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Greetings. My name is Barry Siegel.
For 25 years, I have been a national correspondent for the Los
Angeles Times. (To learn more about me, see my biography).
I will be joining the UCI English Dept faculty this fall as
Director of the Literary Journalism Program. I look forward to
meeting all of you. I encourage anyone who is interested in the
Lit-J program to contact me. I'd especially like to hear from
those of you who have already chosen the Lit-J major.
The Literary Journalism Major at UC Irvine provides a unique opportunity
for us to read, study and write a type of nonfiction prose that over
the years has evolved into a distinct branch of literature. This
is prose that transcends the limits of daily journalism, prose that
adopts the aims and techniques of the finest fiction. Literary journalism
comes in many forms. Among others, we'll study and write narratives,
memoirs, profiles, histories and personal essays, in subject areas
as varied as science, politics, justice, travel, sports, food and
popular culture. We'll use as our models writers such as George Orwell,
John Hersey, Lillian Ross, Joseph Mitchell, Gay Talese, John McPhee,
Joan Didion, Tom Wolfe, Tracy Kidder, Calvin Trillin, Hunter Thompson,
Truman Capote and Norman Mailer. Here's what we'll start with this fall:
- LJ20 Introduction to Literary Journalism
- LJ103 Lectures in Literary Journalism: American Documentary
[Goble]
- LJ103 Lectures in Literary Journalism: True Crime [Siegel]
For the winter quarter:
- LJ20 Introduction to Literary Journalism
- LJ101A: Reporting About Murder from the 18 th Century to
the Present [Hollowell]
- LJ101B: Writing Workshop--Cultural Criticism [Burke]
- LJ103:
New Journalism [Siegel]
For the spring quarter:
- LJ20 Introduction to Literary Journalism
- LJ101B: Writing Workshop--Narrative Writing [Siegel]
Please note: You can take the LJ101B in winter concurrently with
LJ101A, which won't normally be the case. For those who are uncertain about the requirements of the Literary
Journalism Major, I urge that you pick up a brochure on the major
available in HIB 435, and consult the English Dept website: www.humanities.uci.edu/english.
Generally, LJ20 courses introduce lower-division students to the
basic principles of and approaches to literary journalism; LJ103 courses give upper-division students an in-depth lecture class on
various aspects of Lit J; LJ101A is a wide-ranging historical survey
required of all Lit-J majors; and LJ101B is a small writing workshop-seminar,
normally organized around a particular theme or genre.
Again, I look forward to meeting you all this fall, and encourage
you to come introduce yourself to me. Best regards,
Barry Siegel
September, 2003 |
