Promiseminar: Writing American Life 4219-ZP055
This course prepares students to write a BA thesis on American literature, with a focus on autobiography, autofiction, and autotheory. Autobiographical writing has gained a great significance in the US and it has been a site of both literary experimentation and convention. Its importance lies, partially, in the fact that it not only allows people to tell their stories in different forms and media, but also to craft themselves as “American.” The course will analyze different examples of autobiographical writing, most importantly, texts written by representatives of ethnic, sexual, and disability minorities. We will see how their authors contested, complicated, and negotiated the notions of truth, memory, and authenticity. What seems particularly striking about American autobiographical genre is how it has become a vehicle for articulating and achieving political goals. That is why, we will also look at the ways in which the personal intersects with the political in those texts and what kind of effects it might have.
Course coordinators
Type of course
obligatory courses
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes
Upon completing this course students:
Knowledge
- are aware of special requirements given to academic works;
- are able to define “autobiography”, “life-writing” and “autotheory”;
- are able to analyze literary text;
- know that there are certain procedures and norms that guide the process of academic research;
- know differences between academic and non academic texts, sources, language;
- understand the issue of academic honesty and others’ intellectual property.
Skills:
- are able to organize a basic research process leading to write a BA thesis;
- have skills necessary to find and evaluate primary and secondary sources;
- are able to construct a coherent and logical argument;
- can present the results of their research in an academic way (written and oral);
- are able to use theories representing literary theory and autobiographical studies in their own writing.
Competences:
- can organize their research process;
- are aware of the possible consequences of plagiarism and AI;
- can give meaningful feedback to others in a respectful way.
Assessment criteria
Assessment methods and assessment criteria
- draft of a first chapter: 20%
- a revised version of a first chapter: 25%
- BA paper plan: 20%
- oral presentation in class (BA project): 20%
- attendance and active participation in class: 15%
The use of AI in class and while working on your BA thesis is prohibited (e.g., generating ideas, text, or structure; searching for sources). Use of AI will result in failure of the course. The only permitted use of AI is Basic Grammarly.
Bibliography
Literature is subject to change
Esme Wang, The Collected Schizophrenias
Cathy Park Hong, Minor Feelings
Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, Willow Weep for Me
Audre Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
Ta Nehisi-Coates, Between the World and Me
Jeannette McCurdy, I'm Glad my Mother Died
Britney Spears, The Woman in Me
Johanna Hedva, Sick Woman Theory
Lauren Fournier, “Sick Woman Theory as a Feminist Practice”
Sidonie Smith, Julia Watson Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives
Julie Rak, “Are Memoirs Autobiography? A Consideration of Genre and Public Identity”
Michael Warner, Publics and Counterpublics