21W.735 | Fall 2025 | Undergraduate

Writing and Reading the Essay

Course Description

This course explores formal and informal modes of writing nonfiction prose, with extensive practice in composition, revision, and editing. There will be readings in the literature of the essay from the Renaissance to the present, with an emphasis on modern writers. Classes alternate between discussion of published …
This course explores formal and informal modes of writing nonfiction prose, with extensive practice in composition, revision, and editing. There will be readings in the literature of the essay from the Renaissance to the present, with an emphasis on modern writers. Classes alternate between discussion of published readings and workshops on student work.
Activity Assignments
Readings
Written Assignments
A large wooden desk with sepia-tinted handwritten papers sits near a sunny window.
Handwritten readings sit on a vintage writing desk. (Image courtesy of StockCake. License CC0. This image is in the public domain.)