Writing about Oneself

English 455
Yale College
Spring 2019

Here, drawn from life, you will read of my defects and my

native form so far as respect for social convention allows; for
had I found myself among those peoples who are said still to
live under the sweet liberty of Nature’s primal laws, I can
assure you that I would most willingly have portrayed myself
whole, and wholly naked.

Michel de Montaigne
Essays, 1580

Anne Fadiman
Branford K-11
email: [email protected] (a better bet than phoning)
phone: 413-665-7446 (home); 203-432-5325 (Yale)

Purpose and format

Writing about Oneself is a reading and writing class—part lecture, part seminar, part workshop. I believe it is
impossible to write well without learning how to read well. To divorce the two is like separating conjoined
twins with a single heart.

Each week, we will read two British or American works on a particular theme, one older (ranging from four
decades to more than two centuries ago) and one newer (mostly from the last two decades). These old-new
pairings have been chosen to demonstrate several truths: some themes are universally interesting; the walls
erected by the academy between works of different periods are often artificial and in need of dismantling; it is
harder to descend into myopic self-absorption if one feels connected with the past; and there is more than one
way to solve a problem.

In most weeks, half the class will write a first-person essay on the theme at hand. All the essays are short—no
more than 1000 words—except the last one, on the theme of Identity, which is 2500-3000 words. You’ll
revise the longer essay and one of the shorter ones. While you will be encouraged to take risks in substance
and style, you will also be expected to maintain rigorous standards of clarity, grammar, and syntax.

In the first part of each class, we’ll talk about both readings. When time permits, we’ll follow that with a brief
discussion of structure, process, or mechanics, after which we’ll read aloud from and discuss student work. I’ll
call on one student each week; each of you will have a chance to read aloud once during the term. You’ll also
exchange written critiques of each other’s work.

Each of you will have at least five conferences with me. During the first, we’ll talk generally about your
background and your writing experience. During the others, we’ll do close line edits of your essays.
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Overview of weekly themes and readings*

Jan 17 Week 1: Looking in the Mirror

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, letter to John Thelwall (1796)
Lucy Grealy, “Mirrorings” (1993)

Jan 24 Week 2: Food

M. F. K. Fisher, “The Flaw” (1939)
Allen Shawn, “Family Meal” (2008)

Jan 31 Week 3: Family I

James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son” (1955)
George Howe Colt, from The Big House (2003)

Feb 7 Week 4: Family II

James Thurber, “The Night the Bed Fell” (1933)
Dave Eggers, from A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (2000)

Feb 14 Week 5: Love

H. G. Wells, from “On Loves and the Lover-Shadow” (1936; published 1984)
Joyce Maynard, from At Home in the World (1998)

Feb 21 Week 6: Loss

Virginia Woolf, "The Death of the Moth" (published posthumously in 1942)
Elizabeth Alexander, “Lottery Tickets” (2015)

Feb 28 Week 7: Secrets

Oscar Wilde, from De Profundis (1897; expurgated version published 1905, complete version 1962)
Victor Zapana, “Shaken” (2012)

Mar 7 Week 8: Altered States

Thomas De Quincey, from Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1821)
Cheryl Strayed, "Heroin/e" (1999)
Two Identity pieces by WaO alums

Mar 28 Week 9: Joy

Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Lantern-Bearers” (1888)
William Zinsser, from Writing About Your Life (2004)

Apr 4 Week 10: Pain

Maxine Hong Kingston, “No Name Woman” (1975)
Elizabeth Wurtzel, from Prozac Nation (1994)

Apr 11 Week 11: Body

Nora Ephron, “A Few Words about Breasts” (1972)
Anne Fadiman, from The Wine Lover’s Daughter (2017)

Apr 18 Week 12: Identity I

Charles Darwin, “Autobiography” (1876)
Brent Staples, from Parallel Time (1994)

Apr 25 Week 13: Identity II

Mary McCarthy, from Memories of a Catholic Girlhood (1957)
Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking (2005)

*See pages 6-12 of this syllabus for detailed assignments.

