Week 6 Oct 2–8
Monday October 3
- Reading Crafting Presence: The American Essay and the Future of Writing Studies. As you read, consider how the book “seeks to establish common ground among literature, creative writing, and composition’s approaches to essay analysis so that teachers and students can articulate more precisely and consistently their understandings and expectations for essays” (15-16)
Today’s conversation will center on the “Introduction” (3-19) and chapter two “The Genre of Presence” (20-59). We will also bring to our conversation The Essay is the Genre of Presence: An Interview with Nicole B. Wallack
- Editorial Workshop on Essay 3
Wednesday October 5
- Read the two new entries in Teacher Talk: both of the posts, Living With Ideas and Slowing Down are my reflections on the theory and practice of the essay at this point in the course
- Featured Writer: John Lane. Read the essay Partial Totality. Then get to know the writer by reading Chronophilia and A Hole in Time, as well has his Letter to America
(I recommend that as you continue to immerse yourself in the essay that you read as many essays as you can to develop an appreciation for the form and to learn how writers use the form for various purposes. John Lane’s essays are published in the online journal dedicated to writing about place: Terrain. See the journal’s Nonfiction Archive for more examples of nonfiction, including essays.
- Continue reading Wallack. Discussion in Crafting Presence: The American Essay and the Future of Writing Studies: “Creating a Self Made of Images in Essays” (167-96) and “Learning the Essay” (197-212)
- Conference Sign up. Please review the conference preparation overview. All of your activities and responsibilities (preparing for the individual conference) is listed on the Week 7 Timeline
- Introduction and Discussion of Essay 4