It hardly seems arguable that U.S. national politics have, for nearly a decade now, veered in a decidedly and intensified authoritarian direction. That nearly half the nation seems to crave autocratic rule and repression is not, in fact, a brand new development. Despite the fact that prominent trailblazers in American literary study such as F.O. Matthiessen defined American literature precisely by its strong democratic impulse and individualist spirit, one finds from even a cursory study of the U.S. literary tradition a powerful and canonical anti-democratic politics—relentlessly so. In the works of such writers including T.S. Eliot and William Faulkner, one finds unapologetic supremacist values. Even the romantic individualism of Emerson and Thoreau endorse autocratic behavior, eschewing the rule of law that is a key principle of democracy. This seminar invites us to scrutinize closely as teachers of literature what values we are transmitting to our students as we teach U.S. literature, reflecting on how the institution of literary study itself has participated in creating our current national condition.
In non-fiction writing, there are only four basic “moves” a writer can make. An acronym to help student writers remember them is CEIT, for claim, explain, illustrate, and tie-back. First, you can make a claim. This claim may be called a thesis, a topic sentence, a theme, or a main idea. Second, you can explain that claim. Third, you can illustrate the claim. In literary criticism, this would be evidence from the story that supports your claim. Finally, you can tie the example back to the original claim. That is, you can briefly analyze how this example illustrates your theme. In addition to making these four basic moves, you can also signal them. “In other words,” signals explanation. “For instance,” signals an illustration. “This is an example of wisdom because” signals a tie back. When a thesis statement includes multiple parts, those parts can be made the core of subtopic sentences in a single-paragraph essay, or topic sentences in a multiple-paragraph essay. Each subtopic section can be explained, illustrated, and tied back to the subtopic sentence’s idea. In addition to the signals mentioned above, time or order signals can further clarify structure, such as first, second, finally, and so on. Once students become adept with the CEIT paradigm, they can choose which features to use and which to leave out. This presentation will thoroughly explain the CEIT paradigm and use student examples to show how it applies both simpler and more complex essays.
Session materials: Handout