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Books

Of the twenty-six course readings, eighteen, including all the “old” works, are reprinted in the English 455
course packet, available the second week of class at Tyco. The eight books of which we’ll read the entirety or
substantial chunks can be purchased or rented from the Yale Bookstore (with the possible exception of Staples)
and are on reserve at Bass Library:

George Howe Colt, The Big House

Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking
Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Anne Fadiman, The Wine Lover’s Daughter
Joyce Maynard, At Home in the World
Brent Staples, Parallel Time
Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation
William Zinsser, Writing About Your Life

In addition, everyone should buy Roget’s International Thesaurus (Barbara Ann Kipfer, ed.). The newest edition is
the 7th. You may buy an earlier edition, but it must be this title (not the “concise” or non-international version).
The bookstore has a few paperbacks, but you may be able to find an inexpensive thumb-indexed hardback online.

Requirements and expectations

1. Come to class. Its size was restricted in order to foster intimacy. If you don’t show up, you are being unfair to the
students who were turned away as well as to your classmates, who will feel your absence. And please be on time.

2. Write four essays, and two revisions, on the assigned themes. Don’t ask if you can switch to another topic; don’t
trade topics with another student. Pay loving attention to each sentence as well as to your essay’s larger goals.

3. Turn in your essays on time. If you have an assignment due, the deadline is noon on the Tuesday preceding each
class. Post your piece in the Discussions section of our Canvas site. Include a word count and a note about the
process of writing the essay and what you like best and least about it.

4. Do the reading. If you’ve been assigned only part of a book but get caught by it, surrender, stay up late, and
read the whole thing. (And then tell us about it in the next class.) Think of the readings not as “assignments”
but as practice for the reading you will do during the rest of your life for pleasure and perspective-enlargement.
Come to each class prepared to read aloud a (short) favorite passage emblematic of the author’s prose style and
the work’s take on our weekly theme.

5. Present a five-minute oral report on your assigned author. Don’t ask to trade authors with another student
unless you must be out of town.

6. Write the assigned critiques of student work, and comment helpfully on student work in class and on Canvas.

7. Serve as critic, editor, adviser, and sounding board for your Identity partner.

8. Participate in class discussions. When we are talking about our reading, think of each of these works not as a
desiccated “text” but as half of a relationship. You are the other half.

9. If I ask you to read your work aloud in class, be prepared to do so—which means that you shouldn’t write
anything you feel you couldn’t read (but do try to push the boundaries of what you’re willing to expose).

10. Abide by this class’s strict confidentiality rule. Do not share your colleagues’ essays or discuss their topics.
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Groups

For purposes of assignment scheduling, the class has been divided alphabetically into two groups: the
Narcissists and the Solipsists.

Narcissists:
Josh Baize
Anna Blech
Lauren Chan
Elliot Connors
Eliza Fawcett
Paul Gross

Solipsists:
Jared Newman
Will Nixon
Anita Norman
Chidera Osuji
Laura Plata
Jaclyn Price

Author visits

I’ll alert you the previous week when an author visit looms. Each of you should come to class armed with at
least two thoughtful questions.

Author reports

Near the beginning of each class, one of you will give an informal five-minute talk (please respect this
Procrustean limit by practicing beforehand with watch in hand) that introduces us to the author of the older
work. Your assigned authors are listed in the weekly schedule that starts on page 6 of this syllabus.

Think of your report as a séance. You are the medium through which your author will come alive at our table.
If you have the right cable and can get things ready to go before class begins, you may use PowerPoint, though
this is by no means required. You may use notes, but you may not read your report aloud. Include a very brief
biographical sketch; provide some vivid anecdotes and quotations that illuminate your author’s character and
point of view. Was there a formative childhood incident? Unusual love life? Hard-won insights into the writing
craft? Photographs and very brief audio or video clips are welcome. Most important: compel us to be fascinated
by your author as a person. There are no hard-and-fast rules about format; students have written scripts and
cast classmates as characters in an author's life, created trumped-up Facebook pages, and in general upended
convention. Be imaginative. Be funny. Surprise us. Anyone who begins with “Virginia Woolf was born in
1882” will be required to eat the course packet.

