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21W.735

Writing and Reading the Essay

3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H · Undergraduate

Exploration of formal and informal modes of writing nonfiction prose. Extensive practice in composition, revision, and editing. Reading in the literature of the essay from the Renaissance to the present, with an emphasis on modern writers. Classes alternate between discussion of published readings and workshops on student work. Individual conferences. Limited to 18.

Fall 2025

This course explores formal and informal modes of writing nonfiction prose, with extensive practice in composition, revision, and editing. There will be readings in the literature of the essay from the Renaissance to the present, with an emphasis on modern writers. Classes alternate between discussion of published readings and workshops on student work.

Readings

Fall 2005

Topics

  • In Depth, Introduction, 2-7
  • In Depth, Discussion of Bacon, Montaigne, and White Essays
  • Discussion of Fadiman and Gopnik Essays
  • In Depth, Discussion of Didion, Walker, and White Essays
  • Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #4
  • In Depth, Discussion of Oates, and Chetkovich Essays
  • Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #6
  • In Depth, Discussion of Mairs, Gould, and Orwell Essays
  • Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #8
  • Discussion of Diamond, Fadiman, and Pollan Essays
  • In Depth, Discussion of Oates, Wolfe, and White Essays
  • In Depth, Discussion of Dillard, Woolf, Eiseley, and Doyle Essays
  • Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #12
  • Discussion of Mori and Koestenbaum Essays
  • Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #14
  • Oral Presentations
  • Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #16
  • Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #17
  • Discussion of Allen and Walker Essays
  • Silent Reading Session
  • Workshop of Essays Submitted on Lec #19
  • Discussion of Orwell, Twain, White, and Woolf Essays
  • Course Summary and Evaluations
  • Last Class: Tea and Celebratory Reading

