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Introduction	The transcendentalists were masters of introspective writing—part of their project was to interpret their experience and their reading, and use it to inform their understanding of life, the universe, and everything. Much of their published writing has its source in their journals. During this course, I’ll ask you to try out keeping a journal / commonplace book on the Transcendentalist model. In the commonplace book entries, you note down quotations from your reading (course reading and other) that strikes you as things you may want to make later use of in life. You may write a little about the context. In journal entries, you record your grappling with questions of import, note significant details from your experience, and so on. I’ll be grading not on writing skill or polish (these are rough entries) but on serious engagement with the project. Don’t use this as a twitterish account of superficial events or a confessional diary primarily: if you want to see how it’s done, read the journals of Emerson, Thoreau, or Alcott.

Introduction

The transcendentalists were masters of introspective writing—part of their project was to interpret their experience and their reading, and use it to inform their understanding of life, the universe, and everything. Much of their published writing has its source in their journals. During this course, I’ll ask you to try out keeping a journal / commonplace book on the Transcendentalist model. In the commonplace book entries, you note down quotations from your reading (course reading and other) that strikes you as things you may want to make later use of in life. You may write a little about the context. In journal entries, you record your grappling with questions of import, note significant details from your experience, and so on.

I’ll be grading not on writing skill or polish (these are rough entries) but on serious engagement with the project. Don’t use this as a twitterish account of superficial events or a confessional diary primarily: if you want to see how it’s done, read the journals of Emerson, Thoreau, or Alcott.