Structure, process, mechanics

Some of our classes will include a short discussion of either an aspect of structure or process (e.g., titles,
beginnings, endings, procrastination) or a topic relating to errors in grammar, punctuation, and usage that
have turned up in your own writing assignments. In your subsequent writing for this class—and, I hope,
afterward—you’ll be expected to give those errors a wide berth.
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Discussion of student work

We’ll discuss one piece each week. I’ll let you know which one in advance. Please read it on the Discussions section
of our Canvas site and be prepared to tell the class at least one thing you love about it and at least one thing you’d
change (something substantive, not an errant semicolon). The author’s critique partner will start us off each week.

If your work has been selected, bring thirteen copies to class. If we’ve already worked on your piece in conference or
you’ve received a peer critique, bring in your latest and best version (which, unlike your original version, may exceed
the prescribed word limit). And bring one question about your work that you’d like to ask your colleagues. When
you're on the receiving end of comments, try to thicken your skin enough to realize that good criticism is a
compliment. If you’re the critic, follow this guideline: don't find something wrong unless you can also find
something right. Humor will help on both ends. Competition will not.

Everyone else’s work will also be available on Canvas. You should read it not because it is required but because
you’re curious. Post comments!

Assigned critiques of student work

Each of you will write four critiques of student work. They’re listed in the schedule of assignments that starts on the
next page. Critiques aren’t posted on Canvas; they are submitted by email, as informal letters addressed directly to the
writer, with a copy to me at [email protected]. Like all written assignments, they’re due by noon on Tuesdays.

Critiques have no word limits. The first three should be at least 750 words; critiques of the final assignment should be
at least 1000 words (some will likely be much longer). Useful topics include (but aren’t limited to) what you believe the
David* is; how clearly and skillfully that David has been delineated; writing style; authorial voice; use of detail; clutter
and redundancy; problem areas; and areas of particular strength. If you believe the essay’s structure could be improved, briefly
note its current sequence and your proposed new sequence. Each week, if we discuss an aspect of writing in class (for instance,
titles or beginnings or endings or multisensory description), add that to the list of topics to cover in your next critique.

Append a track-change document in which you edit the piece. (If you hate track changes, discuss alternatives with
me.) Triple-spacing the document before you edit it will prevent long comments from getting dragged to the back
of the document. Don’t just say “This sentence seems wordy”; go ahead and repair it. If possible, include your
critique and your edit in a single document, with your name at the top.

Grading

I encourage you to take this class on a Credit/D/Fail basis if you can. Grades are a goblin that perches on your
shoulder and whispers two ruinous things in your ear: “Don’t take risks. Don’t take pleasure.” If you banish him, you
will be motivated to enter into both the reading and the writing for the only reason that will carry over into your post-
collegiate life: because you want to.

If you prefer to be graded (or if you must because of academic requirements, Phi Beta Kappa eligibility, or the like),
your written work (essays, revisions, written critiques of student work) will count for 75% of your grade. The essays
and revisions will be weighted more than the critiques; your final essay will count more than your shorter work. Your
class participation (preparedness for class discussions, author report, questions asked of visiting authors, willingness to
talk in class and post comments on Canvas, intelligence of insights, respect for other students, helpful engagement in
Identity partnership) will count for 25%. Your conferences with me aren’t graded (unless you’re heinously late). Late
essays and critiques will be graded down one tick (e.g., from a B+ to a B) each day except in case of illness or family
crisis. (In the case of critiques, you’ll be given some leeway if the essay you’re commenting on is late.) If you miss a
class (again, except because of illness or family crisis), your grade for class participation will drop similarly. In keeping
with this course’s focus on writing rather than marks, your essays will receive oral comments, not grades.
*This mysterious term will be explained before you write your first critique.
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Reading, writing, critique, and author report assignments

Week 1: Looking in the Mirror

Reading (for discussion Thursday, January 17):

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, letter to John Thelwall, November 19, 1796 (English department handout
and packet)
Lucy Grealy, "Mirrorings,” 1993 (English department handout and packet)

Writing: In-class exercise for all students

Week 2: Food

Writing (due by noon on Tuesday, January 22; post in the Discussions section of English 455 on Canvas):
Narcissists: Write about food. Use this small topic to access something larger. Please append a note
about how you chose the topic, what challenges you encountered in the writing, and what you like least
and most about the piece. Include a word count.

