It's been a quiet winter at 40 Towns but we're getting ready for a new staff, a new design, and a new syllabus, starting in a few weeks. I like to mix up the syllabus some every term. Here's what we'll be reading (and listening to) as we research and write the next edition of 40 Towns:
Larry Massett, “A Night on Mt. Shasta.”
Michael Paterniti, “Driving Mr. Albert”
Norman Sims, introduction, True Stories
Mary McCarthy, “Artists in Uniform,” Radiant Truths
Inara Verzemnieks, “The Last Day of the Baldock,” Tin House
Joseph Mitchell, “Professor Seagull,” Up in the Old Hotel
Sarah Mirk and Lucy Bellwood, “The Secret Life of Gitmo’s Women,” Narratively
Kramer & Call, eds., Telling True Stories, “Finding Good Topics”; “Reporting for Narrative” “Accelerating Intimacy”
Jeanne Marie Laskas, "Underworld," Hidden America
Joan Didion, “The White Album,” in The White Album
Wendy Ewald, Magic Eyes
Wendy Doniger, “The Microscope and the Telescope,” The Implied Spider
John Edgar Wideman, Brothers and Keepers
Mary Ruefle, “On Sentimentality,” Madness, Honey, and Rack
James Agee, “Preamble,” Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
Leslie Jamison, “Fog Count,” Oxford American
Zora Neale Hurston, “Hoodoo,” Radiant Truths
John Berger, A Fortunate Man
Barbara Myerhoff, “Needle and Thread, Number Our Days
Matthew Teague, “The Aftermath,” Radiant Truths
Emily Raboteau, “Do You Know Where Canaan Is?,” Searching for Zion
Joseph Mitchell, “Joe Gould’s Secret,” Up in the Old Hotel
In addition, students will be selecting an essay to annotate from a long list of work by contemporary literary journalists who I may be able to impose upon to answer a few questions from a student. You've been warned, Duncan Murrell, Paige Williams, JoAnn Wypijewski, Donovan Hohn, Paul Reyes, Kathryn Joyce, Kiera Feldman, Lucas Mann, Jason Fagone, Matthew Power, Julia Cooke, Meera Subramanian, and Peter Manseau. Volunteers willing to put their name in the hat are very welcome; write me at [email protected].
Larry Massett, “A Night on Mt. Shasta.”
Michael Paterniti, “Driving Mr. Albert”
Norman Sims, introduction, True Stories
Mary McCarthy, “Artists in Uniform,” Radiant Truths
Inara Verzemnieks, “The Last Day of the Baldock,” Tin House
Joseph Mitchell, “Professor Seagull,” Up in the Old Hotel
Sarah Mirk and Lucy Bellwood, “The Secret Life of Gitmo’s Women,” Narratively
Kramer & Call, eds., Telling True Stories, “Finding Good Topics”; “Reporting for Narrative” “Accelerating Intimacy”
Jeanne Marie Laskas, "Underworld," Hidden America
Joan Didion, “The White Album,” in The White Album
Wendy Ewald, Magic Eyes
Wendy Doniger, “The Microscope and the Telescope,” The Implied Spider
John Edgar Wideman, Brothers and Keepers
Mary Ruefle, “On Sentimentality,” Madness, Honey, and Rack
James Agee, “Preamble,” Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
Leslie Jamison, “Fog Count,” Oxford American
Zora Neale Hurston, “Hoodoo,” Radiant Truths
John Berger, A Fortunate Man
Barbara Myerhoff, “Needle and Thread, Number Our Days
Matthew Teague, “The Aftermath,” Radiant Truths
Emily Raboteau, “Do You Know Where Canaan Is?,” Searching for Zion
Joseph Mitchell, “Joe Gould’s Secret,” Up in the Old Hotel
In addition, students will be selecting an essay to annotate from a long list of work by contemporary literary journalists who I may be able to impose upon to answer a few questions from a student. You've been warned, Duncan Murrell, Paige Williams, JoAnn Wypijewski, Donovan Hohn, Paul Reyes, Kathryn Joyce, Kiera Feldman, Lucas Mann, Jason Fagone, Matthew Power, Julia Cooke, Meera Subramanian, and Peter Manseau. Volunteers willing to put their name in the hat are very welcome; write me at [email protected].