Introduction to Writing about Literature

What does it mean to close read? Does the author’s biography matter to understanding a text? What about the time and place that the text was written? This course will introduce students to a range of habits, practices, and approaches to writing about literature and culture that widen and deepen how one can respond to and interpret a novel, a poem, and various other cultural artifacts. At the same time, we will engage in writing practices that empower students to locate and articulate what interests them about a particular piece of writing or culture, to make a claim about it, and to articulate that claim against other interpretations. Foundational to this endeavor is re-envisioning the writing process, from an isolated, individual process to one that involves collaboration and conversation; copious in-class writing; peer workshops; the power of drafts and revision; and the inclusion of research and theoretical frames. We will use Jamaica Kincaid’s novella Lucy as our main text, accompanied by shorter readings and visits to the museum, Barnard library and archive and other excursions that expand the world of our writing and the objects we wish to understand.