HIST 301
Approaching the Past: Writing History Spring 2018
Division II
This is not the current course catalog

The course explores various modes in the writing of history: analytic, narrative, microhistorical, *public,* and so on. Inevitably (and usefully) it raises broad epistemological questions–the purposes of history, its moral dimension, the relationship of the historian to their subject–but the baseline throughout is writing, the creation of prose suited to the task of engaging the past. The readings embrace a variety of exemplary works (models). These do not connect by way of content; their common element is interesting, innovative prose. The first month of the course involves reading and discussion of several such works. The second (middle) month is quite different–what might be called a practicum–with students writing short papers (approximately 1000 words), to be circulated and discussed among the group. The third and final month is like the first: i.e., a return to the exemplary.