Course Description
This course will provide an overview of 20th-century American autobiographical writing, with a particular emphasis on works by writers in the late-20th century. We’ll discuss the ways in which the author’s persona reflects shifts in historical understandings of the concept of selfhood, and we’ll examine the impulse to use one’s own life story as a vehicle for understanding the culture or nation at large. We’ll talk about American artistic movements, race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, disability, and most interestingly, the various ways of imagining and re-imagining the autobiographical narrative form.
Instructor: David McGlynn, assistant professor of English
David McGlynn teaches courses in American literature and creative writing. He has a Master of Fine Arts and a Ph.D. in English literature and creative writing from the University of Utah. He is the author of a story collection, The End of the Straight and Narrow, and his work has appeared in such journals as Alaska Quarterly Review, Mid-American Review, The Missouri Review, and Shenandoah. He serves as a contributing editor of Western Humanities Review.
