Exercises in Reading and Academic Writing

Christopher Fynsk – Exercises in Reading and Academic Writing

February 1, 8, 15, 22, 2025

5:30 pm – 7:30 pm (Paris time); 11:30 am – 1:30 pm (New York time)

This short course, directed by Professor Christopher Fynsk, will offer an occasion for students to hone basic skills in academic writing.  It will use, as a point of reference for discussion and research, a quite fascinating text by Sigmund Freud: his famous presentation of the case of the “Wolf-Man.”  In four lectures in February, Professor Fynsk will offer a reading of the text that attends to its astonishing structure, and its no less astonishing content, in an effort to approach what Freud alludes to in a concluding footnote as “the most ticklish question in the whole domain of psychoanalysis.”  He will also offer notes about the presentation of critical analysis in essay form.

Participating students will then be invited to produce, in response, a paper of 7 to 10 pages.  These papers will be carefully considered with respect to their composition as pieces of academic writing by EGS staff.  No grades will be assigned.  Students will simply be asked to take up the topic of that “most ticklish question” in some way.  Again, this will be essentially a formal exercise (no special knowledge or study of Freud beyond what is offered in the lectures will be required), and students will have the opportunity to revise their papers for a second review after they receive comments. The core aim in this exercise is to help students learn to meet academic expectations.

PACT students who are currently enrolled in the program can attend this course for free. To register, please contact Dr. Nemanja Mitrovic (nemanja.mitrovic@egs.edu).

If you require more information, please contact Dr. Nemanja Mitrovic (nemanja.mitrovic@egs.edu) or Carole Salzmann (admissions@egs.edu).