This course is first and foremost a language course, designed for students who have studied English for at least six years, possibly more. A language is listened to, read, spoken, and written. We will engage in all these activities and, when necessary, we will review grammar and usage. The course is organized around the personal essay which we will examine as a form—probably the freest form there is. And since the theme for semester 5 is representation, we will think about how (and if) the essay represents the world. We will begin by thinking about what an essay is and what it is not. You will be able to choose one essay from a list and present it to the rest of the class, doing your best to provoke a discussion. You will obtain one mark based on your oral presentation and more generally on your oral participation and another based on written work at the end of the semester. In the second semester we will read essays more particularly concerned with the masculine/feminine question, the theme of semester 6.
