ENG 1229 WRITING LIFE
We will explore how authors and their memoirs remember, represent, and make sense of life events through narrative and images, and how we as humans construct meaning and purpose in our
lives through the stories told (or not told) about our experiences and ourselves. Together we will study examples of US memoirs and autobiographies that illustrate core themes of the human experience, including: constructing a self through writing; understanding the complex relationship between memory, identity, and narrative; representing complex interpersonal relationships; writing as a means of coping with trauma and suffering; and, finding one's place in a community and in the world. Fundamentally, we will analyze the ways in which authors reveal the complex interactions between narrative and self-identity, including how autobiographical writing both reveals and creates a self, as we discuss such topics as authenticity, truth, resilience and the ethics of reading and writing a life narrative.
Course Types
Expression, Literature