Reading and Writing the Modern Essay

Undergraduate

Close reading and discussion of exemplary modern essays prepares students to craft their own powerful creative nonfiction and also read like writers--deeply and carefully, with attention to a text's formal features, including its structure, narrator, rhetorical moves, and poetic effects. Among essayists commonly included are James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Zadie Smith, Roxane Gay, David Foster Wallace, Jia Tolentino, David Sedaris, Eula Biss, and Rachel Cusk. Assignments challenge students to hone their prose style and write in various modes, such as personal experience, portraits of people or places, cultural critique, and satire. WR HTBA