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1992. ISBN: 9780393308198.

Orwell, George. "Politics and the English Language." In The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1968. (First published: London, UK: Horizon, April 1946. Reprinted in George Orwell.)
9 Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #8  
10 Discussion of Diamond, Fadiman and Pollan Essays Buy at Amazon Diamond, Jared. "The Last Americans." In The Best American Essays 2004. Edited by Louis Menard, and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN: 9780618357093.

Buy at Amazon Fadiman, Anne. "The Arctic Hedonist." In The Best American Essays 2004. Edited by Louis Menard, and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN: 9780618357093.

Pollan, Michael. "Why Mow? The Case Against Lawns." New York Times, May 28, 1989, section 6, p. 22.
11 In Depth, Discussion of Oates, Wolfe and White Essays Buy at Amazon Oates, Joyce Carol. "Blood, Neon, and Failure in the Desert." In (Woman) Writer: Occasions and Opportunities. New York, NY: Plume, 1989. ISBN: 9780525484943. (Originally published in The Village Voice. March 24, 1987. Reprinted in Joyce Carol Oates.)

Buy at Amazon Wolfe, Tom. "O Rotten Gotham-Sliding Down into the Behavioral Sink." In Valence and Vision: A Reader in Psychology. Edited by Rich Jones, and Richard L. Roe. New York, NY: Rinehart, 1974. ISBN: 9780030084164.

Buy at Amazon White, E. B. "The Age of Dust." In Poems and Sketches of E. B. White. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1983. ISBN: 9780060909697.
12 In Depth, Discussion of Dillard, Woolf, Eiseley and Doyle Essays Buy at Amazon Dillard, Annie. "The Death of a Moth." In The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition. New York, NY: Norton, 2003. ISBN: 9780393978827.

Buy at Amazon Woolf, Virginia. "The Death of the Moth." In The Death of the Moth and Other Essays. Berkeley, CA: Harvest Books, 1974. ISBN: 9780156252348.

Buy at Amazon Eiseley, Loren. "The Bird and the Machine." In The Immense Journey: An Imaginative Naturalist Explores the Mysteries of Man and Nature. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1959. ISBN: 9780394701578.

Doyle, Brian. "Yes." The Georgia Review LVI, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 569.
13 Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #12  
14 Discussion of Mori and Koestenbaum Essays Buy at Amazon Mori, Kyoko. "Yarn." In The Best American Essays 2004. Edited by Louis Menard, and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN: 9780618357093.

Koestenbaum, Wayne. "Called me. My '80s." Artforum International 41, no. 8 (April 2003): 220-224.
15 Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #14  
16 Oral Presentations  
17 Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #16  
18 Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #17  
19 Discussion of Allen and Walker Essays Buy at Amazon Allen, Woody. "Random Reflections of a Second-Rate Mind," and Walker, Alice. "Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self." In In Depth: Essayists for Our Time. Compiled by Carl H. Klaus, Chris Anderson, and Rebecca Blevins Faery. 2nd ed. Heinle, 1993. ISBN: 9780155001725.

Buy at Amazon Gopnik, Adam. "Bumping into Mr. Ravioli," and Doyle, Brian. "Yes." In The Best American Essays 2003. Edited by Anne Fadiman and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. ISBN: 9780618341610.
20 Silent Reading Session  
21 Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #19  
22 Discussion of Orwell, Twain, White, and Woolf Essays Buy at Amazon Orwell, George. "Marrakech," Twain, Mark. "Corn-Pone Opinions," White, E.B. "The Ring of Time," and Woolf, Virginia. "The Moment: Summer's Night," all In In Depth: Essayists for Our Time . Compiled by Carl H. Klaus, Chris Anderson, and Rebecca Blevins Faery. 2nd ed. Heinle, 1993. ISBN: 9780155001725.
23 Silent Reading Session  
24 Course Summary and Evaluations  
25 Last Class: Tea and Celebratory Reading