This course examines twentieth- and twenty-first-century autobiographical narratives from Italy, France, and the United States. We will consider works such as Primo Levi’s If This Is a Man (1947), Nathalie Sarraute’s Childhood (1983), and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home (2006) in light of the role that memory plays in the formation of personal and collective identities. Key theoretical questions include: In what ways do individuals construct themselves through words and images? What is the relationship between “truth” and imagination? Why are some memories vivid and distinct, while others resurface only involuntarily? Is there an ethics inherent in life-writing? What is at stake in autobiographical narratives that feature major historical and sometimes traumatic events? Do memories belong only to individuals or also to generations and social groups? What are the geographical, historical, and cultural sites of individual and collective recollections?

This course is designed to fulfill the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement. Throughout the semester, we will master the skills of critical reading and writing. In addition to closely analyzing and discussing texts and films, we will focus on all the stages involved in writing a research paper, from developing a thesis statement and supporting your argument with appropriate evidence to polishing the final draft.

Required Texts (updated 8/12/2020):

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Boston: Mariner Books, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0544709041

Ginzburg, Natalia. Family Lexicon, translated by Jenny McPhee. New York: New York Review Books, 2017. ISBN-13: 978-1590178386

Levi, Primo. If This Is a Man, translated by Stuart Woolf. London: Abacus, 2003. ISBN-13: 978-0349100135

Sarraute, Nathalie. Childhood, translated by Barbara Wright. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013. ISBN-13: 978-0226922317

Films

Fellini, Federico. Amarcord.

Varda, Agnès. The Beaches of Agnès.

Additional Readings

Short texts by Vladimir Nabokov, James Baldwin, Italo Calvino, Maxine Hong Kingston, Patricia Hampl, bell hooks, and Luisa Passerini are available through the course website on bCourses.

This course satisfies the second half or the “B” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement.

Prerequisite: Successful completion of the “A” portion of the Reading & Composition requirement or its equivalent. Students may not enroll in nor attend R1B/R5B courses without completing this prerequisite.

Due to the high demand for R&C courses we monitor attendance very carefully. Attendance is mandatory the first two weeks of classes, this includes all enrolled and wait listed students. If you do not attend all classes the first two weeks you may be dropped. If you are attempting to add into this class during weeks 1 and 2 and did not attend the first day, you will be expected to attend all class meetings thereafter and, if space permits, you may be enrolled from the wait list.