Fundamentals

Characterization in any literary form seeks to bring a person, their world, and their worldview to life. Doing that effectively requires more than imagination and knowledge of our genre and craft. It begins with cultivating a personal understanding of human beings and asking ourselves what it means, on the page as in life, to be a character and to have character. And more deeply, even when our characters are nothing like us, it involves looking inward at who we think we are as an individual and how we see the world and our place within it. In this course, we’ll examine the various lenses all of us use, for better or for worse, to define ourselves and others: like the lens of truth, of morality, of empathy, of desire. And in our readings in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry (as well as creative writing exercises and presentations), we’ll learn how to approach characterization not only as a vehicle for storytelling and self-expression, but as an inquiry into our own humanity and the kinds of people we’re most interested in bringing to life in our work. 

Most passionate readers and writers have literary touchstones --those texts we return to again and again for personal or aesthetic influence and inspiration. When we are asked what book we would want with us if we were stranded on a desert isle, our touchstones are the ones that leap immediately to mind. Some texts are fairly ubiquitous touchstones: The Great Gatsby, Harry Potter and the [take your pick], The Bell Jar, Little Women, Letters to a Young Poet, Leaves of Grass. Others are quirkier, more idiosyncratic. What -- if any -- qualities do these touchstones share, within and across genres? What lessons about writing craft can be drawn from them? In this course, we'll read texts that are commonly cited as touchstones, along with fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction that students bring to the table -- their own literary touchstones. In that sense, our reading list will be collaborative, and students will be expected to contribute content as well as an analytical presentation on the craft issues raised by their selections. Our assignments will include reading responses, creative writing exercises, short essays and presentations.

This course will be a close examination of the use of spectral imagery as a craft element in narratives across genre and time. From Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” to Emily Carrol’s A Guest in the House, students in this course will be expected to put the fantastical metaphor under a microscope and explore its potential through their own creative and critical work. 

Yearning and love are universal. But what becomes of yearning when all stops are pulled? What becomes of love when it loses sight of all else? This class will look at obsession in narrative and poetry, both as a driving force and as a lens through which to examine the human condition. We will also explore how might we channel our own obsessions to fuel our own work. Through reading and analyzing the techniques behind various works of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction, we’ll explore how obsession can intersect with such elements of craft as point of view, narrative distance, setting, plot, voice, detail, irony, perspective, rhyme, meter, and figurative language, and how these elements might be employed to effectively write about, into, and from obsession. Writers and poets we might read include Julio Cortazar, Ha Seong-Nan, Thom Gunn, Tom McCarthy, Sylvia Plath, JG Ballard, Patricia Highsmith, George Saunders, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and others. Expect to turn in weekly reading responses and/or writing exercises, do a short presentation, and write a final hybrid creative and analytical project based on work you’ve done throughout the quarter.

In fiction, it is often said that an effective character must have a clear desire. Kurt Vonnegut famously advised, “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” The idea is that desire is an animating, energizing, and focusing force in storytelling. In this course, we’ll attempt to apply the animation, energy, and focus of desire to personal essays, poems, and fiction, and explore how writers depict desire and longing in a wide range of work. We’ll also attempt to catalog different kinds of desire: crushes, obsessions, nostalgia, and farsickness, to name a few. We'll pay special attention to how we can write about strong emotional experiences without resorting to cliches or sentimentality.

Ever since humans started drawing on cave walls, the ways in which we communicate meaning through stories has been evolving. This class will look at various forms of narrative—fiction, creative non-fiction, narrative poetry, and film—and explore the “grammar” of these different genres, what they share and where they differ and how their particular strengths and failings influence the ways in which they most effectively communicate. How does film (a visual medium that offers a voyeuristic experience) tell a story differently than does fiction (which invites the reader to participate more in an act of shared imagination), differently than creative non-fiction, (which must always adhere to facts), differently than poetry (which condenses a story to its essences)? How is meaning conveyed differently through each? How do these different grammars influence the stories they tell and the effects they achieve? Students will view read various works of fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, view films, and read critical and craft-oriented texts and complete weekly reading responses, as well as creative exercises. A paper focusing on a specific element from the class will be due at the end of the course.  

In fiction, it is often said that an effective character must have a clear desire. Kurt Vonnegut famously advised, “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” The idea is that desire is an animating, energizing, and focusing force in storytelling. In this course, we’ll attempt to apply the animation, energy, and focus of desire to personal essays, poems, and fiction, and explore how writers depict desire and longing in a wide range of work. We’ll also attempt to catalog different kinds of desire: crushes, obsessions, nostalgia, and farsickness, to name a few. We'll pay special attention to how we can write about strong emotional experiences without resorting to cliches or sentimentality. Potential texts will be Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux, Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas, Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson, Crush by Richard Siken, The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Instructor TBD

Course Description TBD

Most passionate readers and writers have literary touchstones --those texts we return to again and again for personal or aesthetic influence and inspiration. When we are asked what book we would want with us if we were stranded on a desert isle, our touchstones are the ones that leap immediately to mind. Some texts are fairly ubiquitous touchstones: The Great Gatsby, Harry Potter and the [take your pick], The Bell Jar, Little Women, Letters to a Young Poet, Leaves of Grass. Others are quirkier, more idiosyncratic. What -- if any -- qualities do these touchstones share, within and across genres? What lessons about writing craft can be drawn from them? In this course, we'll read texts that are commonly cited as touchstones, along with fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction that students bring to the table -- their own literary touchstones. In that sense, our reading list will be collaborative, and students will be expected to contribute content as well as an analytical presentation on the craft issues raised by their selections. Our assignments will include reading responses, creative writing exercises, short essays and presentations.

What does it mean for a piece of writing to be “sincere”? How do we know a (character, poem, “I,” essay) is “sincere”? What does it mean to make that judgment, and what does it commit us to? How does that judgment change a reader’s orientation to the object? We will approach these questions obliquely first, by thinking about how irony works. Are irony and sincerity opposites? We’ll look at a range of contemporary and historical objects in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. This will include essays by Kierkegaard, Oscar Wilde, Wayne Booth, Jonathan Swift, and R. Magill Jr., fiction by Vladimir Nabokov, Joanna Ruocco, and Kathy Acker, and poetry by Chelsey Minnis, Jenny Zhang, Amiri Baraka, and others. We’ll also consider certain internet objects and think about their relationship to sincerity (and irony). This course will give students a more nuanced and historically grounded handle on these questions, and will help them develop a style of writing that’s able to more intentionally (and interestingly) choose its tonal legibilities.