Adams, J. Donald.
Speaking of Books and Life
. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. New York, 1965.
This book is a collection of columns written for the
New York Times
. It is certainly useful for teachers and students when short models of writing might be helpful as examples of someone able to write about books and authors in great detail. I suggest “First and Last Pages”, pg. 24. “Imperial Russia and the Old South”, pg. 28. ‘Woman as Novelists” pg. 32. “Creative Writing” pg. 105.
Bowen, Catherine Drinker.
Biography
:
The Craft and The Calling
. Little, Brown and Company. Boston, 1969.
Since readers of autobiography also become biographers when they write and gather materials to write about authors, this book is helpful to teachers and students, especially in the chapters on “Quoted Material” and “Techniques of Revealing the Hero’s Thought.”
Cooley, Thomas.
Educated Lives:. The Rise of Modern Autobiography in America
. Ohio State University Press: Columbus, 1976.
This book gives an historical perspective of autobiography written in the United States. It is a valuable reference for any teacher interested in the form. The book contains a bibliography after each chapter and an index.
Edel, Leon.
Writing Lives Principia Biographica
. W. W. Norton and Company, New York/London, 1984.
The task of writing about others, involvement, fact, fiction—the study of the truths of human behavior are all discussed in this book. I especially suggest the chapter on “Transference” and “Criticism”.
Lomask, Milton.
The Biographer’s Craft
: Practical advice on gathering, writing, shaping and polishing biographical material. Harper & Row. New York, 1986.
The chapters on “Discovering the Hero” “Autobiography” and “Psycobiogaphy” can be especially useful to the teacher of autobiography. There are also several chapters on writing skills that are helpful. There are many biographies and autobiographies cited and an index.
Rico, Gabriele Lusser.
Writing the Natural Way:
Using Right-Brain Techniques to Release Your Expressive Poers. J. P. Tarcher, Inc. Los Angeles, 1983.
This book can be used by students and teachers. It is filled with ideas and activities on how to generate writing. The method of clustering is introduced with what the writer terms “a creative search” in one’s mind to enhance, enrich and personalize writing. Her ideas are readily adaptable to the classroom.
Zinsser, William.
On Writing Well
: An informal guide to writing nonfiction. Third edition: Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1976.
Often a student’s best writing is in the writing of experiences and this book is filled with information on: beginnings, endings, usage, audience, interviews. It certainly can be applied to student autobiography.
APPENDIX 1 Lesson Plans for
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston
Close reading is needed so that the students can retain and accumulate the detail necessary for elaboration on the text.
The following questions serve as a practical study guide for initial reading of the novel. Reading of the novel and answering these questions may take as long as three weeks.
In keeping with the theme of autobiography, a brief outline of Zora Neale Hurston’s life is necessary. Hurston uses the town of her birth Eastonville, Florida as the setting of the story. In this story Hurston evokes the life styles of rural Blacks. “Something of the questing quality that characterized Zora’s own life informs the character of Janie.” pg.XI ..”In their desire and eventual insistence that their men accord them treatment due equals, they are one” pg.XI.