Below are the required and suggested readings for this course as well as guidance for the Reading Responses, due the evening before each session.
Texts
[Across Cultures] = Gillespie, S., and R. Becker, eds. Across Cultures: A Reader for Writers. 8th ed. Pearson Education, Inc., 2008. ISBN: 9780205780372.
Lunsford, A. Easy Writer: A Pocket Reference. 4th ed. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. ISBN: 9780312650315.
Required Readings
| SES # | READINGS |
|---|---|
| 2 |
Berger, Joseph. "An Undocumented Princetonian." New York Times, December 29, 2009. Tan, Amy. "Mother Tongue." In Across Cultures: A Reader for Writers. 7th ed. Edited by Sheena Gillespie and Robert Becker. Pearson/Longman Publishers, 2009. ISBN: 9780321475299. In [Across Cultures]: |
| 3 | In [Across Cultures]: |
| 6 | In [Across Cultures]: |
| 7 | In [Across Cultures]: |
| 13 |
Majaj, Lisa Suhair. "Boundaries: Arab/American." In Food for Our Grandmothers: Writings by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian Feminists. Edited by Joanna Kadi. South End Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780896084902. In [Across Cultures]: |
| 14 | In [Across Cultures]: |
| 15 | In [Across Cultures]: |
| 16 |
Hogan, Linda "Dwellings." In Across Cultures: A Reader for Writers. 7th ed. Edited by Sheena Gillespie and Robert Becker. Pearson/Longman Publishers, 2009. ISBN: 9780321475299. Silko, Leslie. "Lullaby." In Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: The Tradition in English. Edited by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1985. ISBN: 9780393019407. In [Across Cultures]: |
| 20 |
In class: Ragusa, Kym. Passing. 1996. Film. Bambara, Toni. "The Lesson" and Lorde, Audre. "The Fourth of July." In Across Cultures: A Reader for Writers. 7th ed. Edited by Sheena Gillespie and Robert Becker. Pearson/Longman Publishers, 2009. ISBN: 9780321475299. Patterson, Orlando. "Jean, O. J. and the Jailing of Black America." In Best African American Essays: 2009. Edited by Gerald Early and Debra Dickerson. New York: Bantam Books, 2009, pp. 233-36. ISBN: 9780553385366. Touré. "Do Not Pass." New York Times, February 16, 2010, Sunday Book Review. In [Across Cultures]: |
| 23 | Anzaldúa, Gloria. Preface and chapter 1 in Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Meztiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1987. ISBN: 9781879960572. |
Reading Responses
To become an accomplished writer you must read, not only for the pleasures reading holds, but also to learn about the range and texture and scope of writing and, I hope, to be inspired with possibilities for your own writing. Part of your work for the semester, then, will be to read a great deal and to respond to what you read in writing.
Guidance for Responses to the Reading
I will expect roughly half a page to a page or so (a little less, a little more) of typewritten response (single-spaced) to the reading assignments for each class meeting. You don't need to respond to the writing of your classmates. I expect your responses to be informal, speculative, reflective of careful reading, and written in a spirit of critical questioning and exploration.
You should begin your response with a concise summary of what you've read (just a few sentences), then note or quote any passages that you found particularly striking or memorable (with parenthetical page citations), state what you understand to be the writer's point—the idea or motive which gives the piece shape and force—and speculate, if you care to, on how the piece might be useful to you in your own writing. Of course I'm interested to know whether you enjoyed the reading or not, and why. You are also welcome and encouraged to refer to other things you've read by way of comparing or contrasting the piece you are writing about with others.
My hope is that responding to the assigned readings will deepen and enrich both the reading and writing you'll do in the weeks ahead, and that it will help you in your efforts to become a strong writer.