The Commonplace Book: A Record of Readings

As a means of enriching your readings and fostering our discussions in "The Great Plains from Texas to Saskatchewan," you are asked to keep a commonplace book. A commonplace was a common sort of document compiled by folk of literary inclination in the 19th century, but the practice seems now to have gone out of style. So here is a brief explanation.

A commonplace book is similar to a journal in that entries are not necessarily regular or periodic, but it is more focused than a journal in that it is self-consciously literary. The compiler of a commonplace writes down what he or she is reading; copies down particular passages worth remembering and quoting; jots down striking ideas or insights; and reacts to the works read.

For purposes of this seminar, a commonplace book will be a handy tool for composing presentations and essays and for reference in discussion. It also will be a keepsake and a reference thereafter. Participants selected for the seminar will receive a composition book and will be asked to record and react to their readings in preparation to and during the seminar. Here are a couple more thoughts on the subject:

• The seminar focuses on texts in print, but we will encounter other sorts of texts--oral and material--also, and these might also be recorded in the commonplace.

• Feel free to invite others to enter passages or record greetings in your commonplace.

Here are some examples (as pdf files)—selected pages copied from the commonplace books of seminarians who consented to share them.

• Dawn Saari

Home Page of the Seminar