Austin Woerner's Memory Palace
doors-1587883_1920-bw.jpg

WOC190 Spring 2020 Session 4

Day 2

TUES. MAR. 31

  • Share favorite details from McSorley’s

  • Intro to Essay 1: Portrait of a Place

  • Share Home definitions

Homework

Featured
Essay 1: Portrait of a Place
Essay 1: Portrait of a Place

due M-Tu Aug. 30-31 (before your class)

Write a short essay that paints a vivid portrait of a place.

➤ Write Essay 1

(due next class)

Read the essay instructions carefully. Then go exploring!! (Don’t leave this assignment till the last minute — it’ll be more fun if the experience isn’t rushed.)

Featured
E. B. White, "Here is New York"
E. B. White, "Here is New York"

E. B. White’s classic essay published in 1948, one of the most famous literary essays about New York City.

Featured
Susan Orlean, "Shortcuts"
Susan Orlean, "Shortcuts"

Journalist Susan Orlean paints a portrait of her neighborhood hair salon.

➤ Read excerpts from “Here is New York” and “Short Cuts”

If you have time, read both; if you don’t, pick the one that intrigues you most and read it carefully. As you read, find one example of each of these things, and come to class ready to share it:

  • abstract language, whatever you understand that to mean

  • concrete language, whatever you understand that to mean

  • a scene you particularly like

Featured
张爱玲，《公寓生活记趣》
张爱玲，《公寓生活记趣》

Eileen Chang on the pleasures of apartment living. A lesser-known personal essay by the famous author, set during wartime Shanghai.

➤ Optional reading

If you wish, read 《公寓生活记趣》by Eileen Chang (in Chinese).

Austin Woerner