During the Fall term, 2001, the author taught a new course intended to develop a diversity of close reading skills among his students. An integral component of the course involved the exploration of memory and history. As the fate of the syllabus would have it, right after the September attacks he taught Sarah Farmer's "Martyred Village:…

A course on modern France designed for presentation in English at the college level uses four books to approach an understanding of the country through autobiography, philosophy, sociology, and history. Students with reading ability in French are assigned readings from French-language periodicals and others read from English-language periodicals.…