LIT 368 American Memoir

Fall/Spring

What is a “life” when it’s written down? How does memory inform the present? Why are autobiographies and memoirs so popular? This course will address these questions among others, as it considers the life writing of some American authors, including writers such as Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, Art Spiegelman, Maxine Hong Kingston, Alison Bechdel, Sherman Alexie, and others. Students will be asked to write excerpts of their own memoir, learning aspects of the creative nonfiction writing process. Prerequisite: FCO 105.

3 credit hours