Saint Mary's College Of California

course descriptions

Fall 2009

English 19-1: Introduction to Literary Analysis

Although primarily designed as an introductory course for English majors, this course is open to all lovers of literature. It will give more experienced readers a chance to perfect their analytical skills and less experienced readers a chance to acquire new skills. We will concentrate on learning how to pay the kind of attention that literature demands and how to ask and answer fruitful questions. We will begin to master the language of literary criticism, the technical vocabulary that makes it possible for a reader to ask and to answer interpretive questions with clarity and precision.

• Requirements
  Active participation in class discussions, three essays, quizzes, and daily responses.
• Texts
  Scholes et al., eds., Elements of Literatue
  Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms
• Instructor
  Janice Doane T/Th 9:40-11:20
  

English 19-2: Introduction to Literary Analysis

Although primarily designed as an introductory course for English majors, this course is open to all lovers of literature. It will give more experienced readers a chance to perfect their analytical skills and less experienced readers a chance to acquire new skills. We will concentrate on learning how to pay the kind of attention that literature demands and how to ask and answer fruitful questions. We will begin to master the language of literary criticism, the technical vocabulary that makes it possible for a reader to ask and to answer interpretive questions with clarity and precision.

• Requirements
  Active participation in class discussions, group presentation, three short essays and three quizzes.
• Texts
  Michael Meyer, The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature
  
• Instructor
  Jeannine King MWF 10:20-11:20
  

English 26 (.25): Creative Writing Reading Series

The Creative Writing Reading Series allows Saint Mary's students access to the nation's most prominent and exciting contemporary writers.  In the spring of 2009, the Series will feature readings by Mary Volmer, Lysley Tenorio, and Leslie Roberts.

Students are encouraged to read work by the visiting writers and will have opportunities to meet them. 

• Texts
  Reader provided, featuring work by the writers listed above. 
• Requirements
  Regular attendance at Reading Series events.
• Instructor
  Graham Foust - Five Wednesdays in the spring semester, 7:30-9:00 pm

English 24 (offered in Spring Only): SMPP Assessment and Portfolio

English 24 is a .25 credit course that students in the English Subject-Matter Preparation Program, designed for prospective secondary school teachers, are required to register for once prior to their senior year. The course assists students in beginning their portfolio and preparing them for the initial assessment interview required by the SMPP program.

DES2

• Texts
  
• Requirements
  Full requirements for the SMPP are listed on the facing page.
• Instructor
  Janice Doane Schedule to be arranged with students

English 124: SMPP Assessment and Portfolio

English 124 is a .25 credit course that students in the English Subject-Matter Preparation Program are required to register for during both semesters of their senior year. The course assists students in assembling the final version of their portfolio and preparing them for the final assessment interview required by the SMP program

DES2

• Texts
  
• Requirements
  Full requirements for the SMPP are listed on the facing page.
• Instructor
  Janice Doane Schedule to be arranged with students

English 26 (.25) Creative Writing Reading Series

The Creative Writing Reading Series allows Saint Mary's students access to the nation's most prominent and exciting contemporary writers.

Students are encouraged to read work by the visiting writers and will have opportunities to meet them.

• Texts
  Reader provided, featuring work by the writers listed above.
• Requirements
  Regular attendance at Reading Series events.
• Instructor
  Marilyn Abildskov Five Wednesdays in the fall semester, 7:30-9:00 pm

English 29: Issues in Literary Study

This course is an introductory course for English majors and minors, but would be of interest to anyone who wants to know what concerns those of us who pursue the study of literature in college and beyond.

In English 19, or other introductory English courses, you learned to appreciate the value of reading a text closely for its form and aesthetic features. In this course, we will start with a very brief review of this very important, formal (text-based) approach to literature (otherwise known as New Criticism). Then we will read a range of English literature and look at how different interpretive approaches to the text can enrich our reading and writing about literature, and challenge a familiar formalist approach. How might the practice of deconstruction help us to read familiar literature “against the grain’? How does “reader response” theory challenge our ideas of the apparent “universal truths” and “timeless values” of beloved texts? Indeed, why do we read and discuss only certain texts in the classroom and not others? What is the distinction between “serious” literature and “popular” literature? Is the distinction meaningful?