Reading (for discussion Thursday, January 24):

M. F. K. Fisher, “The Flaw,” from The Gastronomical Me, 1939 (packet)
Allen Shawn, “Family Meal,” 2008 (packet)
WaO syllabus

Author report (presented Thursday, January 24):

Josh Baize on M.F.K. Fisher

Week 3: Family I

Writing (due by noon on Tuesday, January 29):

Solipsists: Write about your family, or a single member of it. Don’t bite off too large a chunk. Please
append a note about how you chose the topic, what challenges you encountered in the writing, and
what you like least and most about the piece. In this note and all subsequent notes, identify your David.
Include a word count.

Critiques of Food essays (due via email to your critique partner, copying me, by noon on Tuesday, January 29):
Narcissists: Comment on and edit each other’s work as follows:
Josh Baize and Anna Blech
Lauren Chan and Elliot Connors
Eliza Fawcett and Paul Gross

Narcissists and Solipsists should send me an email by noon on Tuesday, January 29, telling me their preferred
topic—or, if they’re feeling especially accommodating, their willingness to write on either of their topics—for
Weeks 6-9 (see the boldface section on page 8 of this syllabus). This will help me schedule the student essays we
discuss in our weekly workshops.

Reading (for discussion Thursday, January 31):

James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son,” 1955 (packet)
George Howe Colt, The Big House, 2003 (Prologue; chapters I, III, X-XI, XIV)

Author report (presented Thursday, January 31):

Anna Blech on James Baldwin
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Week 4: Family II

Writing (post on Canvas by noon on Tuesday, February 5):

Narcissists: Write about your family, or a single member of it. Don’t bite off too large a chunk.
Append your note about the piece (don’t forget to identify the David) and include a word count.

Critiques of Family I essays (due via email to your partner, copying me, by noon on Tuesday, February 5):
Solipsists: Comment on and edit each other’s work in the following pairs:
Jared Newman and Chidera Osuji
Will Nixon and Anita Norman
Laura Plata and Jaclyn Price

Reading (for discussion Thursday, February 7):

James Thurber, "The Night the Bed Fell," 1933 (packet)
Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, 2000 (skim the prefatory material—
everything before Part I, including the copyright page—and read Parts I-III)

Author report (presented Thursday, February 7):

Lauren Chan on James Thurber

Week 5: Love

Writing (post on Canvas by noon on Tuesday, February 12):

Solipsists: Write about love. Your essay can be about romantic love, or about sex (with or without
love), but it can also be about the love of a family member, a friend, an animal, or an object. Append
your note about the piece (don’t forget to identify the David) and include a word count.

Critiques of Family II essays (due via email to your partner, copying me, by noon on Tuesday, February 12):
Narcissists: Comment on and edit each other’s work in the following pairs:
Josh Baize and Paul Gross
Anna Blech and Elliot Connors
Lauren Chan and Eliza Fawcett

Reading (for discussion Thursday, February 14):

H. G. Wells, from “On Loves and the Lover-Shadow,” 1936 (packet)
Joyce Maynard, At Home in the World, 1998 (Author’s Note, Introduction, chapters 2-12,
Afterword, and “An Eighteen-Year-Old Looks Back on Life”)

Author report (presented Thursday, February 14):

Elliot Connors on H. G. Wells
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N.B. During Weeks 6-9, each of you will write about only one topic. Narcissists will write on either Loss or Altered
States; Solipsists will write on either Secrets or Joy. I will ask your preference but can’t guarantee that you’ll get it. If
you’re willing to write on either of your options, I’ll (gratefully) assign you a topic.

