Eng 103: Becoming a Great Essayist

The goal of this
course is to open students’ minds to the possibility of the essay as a form of
writing by first stripping away the conventions of the genre and exploring the
essay for what it really is: a thought experiment. In this course, students
will be introduced to some of the greatest essayists of the ages,
from Michel de Montaigne to Mary McCarthy. Students should expect to study some
of the very best examples of a wide range of essay types—personal, public,
argumentative, lyrical, historical, etc. The objective is for students to take
away from this course a newfound appreciation for the essay’s flexibility and
arability, as well as the confidence to use this genre to their own creative
advantage.