In this class, we will read literature that takes the form of a letter. We will consider the memoir-letters of Ocean Vuong and Kiese Laymon, the essay-letters of Julietta Singh, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and James Baldwin, and the poem-letters of Sean Bonney, Julie Carr, Victoria Chang, Don Mee Choi, Diane di Prima, Langston Hughes, Bernadette Mayer, Pedro Pietri, Rainer Marie Rilke, James Schuyler, Evie Shockley, and Jack Spicer among others. Throughout, we will ask questions such as: do letters reveal our most true and honest selves, or do they provide an occasion for self-performance? Will reading letters help us understand how our intimate relationships make us who we are? We will also examine the materiality of this form by exploring how visual artists have used letters, postcards, and the mail system. In writing assignments, you will use the letter form to correspond with family and friends, animals and entities, concepts and crushes, plants and places.

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