American Lives: Growing Up

“American writers are mesmerized by childhood, the quizzical journey from innocent to adulthood. What a journey it is, too: precarious and wonderful; frightening and alluring; delightful and tragic. Not one journey, but many, and every one of them different,” writes Harry Middleton in the preface to his memoir, The Earth is Enough. In this course we will explore the experiences and narratives of growing up, childhood and adolescence. We will talk about memory, neighborhoods, family life, race, dreams, landscape, identity, humor, and what it means to make sense of our lives in the midst of growing up. What is it about our childhoods that shape us for the rest of our lives? Why do we tell stories about these early years again and again? Each of us will also write about our own growing up experiences. This course is an opportunity to examine our own childhoods through reading, discussions, and creative writing, and to attempt to imagine other lives than our own, often through the eyes of a child. It should be a rewarding and illuminating experience.