While these questions might carry us into deep waters, keep in mind that you are not being asked to resolved difficult philosophical questions, or understand esoteric material. Rather, all you need do in order to stay afloat is keep your mind open and your curiosity alive.

• Texts
  Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory by Steven Lynn; a variety of literary texts
• Requirements
  Careful reading and re-reading, scrupulous attendance, active participation in class discussion, short essays, final exam.
• Instructor
  Lisa Manter MWF 11:30-12:30

English 101(.25): Writing Tutor Workshop

In this workshop, we will explore and practice ways of helping other students express themselves in all stages of the writing process - from discovering and organizing ideas to editing drafts. By learning practical tutoring techniques, you will strengthen your own writing and develop confidence in working with others.

After completing this course, as a Writing Tutor you will be assigned to an English Composition section or to The Writing Center Workshop and will be paid by the hour to help students with their writing assignments. This training is especially valuable for those who are considering working as teachers, counselors, lawyers, business executives, or in other professions.

• Texts
  Leigh Ryan, The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutor
• Requirements
  One class hour per week (l hour/.25 unit)
• Instructor
  Hilda Ma Tuesday 1:10-2:10

English 102: Fiction

So, you want to be a writer.

Or maybe you just want to flex your creative muscles in the midst of all this analysis and critical thinking we keep asking of you. Maybe you’ve been hearing voices, and after determining that the cause was not some blown brain synapse that could be cured pharmacologically, you’ve decided to give your voices bodies and rooms to reside in and complications to sort out. But maybe you have known, since the first time you successfully wrote your name on a piece of paper, that writing was what you were born to do.

This course aims to help you become a better writer of fiction and, thus, a better reader of fiction. Whether or not you plan to become a professional writer, you’ll find that an awareness of craft will enhance your critical appreciation of art. While this might sound lofty, writing fiction might also enhance your appreciation or understanding of the human condition.

• Texts
  Writing Fiction, Janet Burroway, or What If? Ann Bernays, Pamela Painter, eds. and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King
• Requirements
  Two original short stories (8-12 pages long, typed, double-spaced); one substantial revision of your first story (10-15 pages); critiques to all workshop stories; as well as numerous writing exercises completed both inside and outside of class.
• Instructor
  Rosemary Graham Tues./Thurs. 11:20-12:50

English 104: “The Center Cannot Hold”: British Literature, Pre-Romantic to Modern

Dizzying changes in England during the late eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries infuse the literature of the time with excitement, hope, and pain. As established ideas were challenged, questions about gender roles, love, marriage, wealth, work, social status, oppression, nature, art, truth, and where to seek meaning in life became subjects of debate in poetry, fiction, drama, and essays.

As we read texts by writers such as Jane Austen, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, Alfred Tennyson, Gerald Manly Hopkins, Elizabeth and Robert Browning, William Butler Yeats, and Thomas Hardy, we will learn about their world and about the forces that have shaped our past. We will experience the power of writers to create thoughtful, beautiful, and moving literature from exciting or sad or perplexing experience. We will discover what happens to literature in times of rapid change, as writers create new forms to construct new visions of what it means to be human.

• Texts
  Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2 Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge
• Requirements
  Good attendance, attentive reading, active class participation, three short essays, project, final exam.
• Instructor
  Carol Beran Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9:10-10:10

*Note: This course fulfills a requirement for English majors

English 126: That 70s Film

"The New Golden Age of American Cinema ... "

"The New Golden Age of American Cinema ... "

"The Rebirth of Hollywood ..."

"A Decade under the Influence …"

Whatever title you choose, the 1970s was an amazing period of American Cinema. The number of great American films produced by inventive, talented, and independent- minded young film-makers is staggering to consider. And the variety of their films is equally impressive: the classic film noir and the gangster film are radically reconceived in Polanski's Chinatown and Coppola's The Godfather. The character-driven American "outcast" is viewed through the lens of the 60s and the Vietnam War in Scorsese's Taxi Driver and Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The screwball romantic comedy goes post-modem with Woody Allen's Annie Hall. And the annual ritual of the summer blockbuster was born with films like Spielberg's Jaws and Lucas' Star Wars. No matter what their form or subject matter, these films reflect a break from the big studios, a shattered trust in authority and morality, and a rejection of the status quo.

