ENG 131: Travel Writing: About Paterson and the world

This course is an introduction to writing creative nonfiction about journey and sense of place. Students will keep journals detailing their experiences of Paterson, emphasizing clear and sensual writing. Visiting parks, the Great Falls, and the historic district, students will practice combining historical research with descriptive narratives. Visiting local restaurants and businesses, students will capture the city’s culture. The classic writers of travel writing use poetry, history, and description to engage readers with cultures they are then enticed to visit in person or in imagination. Students will read and evaluate travel writing of the past, and then revise their own journals into formal travel essays with a sense of genre and audience. This is an interdisciplinary course that develops critical reading skills and creative composition.