In this course we'll look at the tools and techniques deployed by creative nonfiction practitioners across time - we'll start with the Greeks then zoom across centuries and cultures as we explore forms of the essay - and consider how to best frame the stories we create and encounter as essay. Our text will be Philp Lopate's The Art of the Personal Essay - and we'll read diverse voices from Marcus Aurelius to Augustine to Woolf to Ishiguro to Didion and D'Agata. Students will write three essays of 7-10 pages on a topic of his/her choosing, in addition to keeping a weekly "Field Notebook" of cultural and other observations, which will be collected periodically. Students will attend a reading and write a critical review of the author's work. We'll meet off site for a field trip to be determined based on events available Fall 2010.