This course will survey classic and contemporary autobiographies by American women in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The difficult childhood, the question of identity, well-hidden secrets and an overwhelming need to write about them, and the very "full disclosure" public self are some of the themes that we will examine. Students should purchase the following: Mary McCarthy, Memories of a Catholic Girlhood (1957) Maya Angelou, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (1969) Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior (1976) Mary Karr, The Liars Club (1995) Helen Fremont, After Long Silence (1999) Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle (2005) |