During your other writing week, you’ll revise one of your previous essays. Pick one that has a long way to go but that you
care enough about to make the journey worthwhile. You’ll receive a handout that will suggest a number of revision
strategies. Use them. Please accompany your revision with a substantial note that covers all the topics listed in section
#24 of the revision handout. (Yes, all!) Don’t forget to tell me which revision strategies you followed and which ones
worked (give me a key word or two; don’t just list the numbers). Though you are not bound to a 1000-word limit on this
revision, include a word count. So that I can fully appreciate your improvements, please append to the revision a version
with tracked changes. (If your revision process has been too complicated to accommodate track changes, you can
reverse-engineer a track-change document in Word: Review > Compare.) If possible, please post both the clean final
version with note (first) and the tracked version (second) on Canvas in a single document.

If you are critiquing a revision, be sure to read the original version in order to compare them.

Week 6: Loss

Writing (post on Canvas by noon on Tuesday, February 19):

Narcissists: Depending on your assignment, revise one of your previous essays or write about an
experience of loss: of a family member or friend, a relationship, a home, a competition, a set of keys, an
illusion. Append your note about the piece or revision (for contents of revision note, see boldface above
Week 6 and revision handout), and include a word count (though revisions have no word limit).

Critiques of Love essays (due via email to your partner, copying me, by noon on Tuesday, February 19):
Solipsists: Comment on and edit each other’s work in the following pairs:
Jared Newman and Jaclyn Price
Will Nixon and Chidera Osuji
Anita Norman and Laura Plata

Reading (for discussion Thursday, February 21):

Virginia Woolf, “The Death of the Moth,” published posthumously in 1942 (packet)
Elizabeth Alexander, “Lottery Tickets,” 2015 (packet)

Author report: (presented Thursday, February 21):

Eliza Fawcett on Virginia Woolf

Week 7: Secrets

Writing (post on Canvas by noon on Tuesday, February 26):

Solipsists: Depending on your assignment, revise one of your previous essays or write about a secret
you kept from one or more people, that someone kept from you, or that you kept from yourself.
Append your note about the piece or revision (for contents of revision note, see boldface above Week
6 and revision handout), and include a word count (though revisions have no word limit).

Critiques of revisions or Loss essays (due via email to your partner, copying me, by noon on Tuesday, February 26):
Narcissists: Comment on and edit each other's work in the following pairs:
Josh Baize and Elliot Connors
Anna Blech and Eliza Fawcett
Lauren Chan and Paul Gross

Reading (for discussion Thursday, February 28):

Oscar Wilde, from De Profundis, 1897; expurgated version published 1905, complete version 1962 (packet)
Victor Zapana, “Shaken,” 2012 (packet)

Author report (presented Thursday, February 28):

Paul Gross on Oscar Wilde
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Week 8: Altered States

Writing (post on Canvas by noon on Tuesday, March 5):

Narcissists: Depending on your assignment, revise one of your previous essays or write about being in an
altered state of consciousness. Unlike De Quincey and Strayed, you need not have ingested a controlled
substance; your altered state can have been induced by illness, adrenaline, grief, fear, fatigue, or sleep. Let
your writing style reflect your altered state. Append your note about the piece or revision (for contents of
revision note, see boldface above Week 6 and revision handout), and include a word count (though revisions
have no word limit).

Critiques of revisions or Secrets essays (due via email to your partner, copying me, by noon on Tuesday, March 5):
Solipsists: Comment on and edit each other's work in the following pairs:
Jared Newman and Laura Plata
Will Nixon and Jaclyn Price
Anita Norman and Chidera Osuji

Reading (for discussion Thursday, March 7):

Thomas De Quincey, from Confessions of an English Opium Eater, 1821 (packet)
Cheryl Strayed, “Heroin/e,” 1999 (packet)
Two Identity pieces by WaO alums (these will be posted on Canvas)

Author report (presented Thursday, March 7):

Jared Newman on Thomas De Quincey

Spring Break

Think about some topics you might choose for your Identity piece. Get in touch with your Identity partner
and arrange to meet after break to brainstorm Identity topics and approaches. Identity partnerships:

Narcissists:
Josh Baize and Lauren Chan
Anna Blech and Paul Gross
Elliot Connors and Eliza Fawcett

Solipsists:
Jared Newman and Anita Norman
Will Nixon and Laura Plata
Chidera Osuji and Jaclyn Price
 10

Week 9: Joy

Writing (post on Canvas by noon on Tuesday, March 26):

Solipsists: Depending on your assignment, revise one of your previous essays or write about joy.
Append your note about the piece or revision (for contents of revision note, see boldface above Week
6 and revision handout), and include a word count (though revisions have no word limit).

