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Approximate length: 1,500-2,000 words.
Final revision due: Monday, December 6.
Please revisit this page every few days for frequent updates to the assignment guidelines.
PERSONAL ESSAY: In this assignment, we are composing a personal or familiar
essay--a composition in which our distinctive (and carefully crafted) persona interacts
with a particular experience or person or place or idea (or series of
experiences, people, places, or ideas) to discover the humor, sadness, wisdom, and/or
truth of our subject. (In addition to Lopate's introductory definitions of the
form--and thus of this assignment--we'll be looking at ways that other essayists perceive
the personal or familiar essay.) This assignment is not primarily an
argument or "opinion piece" (i.e., an editorial) nor does it call for the sort
of private writing or "baring of the soul" associated with confessional writing
or journal entries. Though the "I" in this essay will have a significantly
more dominant role than in the travel essay or profile, we are still writing with an adult
audience beyond ourselves in mind.
CONSIDERATIONS
As you explore topics for a personal essay, keep in mind
these observations from Lee Gutkind, author of The
Art of Creative Fiction (1997) and editor of the journal Creative Nonfiction.
 Of the
many reasons the vast majority of these submissions (to the journal Creative
Nonfiction) are rejected, two are most prevalent. The first is overwhelming
egocentrism; in other words, writers write too much about themselves without seeking a
universal focus or umbrella so that readers are properly and firmly engaged. Just
because something we think is interesting has happened to us, it won't necessarily be
fascinating to 100,000 readers across the United States. . . . The overall
objective of the personal essayist is to make the reader tune-in--not tune-out.
The second reason Creative Nonfiction and most
other journals and magazines reject essays is their authors' lack of attention to the
mission of the genre, which is to gather and present information, to teach readers about a
person, place, idea, or situation. Even the most personal of essays are full of
substantive detail about a subject that affects or concerns a writer and the people about
whom he or she is writing. Read the books and essays of the most renowned nonfiction
writers of the century and you will read about a writer engaged in a quest for information
and discovery. (69-70)
[As
you explore topics] tear yourself inside out. Unearth, dramatize, relive bad
memories, frightening and life-shaping experiences. Tell humorous anecdotes about
growing up on a farm or in the inner city. But in the process, always remember that
readers have their own memories, good and bad. Readers do not want to pass the time
of day with a writer, listening to the past, without learning or benefitting in one way or
another--or sharing in some universal experience or agony. [Good essayists] unmask
themselves in the most personal ways, but they also embrace a larger subject with
universal appeal. (73-74)
BRAINSTORMING QUESTIONS
In a few sentences for each, please answer the following questions
(legibly--I'll be collecting and responding to them) for class discussion on Wednesday,
November 17.
(1) Identify and briefly describe a specific odor and/or
a specific sound that reminds you of a particular person, place, or experience
from your younger years.
(2) Consider the following titles of essays in our
anthology: "My Confession"; "Some Memories of . . . an Earlier Self";
"My Face." Imagine that you had chosen one of these as the
title for your own essay, and briefly explain what you would most likely write about.
(3) Consider the following (additional) titles of essays
in our anthology: "Walking"; "On Going a Journey": "Street
Haunting"; "Going Out for a Walk"; "Seeing." Imagine that
you had chosen one of these as the title for your own essay, and briefly explain
what you would most likely write about.
(4) Identify and briefly describe the particular place you
retreated to as a child to escape from the rest of the world. Mention whether or not
you have any comparable place today.
(5) Identify and briefly describe a single item in your house that
serves to conjure up all sorts of memories--about a particular experience and/or another
person or place.
A FEW TOPIC SUGGESTIONS
The following topic ideas all concentrate on personal experience;
if you choose a topic along these lines, the challenge will be to encourage and invite the
reader's identification with that experience.
1. We have all had experiences that have changed the directions of our lives. Such
experiences may be momentous, such as
moving from one part of the country to another or losing a family member or close friend.
On the other hand, they may be
experiences that did not appear particularly significant at the time but have since proved
to be important. Recall such a turning
point in your life, and present it so as to give the reader a sense of what your life was
like before the event and how it changed
afterwards.
2. Without getting sentimental or cute, recreate your childhood perspective of a
particular family or community ritual. Your
purpose might be to highlight the division between the child's perspective and the
adult's; or it might be to illustrate the child's
movement toward an adult perspective.
3. Sometimes a significant relationship with someone can help us to mature, easily or
painfully. Recount the story of such a
relationship in your own life or in the life of someone you know well. If this
relationship marked a turning point in your life or if it
provided you with an important change of self-image, present enough information so that
readers can understand the causes
and effects of the change and can recognize the before-and-after portraits.
4. Write a reminiscence of a place that has had considerable significance for you (either
during your childhood or more
recently)--positive, negative, or both. For readers who are unfamiliar with the place,
demonstrate its meaning through
description, a series of vignettes, and/or an account of one or two quintessential people
or events you associate with that place.
5. In the spirit of the familiar saying, "It's the going, not the getting there, that
matters," write an account of a memorable
journey, important either because of the physical, emotional, or psychological experience
of travel; or because of the
phenomenon of leaving somewhere for an unknown experience.
ADDITIONAL TOPIC IDEAS WILL BE POSTED HERE LATER IN THE WEEK.
FORMAT
The final version of the essay should be word processed, following the format below.
Submit the essay in a pocket folder (no
clasps, staples, or plastic spines): most recent version on top, rough(er) versions below.
Following your essay, provide a brief
self-evaluation by responding to these questions:
1. What part of this profile do you like most, and why?
2. What part gave you the most difficulty? Explain.
3. What is your overall evaluation of the profile--its particular strengths and possible
weaknesses?
Please be as specific as you can in your answers.
Manuscript format
Bring to class the finished profile (word processed, normal 12-point font, clearly and
sharply printed) as well as all transcripts and drafts. Double space all text. Set
one-inch margins: top, bottom, left, and right.
Your Name
Personal Essay
Your e-mail address
Draft (1 or 2)
Date due
approx.#
of words
Tentative Title of Your Essay
Begin essay here . . . |