This course will use weekly film screenings of more than a dozen films from the 1970s as a jumping off point for examining both the era in cinema and the craft of the film-maker. Class discussions will alternate, weekly, between the exploration of thematic and artistic elements of the films, and an examination of the various elements of the craft of cinema: plot, character, dialogue, screenplay, cinematography, direction, and performance.

Films under consideration: see those mentioned above, plus ... Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Being There, Blazing Saddles, Carrie, Coming Home, Dog Day Afternoon, Everything You Wanted to Know about Sex ... , The French Connection, Harold and Maude, Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, MASH.

• Texts
  Louis Giannetti, Understanding Movies and other short readings, TBA
• Requirements
  Active class participation, weekly film viewing (see below), weekly quizzes, and/or written responses to films, two short film clip critiques, and a final exam.
• Film Screenings:
  Weekly, out-of-class screenings will be offered at a time and place to be announced. However, all films will be available at the Media Center, and students may screen them at their own convenience.
• Instructor
  Professor David DeRose Tuesday/Thursday 9:40-11:10

*COURSE FEE: $5

English 140: Journeys into Darkness: Nineteenth-Century Gothic Fiction

Gothic fiction takes readers into darkness – shadowy forests, ancient castles, midnight city streets. In these dark settings, reality and values become uncertain: Is the innocent maiden really free of rebellious longings? Is the tortured villain a victim of the world that condemns him? What version of events is true?

Gothic fiction became a dominant literary genre in nineteenth-century England, as writers used this form to explore issues that their society suppressed. Their novels question the social order, especially conventional gender roles, but also social class distinctions. They raise questions about the nature of the self, exploring self-division, dreams, and desire. They challenge their culture’s definitions of good and evil. Employing multiple narrators and comparing versions of reality, they present experience as subjective and unverifiable. They unsettle their readers, evoking pleasure and fear.

In this course, we’ll examine some early classics of a form still popular today. We’ll ask how subversive Gothic fiction is, and why it remains so compelling after hundreds of years.

• Texts
  Shelley, Frankenstein; Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre; Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights; LeFanu, Carmilla; Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Stoker, Dracula.; Wilde; The Picture of Dorian Gray; some short fiction.
• Requirements
  Active class participation, weekly brief essays, one formal essay, final exam.
• Instructor
  Sandra Grayson TuTh 1:10-2:40

English 143: Struggling Women, Writing Women

For many in eighteenth-century England, life was not easy. A few were fabulously wealthy, but many were destitute, living as vagabonds, whores, and thieves. In the midst of this world, prose fictions became enormously popular, and when they did, literature increasingly became a way of life for “scribbling” women.

Because these fictions no longer demanded educations based on the classical languages, which had restricted writing to men of a certain class, marginalized writers (women, as well as men who were not considered genteel) began to publish stories that reflected their fantasies, as well as the actual world around them.

The protagonists in these new kinds of fiction were often female. What we can learn from this cultural shift in tastes and attitudes, as well as how and why it is significant, will form part of our discussions.

We will read works by and about women—both good and bad, rich and poor; mostly the stories concern male-female relations and range from finding true love to rape, betrayal, and heartbreak, as well as the day-to-day struggle for sustenance.

• Texts
  Will include works by Aphra Behn, Jane Barker Eliza Haywood, Daniel Defoe, Fanny Burney, and so on.
• Requirements
  Two essays, careful reading, participation, and a final exam.
• Instructor
  Clinton Bond MF 12:40-2:10

*Note: This course satisfies the pre-1800 requirement for English majors. Cross listed with Women’s Studies

English 150: Early American Literature: Encounters

In this course we will explore the diverse texts of early American literature up to 1800. We will juxtapose the writings and perspectives of different cultural groups to understand the way in which these encounters have shaped our literary and historical legacy. We will begin, for example, with the earliest records of the encounter between English settlers and Native Americans that will help us to correct the heavily mythologized versions that still saturate American popular culture today. We will explore the origins of African slavery in New England and the beginnings of a moral consensus to overlook the terrible contradictions and consequences of human bonding.

