Contemporary Social Sciences 2

WHY WRITE ?

In this course, you will have the opportunity to study writing from a journalistic perspective which will be the central method of the class. You will read, analyze, and discuss written works by those who had their start in journalism before embarking on a literary career and those who continue to produce exceptional journalistic narrative. While doing so you will question and closely examine how working as a journalist makes novelists and other writers better at their craft. In selected readings you will explore a rich diversity in writing genres, in geographical and historical place and time, yet make the connections on how these authors are intricately linked by the themes that they explore in their writings as they voiced similar concerns over the world’s ills and placed their faith in the power of the written word. Through —George Orwel’s “Why I Write”, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Collected Stories”, Hisham Matar’s “The Return”, along with different kinds of material that will include excerpts from The Guardian, Financial Times, Paris Review, and Nobel Prize acceptance speeches among others — you will discover what makes a writer write. Through in-class exercises, discussions, and weekly assignments you will become better thinkers and questioners. Ultimately you will be one step closer to discovering Why (You) Write.