Anglo-American Nonfiction: Sages, Satirists,and New Journalists

After examining the relations between fiction and nonfiction, the class will consider the work of Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, Annie Dillard, and others within contexts created by essayists (Montaigne), satirists (Swift), and Nineteenth-century sages ( Carlyle, Thoreau, Nightingale, and Ruskin). The class will become acquainted with various nonfictional forms including prose satire, the meditative essay, sage-writing, autobiography, and travel literature.