ENGH 309: Topics in Literature

ENGH 309-001: Modern Autobiography
(Fall 2018)

01:30 PM to 02:45 PM TR

Music Theater Building 1004

Section Information for Fall 2018

This course introduces students to a variety of notable autobiographies written since 1950 or so, by both men and women, in English and in translation. We will begin by considering the ambiguities of memory and their effect on providing a faithful account of one’s own life. We shall then turn to the trade-offs between a straightforward documentary approach and other, explicitly fictive ways of telling a life-story. Efforts to retrieve buried meanings through psychological self-scrutiny will form a third topic. The course will conclude by sampling the widening global scope of autobiography with works from areas like Africa, the Middle East, and India.

Course work consists of four short exercises of varying kinds, a piece of autobiographical writing of your own, a course paper, and a final exam.

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Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 1-3

Studies literature by topics, such as women in literature, science fiction, and literature of the avant garde. Notes: Topic varies. May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term.
Specialized Designation: Topic Varies
Recommended Prerequisite: Satisfaction of University requirements in 100-level English and in Mason Core literature.
Schedule Type: Lec/Sem #1, Lec/Sem #2, Lec/Sem #3, Lec/Sem #4, Lec/Sem #5, Lec/Sem #6, Lec/Sem #7, Lec/Sem #8, Lec/Sem #9, Lecture, Sem/Lec #10, Sem/Lec #11, Sem/Lec #12, Sem/Lec #13, Sem/Lec #14, Sem/Lec #15, Sem/Lec #16, Sem/Lec #17, Sem/Lec #18
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

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