Modernism and Postmodernism, Fall 2013, O'Donnell

Guidelines for "Literary Analysis and Commentary" Assignment

last update: August 2013

Basic guidelines:

The scope of this essay: Approximately 1500 words.

Establishing your topic and approach:

You will consult with me in choosing your topic and establishing your approach for this essay.

A few things to keep in mind, in developing your project:

1. Your essay will take a broader view than that typically taken by a review essay. You will consider broader contexts, more thoroughly than you might in a review.

2. Your goal is to write for an audience -- that is, strive to produce an interesting piece of commentary that someone else besides your instructor would want to read, would find interesting and engaging.

3. In developing your topic and approach, consider the following forms, examples of which you yourself may have read and enjoyed at some time or other:

a. A reader's introduction to a work, author, or body of work.

b. A discussion of themes in a work.
c. Narrative history or biography.
d. An essay, taking off on one of the themes raised in course readings and discussions.