[ENGL 651] Life Writing: Theory and Practice

Course Title: Life Writing: Theory and Practice

Course Description

This course offers students an opportunity to explore life writing as literary genre, historical testimony, political practice, and cultural studies.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Explain how self-identity gets articulated through life narratives.
• Analyze various forms of life narratives as a literary genre.
• Evaluate life narratives from different theoretical and cultural perspectives.

Course Contents

Unit I: Theorizing Life Narrative (12 Hours)

1. Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, "Defining and Discerning Life Narrative Forms" from Reading Life Narrative Now
2. Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, "Autobiographical Subjects" and "Autobiographical Acts"

Unit II: Reading Life Narrative (12 Hours)

1. Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, "Reading Live Narratives: A Tool Kit of Strategies"
2. Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, "Kinds of Life Narratives"
3. Paul John Eakin, "Autobiography Now: Autobiography and the Big Picture"

Unit III: Seeking the Self: Letters, Diaries and Journals (6 Hours)

1. Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
2. B.R. Ambedkar, "Letter from Ambedkar to W.E.B. Dubois"
3. Narayanman Bijukchhen, "Nakkhu Jail, 19 August 1989" from Letters from Jail

Unit IV: Actualizing the Self and the Society: Autobiographies (9 Hours)

1. Rigoberta Menchú, "Ceremonies for Sowing Time and Harvest" from I, Rigoberta Menchu
2. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Detained: A Writer's Prison Diary (Chapter I)
3. B.P. Koirala, "Atmabrittanta - Fifty Six"

Unit V: Exploring Self, People and Places: Biographies and Essays (9 Hours)

1. George Mallory, "Reconnaissance: Mount Everest, 1921"
2. Arundhati Roy, "In What Language Does Rain Fall Over Tormented Cities?"
3. Pitamber Sharma, "Harka Gurung: Chronicler of Nepal's Mountains"

Evaluation Scheme

Internal Evaluation

External Examination

Prescribed Text

Eakin, Paul John. Writing Life Writing: Narrative, History, Autobiography. Routledge, 2020.
Smith, Sidonie, and Julia Watson. Reading Autobiography Now. 3rd ed., 2024.