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21W.735 Writing & Reading the Essay
In this class, we will explore the contemporary personal essay, looking at the ways in which various writers use personal, lived experience to explore larger questions about the world around them. The theme of the course is “place.” We will read essays about home and travel, cities, suburbs, and wild places, and inner and outer landscapes. Each week, we will discuss an essay, examining the technique, form, and content of the writing. We will then expand on those discussions through writing craft exercises. The goal of the exercises is to help students develop your essay writing skills through creative devices gleaned from the readings, and to build material over time that you will use in your formal writing assignments for the class.