L.008.32335 Writing One's Self: American Autobiographies and Memoirs

Lehrende: Tanja Reiffenrath

Veranstaltungsart: Proseminar

Orga-Einheit: Anglistik/Amerikanistik

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Semesterwochenstunden: 2

Unterrichtssprache: Englisch

Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: - | 50

Voraussetzungen und Empfehlungen:
Introduction to Literary Studies
Introduction to Cultural Studies

Literatur:
Please buy: Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006)
All other primary texts, as well as excerpts from secondary texts will be made available in a reader at the beginning of the semester. Any additional material will be made available online on the eSeminarapparat.

Kommentar:
The term ‘autobiography’ was first used in 1809 and soon received the meaning it still has today: the biography of a person written by that person. A ‘memoir,’ in contradistinction, covers a briefer period of time and tells of a significant event in the writer’s life. While both forms of life narratives focus on their writers’ identities, they also reveal how individuals construct the America of their time. – Oftentimes, life narratives are conceptualized as a democratic genre, allowing also marginalized subjects to tell their stories. 
In this class, we will practice the analysis and interpretation of such texts, using the techniques and terminology that you have been introduced to in the "Introduction to Literary Studies." In the course of the semester, we will read key works in the history of American life writing from the 18th century to the present day, beginning with The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Following the narrative of the self-made man established by Franklin's autobiography, we will study the structures and motifs of 19th century slave autobiographies, such as The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In our readings of autobiographies and memoirs from the 20th century, we will strongly focus on the intersections of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and dis/ability. Texts that we will read include Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior: Girlhood Among Ghosts (1975) and Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals (1980). In the final sessions of this course we will then investigate the graphic novel as a recent medium for life ‘writing’ (Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel) and discuss how we can critically frame Facebook’s call to "present" our biographies online.

Wichtige Hinweise:
This class will be structured around your active participation and discussion of the weekly reading assigments. Please be prepared to share your ideas and opinions with the group.
Credit requirements will be discussed in the first session.