LIT 342L
Spring 2011
Remaining Assignments
1. Short paper, due 4/14/10 10 points
This paper should be comprised of four parts:
a. Annotated bibliography of criticism, interviews, book reviews, and/or biographical sketches
for a living Montana writer. You must have at least three citations (1-2 pp typed).
b. List of at least 6 questions you will ask the author during interview. You might look at some
interviews in journals for examples of useful questions to ask. We can talk about this in class.
c. Date, time and place of scheduled interview.
d. Two possible thesis statements for longer paper about this author.
2. Interview, due 4/21/11 5 points
Your interview may be conducted in person, via email, or by telephone. You should submit an
email or other evidence that the interview took place—that is, it must be verifiable. If you don’t
have a confirming email, then I need a telephone number for contacting the author. You need
not type up a complete transcript (you might want to record interview), but you should type up
pertinent sections of responses to your questions. Written interview format goes like this:
Interviewer: How does your life in Montana make its way into your published work?
Mt Writer: Well, I send the publisher a few gallons of Montana river water and ask that it be
sprinkled on all copies of my books before they leave the warehouse.
3. Individual presentations, 10 points. April 28-5/11.
This short presentation (10 minutes) will be on a living Montana writer, your interview with that
writer, a short summary of his or her work, the reception of that work, and criticism of that work.
4. Final paper, due May 6 before exam period. 20 points. 10 pp minimum. Remember, all
written work should be typed, double spaced, and use 1 inch margins. See syllabus for
additional guidelines. You are not required to write on a work by the author you interviewed,
but you should consider doing so.
Using MLA Style for formatting and documentation, with end notes and a bibliography, your
final paper will be on a work (possibly more than one) by the living Montana writer you
interviewed. Employ close reading strategies coupled with attentiveness to the matrix of
contexts within which the author’s work circulates. For example, one might write about Mary
Clearman Blew’s All But the Waltz and the way that text captures and examines gender relations
in rural Montana in the first half of the 20th century. Such a paper would closely examine Blew’s
text and information about gender relations during the period, while it might employ concepts
from recent theories about gender relations.