No critique this week.

Identity groundwork:
Narcissists: Meet with your Identity partner by Wednesday of this week to discuss potential Identity
topics and approaches. Unless you’ve already settled on a topic, talk over at least three possibilities.
Between that meeting and Friday, choose your topic. Are there any friends or family members you’ll
need to call to fill in details? Any other background research? Start making notes about your piece.

Reading (for discussion Thursday, March 28):

Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Lantern-Bearers,” 1888 (packet)
William Zinsser, Writing About Your Life, 2004 (chapters 1-8 and 10)

Author report (presented Thursday, March 28):

Will Nixon on Robert Louis Stevenson

Identity proposal:
Narcissists: By noon on Friday, March 29, post on Canvas a proposal of 200-300 words describing the
Identity essay you plan to write. Respond to your Identity partner’s proposal by email the same day,
with a copy to me. Everyone else should also feel free to leave comments on Canvas. After you post your
proposal, make some notes for yourself about scenes and topics you might include.

Week 10: Pain

No critique or essay this week.

Identity groundwork:
Narcissists: By noon on Tuesday, April 2, send your Identity partner an email, with a copy to me,
about your thoughts on structuring your Identity piece. Include a simple outline that incorporates
some of the scenes and topics you’ve been thinking about. What problems are you facing? What are
you excited about? What’s your David? Respond to your partner the same day, with a copy to me.
Solipsists: Meet with your Identity partner by Wednesday of this week to discuss potential Identity
topics and approaches. Unless you’ve already settled on a topic, talk over at least three possibilities.
Between that meeting and Friday, choose your topic. Are there any friends or family members you’ll
need to call to fill in details? Any other background research? Start making notes about your piece.

Narcissists & Solipsists: Also by noon on Tuesday, April 2, please email me (even if you told me in conference)
to let me know if you've decided to take the class Cr/D or for a grade, unless for some reason you'd prefer not to.

Reading (for discussion Thursday, April 4):

Maxine Hong Kingston, “No Name Woman,” 1975 (packet)
Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation, 1994 (Prologue and chapters 5-8)

Author report (presented Thursday, April 4):

Anita Norman on Maxine Hong Kingston

Identity proposal:
Solipsists: By noon on Friday, April 5, post on Canvas a proposal of 200 words or so (no word limit)
describing the Identity essay you plan to write. Respond to your Identity partner’s proposal by email the
same day, with a copy to me. Everyone else should also feel free to leave comments on Canvas. After you
post your proposal, make some notes for yourself about scenes and topics you might include.
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Week 11: Body

No critique or essay this week.

Identity groundwork:
Narcissists: By noon on Tuesday, April 9, send your partner a progress report (with a copy to me).
Include a revised outline. Are you satisfied with your structure? With your David? Attach a rough
draft of at least the first two pages of your piece. (I’ll look to see that it exists but I won’t read it.)
Respond to your partner’s email the same day, with a copy to me.
Solipsists: By noon on Tuesday, April 9, send your Identity partner an email, with a copy to me,
about your thoughts on structuring your Identity piece. Include a simple outline that incorporates
some of the scenes and topics you’ve been thinking about. What problems are you facing? What are
you excited about? What’s your David? Respond to your partner the same day, with a copy to me.

