We live in an age of autobiography, memoir, and personal narrative. We may find the very concept of speaking for others distasteful or immoral: everyone, we reason, should be trusted to tell their own stories. And yet biography is an art: a great biographer can provide insights and contexts into a life, which elude the memoirist. This workshop on the art of biography will study great examples of biographical writing by Ralph Waldo Emerson, W.E.B. Dubois, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Ellmann, and others, along with contemporary examples by Robert Caro, Heather Clark, Langdon Hammer, and others. Students will choose their own biographical subjects early in the course and present, in a workshop format, their ongoing research and writing, culminating in a short biography of 15-20 pages.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 15

Prerequisites: None.

Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature

Typical Periods Offered: Spring

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Spring

Notes: Mandatory Credit/Non Credit.