This course will introduce students to some of the various literary forms through which western writers have explored and constructed different selves (both their own and others’), including (auto)biographies, confessional literature, diaries and letters. It will encourage students to think about what they mean by a ‘self’ and about how they use language themselves as a tool for self-fashioning, and will encourage them to use writing more actively as a tool of self-scrutiny and self-presentation.
Prerequisite(s)
None
Corequisite(s)
None
Special Requisite(s)
None
Instructor(s)
Assist. Prof. Farnaz Esmkhani Youvalari
Course Assistant(s)
Schedule
Friday 9:00-12:00
Office Hour(s)
Thursday 12:00-14:00
Teaching Methods and Techniques
-
Lecture, discussion, writing projects
Principle Sources
St. Augustine, Confessions
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions
John Keats, Selected Letters
Virginia Woolf, Letters
Samuel Pepys, Diaries
The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank
The Letters of Samuel Beckett Volume I: 1929-1940
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (Faber, 1963)
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia PLath 1950-1962
Other Sources
Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson
Course Schedules
Week
Contents
Learning Methods
1. Week
Introduction: The Problem of (Auto)biography and the Self
Lecture, class discussion, group work
2. Week
Origins of the Western Self: St. Augustine, Confessions
Lecture, class discussion, group work
3. Week
The Sublime Ego: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions
Lecture, class discussion, group work
4. Week
Inter-subjectivity and the letter: Keats
Lecture, class discussion, group work
5. Week
Inter-subjectivity and the letter: Woolf
Lecture, class discussion, group work
6. Week
Sexing the Diary: Samuel Pepys
Lecture, class discussion, group work
7. Week
Experimental Selves: The Diary of a Young Girl-Anne Frank
Lecture, class discussion, group work
8. Week
Philosophy and the Self, From The Letters of Samuel Beckett
Lecture, class discussion, group work
9. Week
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
Lecture, class discussion, group work
10. Week
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
Lecture, class discussion, group work
11. Week
The Unabridged Journal of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962
Lecture, class discussion, group work
12. Week
Final Exams Week
Lecture, class discussion, group work
13. Week
14. Week
15. Week
16. Week
17. Week
Assessments
Evaluation tools
Quantity
Weight(%)
Midterm(s)
1
30
Quizzes
2
20
Attendance
1
10
Final Exam
1
40
Program Outcomes
PO-1
Show knowledge of a substantial range of authors, movements and texts from different periods of literary history.
PO-2
Identify the intellectual, cultural and socio-historical contexts in which literature
is written and read.
PO-3
Employ the necessary skills in the reading, analysis and in appreciation of literature.
PO-4
Recognize, interpret, and comment on rhetorical and figurative language.
PO-5
Identify, distinguish between and assess the distinctive characteristics of texts written in the principle literary genres.
PO-6
Recall and define key terms and concepts relating to language, literature and/or culture.
PO-7
Recognize the role of different social and cultural contexts in affecting meaning.
PO-8
Demonstrate responsiveness to the central role of language in the creation of meaning.
PO-9
Recognize different structures and discourse functions of the English language.
PO-10
Display competence both in written and/or oral expression and in the
communication of ideas in a variety of contexts.
PO-11
Demonstrate critical skills in the close reading, description, interpretation,
and analysis of literary and non-literary texts.
PO-12
Use logical thought, critical reasoning, and rhetorical skills to effectively
construct arguments.
PO-13
Apply guided research skills including the ability to gather, sift, organize and
present information and material.
PO-14
Show competence in planning, preparation and revision of essays,
presentations, and other written and project work.
PO-15
Reflect on ethical and philosophical issues raised in literary, critical, and
cultural texts.
Learning Outcomes
LO-1
LO 1. be able to demonstrate an awareness of the complexities and possibilities of self-representation through language, and how we construct our lives as narratives
LO-2
LO 2. have engaged with a range of biographical and autobiographical texts in various genres and forms, from across a wide historical spectrum;
LO-3
LO 3. be sensitive to the role language, and in particular figurative and rhetorical tropes, play in the fashioning of a sense of self;
LO-4
LO 4. display an ability to both articulate and explore a sense of self through their own writing;
LO-5
LO 5. have developed a more complex, reflexive sense of their own and others’ selfhood.