Reading (for discussion Thursday, April 11):

Nora Ephron, “A Few Words about Breasts,” 1972 (packet)
Anne Fadiman, The Wine Lover’s Daughter, 2017 (Chapters 19, “VIP,” and 21, “Taste”; to get a
sense of what the book’s about, flip through some of the earlier chapters, and to dash your
hopes that memoirs are based entirely on memory, flip through the Source Notes)

Author report (presented Thursday, April 11):

Chidera Osuji on Nora Ephron

Week 12: Identity I

Writing (post on Canvas by noon on Tuesday, April 16):

Narcissists: Complete your essay of 2500-3000 words on an issue, experience, temperamental
aspect, or evolutionary process that concerns your identity: not all of you, just one part. Let it reflect
all the aspects of writing you have learned this term. Append your note about the piece (including
notable successes and failures; reflections on the writing process; lessons learned; and David).
Include a word count.

Identity groundwork:
Solipsists: By noon on Tuesday, April 16, send your partner a progress report (with a copy to me).
Include a revised outline. Are you satisfied with your structure? With your David? Attach a rough
draft of at least the first two pages of your piece. (I’ll look to see that it exists but I won’t read it.)
Respond to your partner’s email the same day, with a copy to me.

Reading (for discussion Thursday, April 18):

Charles Darwin, "Autobiography," 1876 (packet)
Brent Staples, Parallel Time, 1994 (“The Coroner’s Photographs,” “The Hill,” “Mr. Bellow’s
Planet”)

Author report (presented Thursday, April 18):

Laura Plata on Charles Darwin
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Week 13: Identity II

Writing (post on Canvas by noon on Tuesday, April 23):

Solipsists: Complete your essay of 2500-3000 words on an issue, experience, temperamental aspect, or
evolutionary process that concerns your identity: not all of you, just one part. Let it reflect all the aspects
of writing you have learned this term. Append your note about the piece (including notable successes
and failures; reflections on the writing process; lessons learned; and David). Include a word count.

Critiques of Identity I essays (due via email to your partner, with a copy to me, by noon on Tuesday, April 23):
Narcissists: In addition to commenting generally on the essay and suggesting fruitful avenues of revision,
please note the ways, if any, that you believe this writer’s work has grown since his or her first piece
(which you should reread). This critique should be at least 1000 words; there is no limit. In addition, do
an especially thorough track-change edit. Please put your critique and your edit in a single document.

Reading (for discussion Thursday, April 25):

Mary McCarthy, from Memories of a Catholic Girlhood, 1957 (packet)
Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking, 2005 (entirety)

Author report (presented Thursday, April 25):

Jaclyn Price on Mary McCarthy

WaO questionnaire (it will be posted on Canvas; please type in your responses, print, and bring to class
Thursday, April 25)

Reading period

The class does not meet during reading period, and there is no exam.

Critiques of Identity II essays (due via email to your partner, with a copy to me, by noon on Tuesday, April 30):
Solipsists: In addition to commenting generally on the essay and suggesting fruitful avenues of revision,
please note the ways, if any, that you believe this writer’s work has grown since his or her first piece
(which you should reread). This critique should be at least 1000 words; there is no limit. In addition, do
an especially thorough track-change edit. Please put your critique and your edit in a single document.

Revisions of Identity I and II essays:

Narcissists post on Canvas by noon on Tuesday, April 30
Solipsists post on Canvas by noon on Tuesday, May 7
•Follow the suggestions on the revision handout.
•If you didn’t double-space your first version, be sure to double-space this one.
•Number the pages.
•Though this revision has no word limit, include a word count.
•In your note, tell us which suggestions on both the revision handout and the Zinsser handout you
followed; which you found most useful; what you’re most and least happy about; whether your
David changed or remained stable; and what lessons, if any, you learned from the revision process.
(Be sure to look at section #24 of the revision handout for more detail on the note.) You need not
submit a copy with tracked changes, but please mention any major changes (title, structural
renovations, added or deleted sections) and explain why you made them.
•To help jog your memory in the future, please append a Master List of Personal Pitfalls (a summary of
the issues we’ve discussed in your conferences throughout the term, both macro and micro, with an
example from your work this semester of each micro Pitfall and a brief description of each macro Pitfall).
•So I can see what kinds of micro-edits you are now capable of, please quote the Before and After
versions of two sentences from your Identity piece on which you made stylistic revisions.
•Please post your revision and all its ancillary material in a single document.