In our examination of gender, we will turn to two critical moments in early American history—the Antinomian Controversy and the Salem Witchcraft Crisis—that reveal the ways in which women challenged the existing social order and the authority of the established church. We will also look at Mary Rowlandson’s famous captivity narrative that recounts her experience as a captive of the Algonquin Indians during King Philips’s War. We will see how the Puritan tradition of self-examination and spiritual autobiography could fuel a number of life stories: the Mohegan Samson Occom’s personal narrative that protests the exploitation of white culture, Olaudah Equiano’s slave narrative, and Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography. Our goal, then, will not simply be to define a uniquely American voice, but rather to uncover the varieties of early American expression that have contributed to the way we have come to see ourselves today.

• Texts
  The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume A: Literature to 1820, Sixth Edition. A Course Booklet of Supplemental Readings, Wieland, Charles Brocken Brown
• Requirements
  Careful reading and active class participation, weekly reading responses, a group presentation, Midterm and Final exam.
• Instructor
  Janice Doane TR 1:10-2:40

*satisfies the literature before 1800 requirement for the English major

*satisfies the Diversity Requirement

*is cross-listed with Women’s Studies

English 153: US Latino/a Literature and the Americas

This course is an introduction to the literature and cultures of Latinas and Latinos writing in English in the United States. We will read prose and poetry by multiple Latino/a groups including Chicano/as, Cuban Americans, Dominican Americans, and Puerto Ricans and examine the diverse artistic explorations of memory, exile, language, family, displacement. We will read their texts as personal and political expressions of the Latino/a experiences in the United States.

• Texts
  Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek. Garcia, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. Kanellos, Nicolas. Herencia. The Anthology of Hispanic Literature in the United States. Rivera, Tomas. Y no se lo trago la tierra/And the earth did not devour him Diaz, Junot. Drown.
• Requirements
  Two papers, two exams and a reading journal. Active class participation.
• Instructor
  Molly Metherd T/Th 11:20-12:40

English 170: “Getting Medieval”: Middle English Literature and Postmodern Theory

Most people look at studies in medieval literature as the purview of stogy, tweed-wearing, pipe-smoking scholars. Well, I’m here to tell you, there’s something else. The New Medievalism, which takes a look at Chaucer & Co. from a postmodern slant. We’ll be looking at texts that you’ve read in Major British writers I, and some new ones, as a chance to discuss issues of that are still very much in the spotlight today: politics, power, class, gender, sexuality, and identity.

• Texts
  Chaucer, Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, selections from lesser known late medieval English texts, and a reader of contemporary criticism.
• Requirements
  Active participation in discussion, careful reading and short assignments on reading, 1 short essay (5-6 pages), 1 long essay (10-12 pages), and a final exam.
• Instructor
  Lisa Manter M/F 12:40-2:10

*This class can be petitioned to fulfill the pre-1800 requirement.

English 175: Shakespeare as Dramatist

We sometimes forget when discussing the "greatest poet of the English language" that Shakespeare was a commercial playwright who made his living from writing plays to be performed for “the masses.” A poet, yes, but Shakespeare was also the greatest dramatist of his or, arguably, any other age -- a true craftsman of the spectacle of the stage, and of spoken language, dramatic form, and both profound and humorous characterization.

This course will study a cross-sec¬tion of Shakespeare's plays, paying special attention to the plays as dramatic texts intended for live performance. In order to better appreciate Shakespeare's plays in performance, we will regularly view excerpts from films and videotaped produc¬tions to supplement our careful reading of the texts.

• Texts
  A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, King Lear.
• Requirements
  Careful reading, thoughtful participation in class discussions; 3 short essays and short weekly written responses.
• Instructor
  David DeRose Monday/Friday 12:40-2:10

Note: May be taken more than once for credit. Open to non-majors. Fulfills English Department Shakespeare requirement.

English 183: American RE-MIX—On Stage & Screen— Diversity Plays & Movies!

From Spike Lee to Susan-Lori Parks—We will choose from the finest diverse playwrights and movie-makers in modern America. Fulfills Diversity requirement with petition to the Registrar’s office. OPEN to ALL MAJORS. We will read & see the best, meet actors & directors in class, and go to some local theaters, too! How do plays and movies reflect current American conflicts and questions? We will find the best comedy & drama in the new American Re-Mix—

Susan-Lori Parks: VENUS, Topdog/Underdog—Controversial plays by popular Pulitzer Prize winning young African American playwright.

