With readings in memoir, poetry, essay and fiction,present and past, this course will explore and analyze the ways writers use memory to compose their works. Recollection, memory, memorial: Writers of all genres employ memory, either overtly or covertly, in fragments or in long sweeps of recollection. One might even say writing that seems to bear sparse relation to actual memory may court, contradict or be haunted by it. Our intention will be to understand the mercurial nature of memory so it can become a resource that we can mine, break into, distort, embellish, dis- and re-assemble, interrogate, or doubt. We will read texts that seem to transcribe recollection and writings that use memory as a sculptor would use clay, a collagist scraps or a composer melody. The course is structured as a process of discovery. During the term, we will close-read and explore, coming up with our own guide to kinds of memory (personal, historical, metaphorical, family – there are many). How can we most effectively mine memory and use what we find in our writing, so that our works take up residence in the imaginations and memories of our readers? There will be occasional prompts and a final project influenced by the readings. Book List (may change slightly) James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son (essay only) *in Philip Lopate, The Art of the Personal Essay (handout) Joe Brainard, I Remember Granary Books 2001/ or Or Library of America, complete Joe Brainard William Maxwell, So Long, See you Tomorrow Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts *Vintage Books Jan Morris, Conundrum, Penguin Press Margo Jefferson, Constructing a Nervous System, a memoir Marcel Proust, ""Combray"" from Swann's Way (volume one, In Search of Lost Time) *Translated by Moncrieff, Kilmartin, Enright (Modern Library) Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse * Harcourt Brace paperback, introduction Eudora Welty Jamaica Kincaid, At the Bottom of the River OR Lucy Marguerite Duras, The Lover Robin Coste Lewis, Voyage of the Sable Venus* paperback only (has additional material hardback doesn’t have) Joyce Johnson, Minor Characters WG Sebald, The Emigrants *asterisked books – this edition only – for page harmony while close reading in class.