Sometimes, speaking of an author, we talk about her or his “body of work;” we will sometimes say, “I devoured it,” as if the book were food we’d taken into our own flesh. Book and body are linked by metaphors--dead or dying metaphors now, perhaps; living and surprisingly literal metaphors in the past.

In this class, we’ll study the materialities of writing and reading, putting the distant past in dialogue with more recent pasts and various imagined futures.

We will make ancient Roman notebooks with our own hands. We’ll make ink from a medieval recipe, sharpen goose quills, and write on parchment. We will look with care and delight at some amazing hand-made books. We’ll read poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. We will watch movies. What we’ll study: poetry by Walt Whitman & Emily Dickinson (one of whose poems appears above right, written on the back of an envelope), a novel by Italo Calvino (If on a winter’s night a traveler), Jonathan Nolan’s film Memento, Spike Jonze’s film her, other good things

Course Requirements:

regular attendance & active participation; midterm and final essays, regular short writing assignments.

Intended Audience:

undergraduates in all fields with an interest in the topic