August Wilson: Ma Rainey’s Black-Bottom—Play by Pultizer Prize winning African American playwright about the Jazz Age and our music.

Maria Elena Fornes: MUD, Letters from Cuba—Prize-winning Latina playwright who has changed the face of American plays and movies.

Philip Kan Gotanda: Yankee Dawg You Die--Two Asian American actors vs. Hollywood.

Tony Kushner: Angels in America—Award winning 1999 spectacular, an HBO movie with Meryl Streep, revealing the history of gay cultures.

John Guare Six Degrees of Separation—Hit comedy and Oscar-nominated movie: Will Smith fools a Park Avenue couple & changes lives.

• Texts
  Diverse American plays & movies, visiting actors, a few local plays.
• Requirements
  Learning to write reviews, a collection of your own reviews & ideas.
• Instructor
  Barry Horwitz MWF 2:15 – 3:15.

*Diversity Credit – ALL MAJORS - Write reviews – MEET Actors & Directors

English 198: Senior Honors Thesis (Independent Study)

Directed reading and research under the supervision of a department faculty member, culminating in the writing of an academic thesis.

Prerequisites:

-Senior standing in the English Major (for the semester in which thesis is to be undertaken)

-3.70 GPA in the English Major (Exceptions must be pursued with the Department Chair.)

• APPLICATION DEADLINE: MONDAY, 5/4/09
  Students are responsible for contacting and proposing projects to potential faculty supervisors. They must then submit a proposal containing the following to the Department Chair by the above deadline: 1. a page-long description of the academic project to be undertaken 2. the signature of a faculty supervisor for the project, to be solicited by the student 3. evidence of 3.70 GPA in major Final permission to undertake an Honors Thesis rests with the Department Chair, in consultation with the faculty.
• Requirements
  1. Regularly scheduled meetings with faculty supervisor to establish a reading list, organize research, and confer on progress and on drafts of the essay. 2. To equip the student with the skills necessary to complete a significant research study, the student will meet early in the semester with the librarian subject specialist (Sharon Walters) who will assist the student in formulating a search strategy, and in identifying, using, and evaluating appropriate sources of information. 3. The final project for this course will be a scholarly research essay of at least 20 pages, in addition to a Bibliography or Works Cited list. The essay must conform to MLA citation procedures. The faculty supervisor must approve and grade the final project.
• Instructor
  Robert Gorsch Chair, x 4470, rgorsch@stmarys-ca.edu

 

 

GRADUATE COURSES

 

 

*English 200: Modernism and Modernity

For the purposes of this course, “modernism,” refers to the set of artistic movements that began in the 19th century, flourished in the early part of the 20th century, and still influence literature today. The course will cover the precursors of modernism—romanticism, naturalism, and realism—as well as the primary movements associated with it, including symbolism, decadence, futurism, cubism, expressionism, dada, surrealism and negritude, locating occasions for critical inquiry in texts from the likes of Baudelaire, Beckett, Breton, Cesaire, Eliot, Forster, Hemingway, Joyce, Loy, Pound, Stein, Stevens, Tzera, Williams, Woolf, and Yeats. The course will also consider the idea of “modernity,” exploring a contextual framework that includes elements of the history of the period, such as immigration, industrialization, urbanization, the world wars, the Russian revolution, new technologies, the relaxation of social mores, race relations, and the women’s movement. And, the course will consider “modernism” before and after the classic modernist period, looking for connections between it and the concerns of contemporary authors.

• Texts
  Course Reader and Lawrence Rainey. Modernism: An Anthology
• Requirements
  Regular attendance and participation, 1 research paper (15-20 pages)
• Instructor
  Chris Sindt T/Th 1:10-2:40

English 211: Graduate Fiction Workshop

This graduate fiction workshop focuses on the critical and constructive analysis of student fiction. Short stories, novellas, and novel excerpts are acceptable, and each submission will be treated as a work -in-progress. Students will be expected to offer critique both in terms of their own interpretation of the work, but also in regards to authorial intent. Issues of craft will be integral to the discussion, and students will also examine how the techniques of fiction can both inform (and be informed by) the thematic possibilities of each workshop piece.

