MPW 999/ Section 39203: Memoir as Performance: Finding Your Own True Voice
3 Units
Spring 2009 Semester, Mondays 4:00 – 6:40
Location: WPH 400
Instructor: Dinah Lenney
Dinahlenney@aol.com
Office Hours: Please email me to arrange individual meetings.
“Memoir is not what happened… It is what has happened over time, in the mind, in
the life as it attends to these tantalizing, dismaying, broken bits of life history. Such
personal writing is, as the essay is, ‘an attempt.’ It is a try at the truth. The truth of a
self in the world."
Patricia Hampl
Introduction and Purposes:
The best first person narratives are as much about "the who" as "the what"; as in who's
telling the story and why. Over the course of the semester we'll read a sampling from the
genre -- several books, as well as excerpts and stand-alone essays -- which students will be
expected to discuss in class. Additionally, I'll assign each student a memoir I think has some
sort of direct relationship to his or her work, having to do with either structure, content,
or voice. Meanwhile, students will be writing in and out of class with a view towards
developing both approach and material. You'll discover that regardless of how sensational or
ordinary the recollected events, it's voice that makes a memoir jump off the page. Your goal as
a writer is to dig deep and get personal with a view towards honing your unique literary voice
as well as your reasons for telling your story. Each student will be expected to workshop at
least two pieces during the semester, and should finish the course with two self-contained
essays; or two chapters, for those working on a book-length project.
Course Requirements and Grades:
Reading list: The Boys of My Youth, Jo Ann Beard
The Bill from My Father, Bernard Cooper
Safekeeping, Abigail Thomas
Running in the Family, Michael Ondaatje
There will be additional hand-outs (subject to my whim, and the nature of class
discussion the week to week.) Students should read closely and be prepared to contribute
to class discussion. While we are interested always in content and context, the idea is to
focus on the writing and aspects of craft; on whether or not the writer’s voice and
structure intrigue and engage the reader in his or her subject. We’ll be critiquing student
work in the same way; work-shopping pieces according to a schedule that we’ll
determine at our first meeting. In the best of all possible worlds, every student will workshop at least two different pieces in class. From time to time, working writers and editors
will be invited to speak about their work. On those occasions, students will be given
ample time and opportunity to acquaint themselves with the guest lecturer’s background,
and to come up with appropriate questions for in-class discussion. Active participation
and engagement is crucial in response to assigned reading and writing, as well as to inclass writing exercises.
About grades: Please keep in mind this work is subjective in nature; I won’t be grading
your talent, but rather evidence of effort, discipline, and progress. The importance of
revision cannot be under-estimated.
Participation: 15 %
Assigned work, reading and writing: 20%
Original work generated throughout the semester: 65%
Course Schedule:
Jan. 26 INTRODUCTIONS AND OVERVIEW
In class writing: I Remember
Feb. 2 LISTS
Feb. 9 GOOD BEGINNINGS AND BEAUTIFUL SENTENCES
Feb. 23 POKING FUN: THE IMPORTANCE OF HUMOR
March 2
LEAVING OUT THE BEST PARTS
March 9 COMING OF AGE
March 23 STRUCTURE: ANYTHING GOES
March 30 RELATIONSHIPS
April 6 TRAUMA
April 13 MAKING A SCENE: DIALOGUE
April 20 FICTIONAL STRATEGIES
April 27 DON’T BE THE HERO, DON’T BE THE VICTIM
May 4 ENDING IT ALL
Mary 4 LAST RITES
A Sampling of Suggested Reading in no particular order:
Calvin Trillin, Messages from My Father
Lucy Grealy, Autobiography of a Face
Alice Sebold, Lucky
Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking, The White Album
Abigail Thomas, A Three Dog Life
D.J. Waldie, Holy Land
Blake Morrison, And When Did You Last See Your Father?
Michael Ondaatje, Running in the Family
Frank Conroy, Stop-Time
Sven Birkerts, My Sky Blue Trades
Vivian Gornick, Fierce Attachments
Tobias Wolff, This Boy’s Life
Geoffrey Wolff, The Duke of Deception
Dorothy Gallagher, How I Got My Inheritance
Terri Jentz, Strange Piece of Paradise
Rachel Cusk, A Life’s Work
Laura Blumenfeld, Revenge: A Story of Hope
Stanley Alpert, The Birthday Party
Patricia Hampl, I Could Tell You Stories
Virginia Woolf, Moments of Being
Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty
Bernard Cooper, The Bill from My Father
Sleeping Arrangements, Laura Cunningham
Samantha Dunn, Faith in Carlos Gomez
Glenn Kurtz, Practicing
Eudora Welty, One Writer’s Beginnings
But don’t just read memoirs, read fiction, plays, poems, first person narrative in literary
journals, magazines, and newspapers, listen to music, go to museums, acquaint yourself
with artists and their voices, that’s the idea…
Statement for Students with Disabilities
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to
register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of
verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the
letter is delivered to me (or to TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in
STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number
for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
Statement on Academic Integrity
USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic
honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the
expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an
instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by
others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to
understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the
Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in
Appendix A: http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/SCAMPUS/gov/. Students will be
referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further
review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can
be found at: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/.