Fall Semester Common Text Announced

This fall's Common Text is Jean-Dominique Bauby's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."

The English Department’s Common Text Program has announced that the Common Text for fall 2008 is Jean-Dominique Bauby’s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.”

This bestselling memoir was written by Bauby after he had been almost entirely paralyzed by a stroke. Bauby dictated the entire book by blinking while his assistant read out the letters of the alphabet, resulting in a series of essays on family, friendship, memory, consciousness, hope, regret, literature and disability.

At Orientation, the Common Text Program provides incoming first-year students with a copy of the chosen book, which is then used in all first-semester writing courses. The program also offers enrichment and community-building opportunities for students throughout the semester with activities ranging from movies to panel discussions.

For more information on the Common Text Program or how to get your class involved, contact Paula_Haines@uml.edu.