Bestsellers: the memoir

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

What is a "life" when it's written down? How does memory inform the present? Why are memoirs so popular? This course will address these questions and others, considering the relationship between biography, autobiography, and memoir and between personal and social themes. We will closely examine some recent memoirs: Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life, Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father, Edwidge Danticat's Brother, I'm Dying, Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel, and Alison Bechdel's Fun Home. Students will write two brief papers: a critical essay and an experiment in memoir.

As a "Sampling," this class offers 6 units, with a strong emphasis on close reading, group discussion, focused writing, and research and presentation skills.

Obama, Barack. Dreams from My Father - A Story of Race and Inheritance. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, 2004.

Ali, Ayaan Hirsi. Infidel. Tampa, FL: Free Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780743289696.

Wolff, Tobias. This Boy's Life: A Memoir. New York, NY: Grove Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780802136688.

Danticat, Edwidge. Brother, I'm Dying. New York, NY: Vintage, 2008. ISBN: 9781400034307.

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. New York, NY: Mariner Books, 2007. ISBN: 9780618871711.

Plagiarism—use of another's intellectual work without acknowledgement is a serious offense. It is the policy of the Literature Faculty that students who plagiarize will receive an F in the subject, and that the instructor will forward the case to the Committee on Discipline. Full acknowledgement for all information obtained from sources outside the classroom must be clearly stated in all written work submitted. All ideas, arguments, and direct phrasings taken from someone else's work must be identified and properly footnoted. Quotations from other sources must be clearly marked as distinct from the student's own work. For further guidance on the proper forms of attribution, consult the style guides available at the Writing and Communication Center and the MIT Web site on Plagiarism.

Alison Bechdel, Fun Home

Author Bio/Reviews

Bechdel, Fun Home (cont.)

Report: Bechdel's Use of Comic Book Conventions or Dykes to Watch Out For

Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life

Author Bio/Reviews

Wolff, This Boy's Life (cont.)

Report: Geoffrey Wolff and Duke of Deception (1979) or This Boy's Life, the Film (1993) OR Wolff's Fiction

Edwige Danticat, Brother, I'm Dying

Author Bio/Reviews

Danticat, Brother

Report: Danticat's Fiction or Haitian Literature Today

Barack Obama, Dreams From My Father

Report: Obama in 1995

Obama, Dreams From My Father (cont.)

Report: Audacity of Hope or Dreams and the Presidency

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Infidel

Report: Author Bio/Reviews

Ali, Infidel (cont.)

Report: Comparison between Ali and another writer from the syllabus or politico-religious debates around Infidel

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