WRI 250 - Smart Writing in the Public Sphere

Though the term “public intellectual” may sound remote (or even elitist), it perhaps best describes the kind of non-specialist writing found in long-form journalism, essays in top-tier monthlies, book-length non-fiction published for a general, educated audience, and extended blog posts, where writers address complex social, political, scientific, and cultural issues in critical but accessible fashion, expectant of their readers’ equally critical engagement. Such writing differentiates itself from “the news” by way of its participation in deliberative fora, often engaging the ideas of experts, academics, artists, and other public figures in relevant, exigent questions or ideologic critique. Public intellectual writing enjoys a long tradition as a genre necessary to maintaining a skeptical and curious citizenry of the sort anticipated for democratic living. Extending from John Winthrop to Angela Davis and from Thomas Jefferson to Edward Said, the public intellectual writer stimulates deliberation about thorny issues. Reading extensively in the genre, students will ponder its viability, will attempt to define its constituent rhetorical aspects, and try their own hand at publishing smart public writing in various forms.

Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement