230585 Latin@s Autobiography (S) (SoSe 2009)

In his work La pacte autobiographique Philippe Lejeune states autobiography is “retrospective prose story that a real person relates about his or her own experience, in which he or she gives emphasis to his or her individual life, and to the history of his or her personality.”

This reading intensive course engages with the autobiographical work in English and Spanglish by members of diverse Latin@ communities (Chican@, Mexican American, Chilean American, Dominican American, Puerto Rican, etc) while critically engaging with Lejeune’s definition of the literary genre and his assumptions about the self. We will further examine the intersection of ethnicity, race, gender, class, sexuality in the construction of individual and group identity. Required readings are also theoretical texts by Thomas G. Couser, Paul De Man, Sidonie Smith, Joan W. Scott, Timothy Dow Adams, Anne Koenen, etc. A reader will be available at the beginning of the course.

A course reserve is also available for students. Literary texts are available on reserve.