Bestsellers: The Memoir

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Cover of the first English publication, J. Parson's, London, 1793. (Image courtesy of wikipedia.org.)

Instructor(s)

MIT Course Number

21L.310

As Taught In

Spring 2010

Level

Undergraduate

Cite This Course

Course Description

Course Description

What is a "life" when it's written down? How does memory inform the present? Why are memoirs so popular? This course will address these questions and others, considering the relationship between biography, autobiography, and memoir and between personal and social themes. We will closely examine some recent memoirs: Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life, Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father, Edwidge Danticat's Brother, I'm Dying, Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel, and Alison Bechdel's Fun Home. Students will write two brief papers: a critical essay and an experiment in memoir.

As a "Sampling," this class offers 6 units, with a strong emphasis on close reading, group discussion, focused writing, and research and presentation skills.

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Related Content

Wyn Kelley. 21L.310 Bestsellers: The Memoir. Spring 2010. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.


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