Readings

  • Klaus, Carl, Chris Anderson, and Rebecca Blevins Faery. In Depth: Essayists for Our Time . 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Heinle, 1993. ISBN: 9780155001725.
    Listed reading
  • Menard, Louis, and Robert Atwan, eds. The Best American Essays 2004 . Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN: 9780618357093.
    Listed reading
  • Lunsford, Andrea. Easy Writer . 2nd ed. New York, NY: Bedford Books, 2001. ISBN: 0312400551.
    Listed reading
  • But if you have another favorite, you’re welcome to use it; just check with me first to be sure it’s a good choice. The Mayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific Writing , written by MIT writing professors and available to you online via the Writing Center Web site, contains most of the information you will need for reference. And please do have ready access to a good dictionary. ↗
    Listed reading
  • Hoaglund, Edward. “What I Think, What I Am.” The New York Times Book Review , June 27, 1976.
    Listed reading
  • Didion, Joan. “On Keeping a Notebook.” In Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays . New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1990. ISBN: 9780374521721.
    Listed reading
  • Menard, Louis, and Robert Atwan, eds. The Best American Essays 2004 . Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. Foreword, ix-xiii; and Introduction, xiv-xviii. ISBN: 9780618357093.
    Listed reading
  • Bacon, Francis. “Of Marriage and Single Life.” In Essays, Civil and Moral. The Harvard Classics. 1909-14 . (A version of “ Of Marriage and Single Life ” is available through Bartleby.com.) ↗
    Listed reading
  • White, E. B. “The Essayist and the Essay.” In Essays of E. B. White . New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers Inc. (now owned by Addison Wesley Longman), 1977, pp. 30-31. ISBN: 9780060145767.
    Listed reading
  • Gopnik, Adam. “The Unreal Thing.” In The Best American Essays . Edited by Louis Menard, and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN: 9780618357093.
    Listed reading
  • Didion, Joan. “On the Road.” In The White Album . New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1990. ISBN: 9780374522216.
    Listed reading
  • Walker, Alice. “Am I Blue?” In Alice Walker Banned . San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books, 1996. ISBN: 9781879960473.
    Listed reading
  • White, E. B. “Once More to the Lake.” In Essays of E. B. White . New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers Inc. (now owned by Addison Wesley Longman), 1977. ISBN: 9780060145767.
    Listed reading
  • Oates, Joyce Carol. “(Woman) Writer: Theory and Practice.” In (Woman) Writer: Occasions and Opportunities . New York, NY: Plume, 1989. ISBN: 9780525484943.
    Listed reading
  • Chetkovich, Kathryn. “Envy.” The Best American Essays 2004 . Edited by Louis Menard, and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN: 9780618357093.
    Listed reading
  • Mairs, Nancy. “On Not Liking Sex.” In: Merton, Andrew. In Your Own Voice: A Writer’s Reader . New York, NY: Longman Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780065017632.
    Listed reading
  • Gould, Stephen Jay. “A Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse.” In The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History . New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1992. ISBN: 9780393308198.
    Listed reading
  • Orwell, George. “Politics and the English Language.” In The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell . New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1968. (First published: London, UK: Horizon, April 1946. Reprinted in George Orwell.)
    Listed reading
  • Diamond, Jared. “The Last Americans.” In The Best American Essays 2004 . Edited by Louis Menard, and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN: 9780618357093.
    Listed reading
  • Fadiman, Anne. “The Arctic Hedonist.” In The Best American Essays 2004 . Edited by Louis Menard, and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN: 9780618357093.
    Listed reading
  • Pollan, Michael. “Why Mow? The Case Against Lawns.” New York Times , May 28, 1989, section 6, p. 22.
    Listed reading
  • Oates, Joyce Carol. “Blood, Neon, and Failure in the Desert.” In (Woman) Writer: Occasions and Opportunities . New York, NY: Plume, 1989. ISBN: 9780525484943. (Originally published in The Village Voice . March 24, 1987. Reprinted in Joyce Carol Oates.)
    Listed reading
  • Wolfe, Tom. “O Rotten Gotham-Sliding Down into the Behavioral Sink.” In Valence and Vision: A Reader in Psychology . Edited by Rich Jones, and Richard L. Roe. New York, NY: Rinehart, 1974. ISBN: 9780030084164.
    Listed reading
  • White, E. B. “The Age of Dust.” In Poems and Sketches of E. B. White . New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1983. ISBN: 9780060909697.
    Listed reading
  • Dillard, Annie. “The Death of a Moth.” In The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition . New York, NY: Norton, 2003. ISBN: 9780393978827.
    Listed reading
  • Woolf, Virginia. “The Death of the Moth.” In The Death of the Moth and Other Essays . Berkeley, CA: Harvest Books, 1974. ISBN: 9780156252348.
    Listed reading
  • Eiseley, Loren. “The Bird and the Machine.” In The Immense Journey: An Imaginative Naturalist Explores the Mysteries of Man and Nature . New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1959. ISBN: 9780394701578.
    Listed reading
  • Doyle, Brian. “Yes.” The Georgia Review LVI, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 569.
    Listed reading
  • Mori, Kyoko. “Yarn.” In The Best American Essays 2004 . Edited by Louis Menard, and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN: 9780618357093.
    Listed reading
  • Koestenbaum, Wayne. “Called me. My ’80s.” Artforum International 41, no. 8 (April 2003): 220-224.
    Listed reading
  • Allen, Woody. “Random Reflections of a Second-Rate Mind,” and Walker, Alice. “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self.” In In Depth: Essayists for Our Time . Compiled by Carl H. Klaus, Chris Anderson, and Rebecca Blevins Faery. 2nd ed. Heinle, 1993. ISBN: 9780155001725.
    Listed reading
  • Gopnik, Adam. “Bumping into Mr. Ravioli,” and Doyle, Brian. “Yes.” In The Best American Essays 2003 . Edited by Anne Fadiman and Robert Atwan. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. ISBN: 9780618341610.
    Listed reading
  • Lec #: 22 · TOPICS: Discussion of Orwell, Twain, White, and Woolf Essays · READINGS: Orwell, George. “Marrakech,” Twain, Mark. “Corn-Pone Opinions,” White, E.B. “The Ring of Time,” and Woolf, Virginia. “The Moment: Summer’s Night,” all In In Depth: Essayists for Our Time . Compiled by Carl H. Klaus, Chris Anderson, and Rebecca Blevins Faery. 2nd ed. Heinle, 1993. ISBN: 9780155001725.
    Reading assignment
Fall 2004

Topics

  • Introduction
  • ID: “Introduction: On the Essay.”
  • APE: pp. 5-136.
  • Peer Review
  • Discussion of Drafts
  • ID: Eiseley, L. “How Flowers Changed the World,” and “The Hidden Teacher.”
  • ID: Walker, A. “Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self.”
  • Discussion of Drafts (cont.)
  • ID: Orwell, G. “Politics and the English Language.”
  • TM: Swift, J. “A Modest Proposal.”
  • TM: Voltaire. Candide.
  • Individual Conferences
  • Individual Conferences (cont.)
  • Final Class Meeting in Class

Readings

  • Klaus, C., et al. In Depth: Essayists for Our Time. 2nd ed. Princeton, NJ: Heinle, 1993. ISBN: 9780155001725.
    Required
  • Lopate, Phillip. The Art of the Personal Essay . Anchor; 1st Anchor Books Pbk. Ed edition, 1997. ISBN: 9780385423397.
    Required
  • Queenan, Joe, ed. The Malcontents: The Best Bitter, Cynical, and Satirical Writing in the World. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Book Publishers, 2004. ISBN: 9780762416974.
    Required
  • Raymo, Chet. “An Ancient Brilliance.” In The Soul of the Night: An Astronomical Pilgrimage . Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1985, pp. 53-62. ISBN: 9780138228835.
    Required
  • Alexie, Sherman. “Captivity.” In The Next American Essay. Edited by John D’Agata. St. Paul, Minn.: Greywolf Press, 2002, pp. 63-69. ISBN: 9781555973759.
    Required
  • Perelman, L., et al. The Mayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific Writing. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1997. ISBN: 9781559346474.
    Recommended

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: Writing sample and permission of instructor U (Fall, Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H

Sources