11149

LIT 123 First Poetry Workshop

Robert Kelly

. . W . F

12:00 -1:20 pm

OLIN 101

PART

Open to students who have never had a workshop in poetry, and who desire to experiment with making their own writing a means of learning, both about literature and poetry, and about the discipline of making works of art.  Attention is mainly on the student's own production, and in the individual’s awareness of what sorts of activities, rhythms, and tellings are possible in poetry, and how poets go about learning from their own work. The central work of the course is the student's own writing, along with the articulation, both private and shared, of response to it. Readings will be undertaken in contemporary and traditional poets, according to the needs of the group, toward the development of familiarity with poetic form, poetic movement, and poetic energy. Attendance at various evening poetry readings and lectures is required.  Students must submit a portfolio of 5 to 10 pages of writing in any genre to Prof. Kelly, by noon on November 20th. 

11002

LIT 221 Intermediate Fiction Workshop

Emily Barton Hopkins

. . . Th .

1:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 303

PART

This is an intermediate-level fiction workshop, suitable for students who have either completed the First Fiction Workshop or done meaningful writing and thinking about fiction on their own. In addition to critiquing student work, we will read selected published stories and essays and complete a series of structured exercises. Registration by submission of portfolio due by noon on November 20^th, via campus mail, to Prof. Barton, along with short letters detailing why they wish to enroll in the course.

11589

LIT 2212 Writing Africa

Binyavanga Wainaina

M . W. .

12:00 -1:20 pm

OLIN 305

PART

Cross-listed: Africana Studies To travel, through texts, written and read, to a distant continent - Africa - which also happens to be right here, on Facebook and Youtube. To write a collection that the class will publish online. A collection written and edited by the students. Travel Writing about Africa. We will do much reading: old and new texts. Texts that go there, went there, came home to "talk about it"; texts that create(d) a place, nonfictions full of strange fictions; many many books about many dark unknowable peoples, doing dark unknowable things... This is a Travel Writing Class. And it is about Africa. Where we may or may not have been. We will do readings (mostly close readings) of various texts, including Kojo Laing's novel Search Sweet Country; David Kaiza's Benediction in Oyugis; selected stories from Norman Rush's collection of short stories, Whites; Aminata Forna's The Devil that Danced on Water; Amadou Kourouma's Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote; The Life and Times of Richard Onyango, by Richard Onyango; Ed Pavlic's But Here are the Small Clear Refractions; Another Day of Life by Ryszard Kapuściński; The Emperor : Downfall of an Autocrat by Ryszard Kapuściński; Nina Bawden's Under the Skin; Noni Jabavu's Drawn in Colour; Seffi Atta's Everything Good Will Come; various essays; films; blogs; travelblogs and online chat groups.

Admission to this course is by portfolio (2000-3000 words), due by noon on November 20^th, via campus mail to Prof. Mary Caponegro.

11342

LIT 222 Intermediate Poetry Workshop

Michael Ives

M . W . .

3:00 -4:20 pm

OLIN 308

PART

In this edition of the Intermediate Workshop, we will pay close attention to the musical aspects of the poetic text and its performance.  We will endeavor to distinguish between real musical continuity and mere “musicalization” (E.g. Adorno pitted the fractured meaning surface of Kafka’s parables, which he considered truly musical, against the “musical effects” of Rilke and Swinburne).  Working under the assumption that the “condition of music” to which poetry aspires answers to no single criterion, participants will investigate a variety of textual and performance practices, ranging from traditional
prosody to assorted treatments of glossolalia (late Artaud, zaum) to jazz poetry to sound/text compositions involving multiple and simultaneous speakers, which will serve to provide catalysts for their own writing.  Admission to this course is by portfolio only, due by noon on November 20^th, via campus mail to Prof. Ives.

11590

LIT 2229 Ethnographic Fiction

Edie Meidav

. T . . . . . . Th .

11:00 -12:20 pm 11:00- 12:20 pm

ASP 302 OLIN 101

PART

In this course, intended for fiction writers, we begin by looking at theories of representation of culture and otherness, and continue by closely reading examples of ethnographic fiction, beginning with the premise that no matter where an author is located, the act of writing makes ethnography an almost unavoidable enterprise. Writers may include Abish, Adichie, Adiga, Barthes, Calvino, Coetzee,  Cortazar, Diaz, Farah,  Geertz, Ghosh, Goonesekera, Kincaid,  Kundera, Levi-Strauss, Lingis, Mahfouz,  Narayan, Paley, Price,  Rushdie, and Winterson, with all reading serving as a catalyst for   students’ creative and critical work. Permission of the instructor is required. Email [email protected] with the subject heading "Ethnographic Fiction". Write a letter explaining both your interest in ethnographic fiction and your background as a fiction writer. At the end of the e-mail message, please paste in a three-paragraph sample of your creative work and a three-paragraph sample of your analytic work.

11493

LIT 226 Poetry:Texts, Forms, Experiments

Joan Retallack

. . . . F

9:30 - 11:50 am

OLINLC 208

PART

This course is particularly designed for students who are considering (or on their way to) moderating into Written Arts. (Those already moderated are also welcome if there is room.) We will be asking what poets need to know in today’s world, not only about poetry per se, but also about the many models and metaphors from other disciplines (philosophy, science, music, etc.) that have always inflected the poetries of their times. We will explore a broad range—historically and varietally—of ways to compose with words that have and haven’t been called poetry. (Just what determines whether or not a piece of writing is a poem?) We’ll also pay attention to technologies that are currently expanding the genre, looking at various kinds of digital poetries. This is a hybrid class: part seminar, part workshop. Everyone will produce a mid-term and a final portfolio of work, as well as present work designed for performance—both individually and collaboratively. There will be readings from a required booklist, and handouts throughout the semester. The class is required to attend poetry readings (generally scheduled on Thursday evenings) and other events related to the course during the semester. Portfolio submission required for entrance into class, via campus mail, by noon, Nov. 20^th. Limited to 15 students.

11150

LIT 324 Advanced Fiction Workshop

Mary Caponegro

. . . Th .

1:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 308

PART

This is a workshop for students who are already deeply engaged in the writing of fiction of any kind (short or long, literary or genre, realist or experimental, etc.). Students will be expected to contribute new work frequently. Students are also expected to be well versed in the helpful discussion of their peers’ work. There may occasionally be additional assigned reading of published stories and/or essays. Prerequisites: completion of either the First Fiction Workshop or Intermediate Fiction, or equivalent fiction writing experience. Candidates must submit samples of their work before registration, with cover letter, to Prof. Caponegro via campus mail by noon on Nov. 20^th.