The goal of this course is to help students fulfill their vision of their work, so active participation is mandatory, as are extensive written critiques of each piece submitted to the workshop.

• Instructor
  Instructor: Lysley Tenorio Wednesday 4:00-7:00

English 212: Poetry Workshop

To borrow a bit from the poet Dan Barden, this course is not about improving your poetry, which would, in the end, only get you increased flattery in the classroom and maybe a higher caliber of rejection letter. Rather, this class will be about transforming your poetry and, I hope, about transforming your relationship to poetry. To that end, we will engage in lengthy dialogue about one another’s relatively finished work—as opposed to brief commentary on one another’s “rough” work—and we will undertake a semester-long, seminar-style study of Allen Grossman’s “Summa Lyrica: A Primer of the Commonplaces in Speculative Poetics,” which is the second half of his book The Sighted Singer: Two Works on Poetry for Readers and Writers. You should read the first half of that book, “Against Our Vanishing: Conversations on the Theory and Practice of Poetry with Mark Halliday,” over the summer.

• Instructor
  Instructor: Graham Foust Wednesday 4:00-7:00

English 214: Nonfiction Workshop

This course gives students the opportunity to explore material in various areas of nonfiction, such as memoir, personal essay, or travel writing. The course addresses issues of voice, scene, point-of-view, and theme, as well as any other elements of nonfiction writing that will emerge from individual manuscripts. By the end of the course, the students should develop the terminology and the critical skills for revising nonfiction, and should develop a good understanding about issues and trends in the genre.

• Instructor
  Instructor: Wesley Gibson Wednesday 4:00-7:00

*English 261: Craft of Fiction: Beyond Setting: Locating Character in Time and Place

“The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads where time and place and eternity somehow meet. His problem is to find that location.” Flannery O’Connor, Mystery and Manners

This course will give you the opportunity to focus on two of the three parts of O’Connor’s famous “peculiar crossroads.” Weekly readings will guide weekly experiments in which you will be encouraged to take your fiction into unexplored territory: other decades, other continents as well as the here and now.

• Texts
  A selection of classic and contemporary stories, novels and novel excerpts. Selected craft essays.
• Requirements
  Weekly 4-6 pp. experiments, one of which to be expanded into a 20-page story or novel excerpt. Attendance, active participation in lively class discussion.
• Instructor
  Rosemary Graham Tuesday 4:30-7:30

*English 262: Craft Seminar in Poetry

This course focuses on issues that influence the writing of poetry. Some seminars may focus on issues of craft or aesthetics—figuration, the line, or open field theory—and others will be thematic in nature—politics and poetics, revolution and poetics, psychoanalysis and surrealism, nature poetics, etc. Readings may include a wide range of poetry from diverse sources and historical periods as well as the students' own works-in-progress.

• Instructor
  Sandra Lim Thursday 4:30-7:30

*English 264: Craft of Nonfiction: The Volcano of Self

The inexperienced writer, says Jeanette Winterson, believes sincerity of feeling will be enough while the experienced writer knows that feeling must give way to form. “It is through form, not in spite of it, or accidental to it,” she writes, “that the most powerful emotions are let loose over the greatest number of people.” This course—which includes intensive reading as well as writing—will focus on giving students strategies to turn feeling into form. We will study the way writers manipulate time in a given text, lingering in specific moments (for pages at a time), or galloping through the years (within a few short paragraphs), or breaking from action altogether to sink into exposition. In addition to studying the movement of time and the shape of a text overall, we will study the contour of sentences—how they flow, flit, kick, or punch. And at every turn we will ask the crucial question: to what effect; what is the central conflict within the given plot? Writing exercises are designed to encourage students to dive into what Phillip Lopate calls “the volcano of self,” extracting—then shaping—hot coals of autobiography into work of beauty, intelligence, and grace. Students will be asked to experiment, creating narratives (of both events and ideas) that move in distinctively (but not exclusively) linear, spiral, braided, and disjunctive ways. All of which should shed light on the possibility of nonfiction in general and the personal essay, in particular, which Tobias Wolff says is to “catch oneself in the act of being human.”

• Instructor
  Instructor: Marilyn Abildskov T / Th 3-4:30 p.m.

  Email: mabildsk@stmarys-ca.edu

 

 

 

*Open to Undergraduates with Permission of Instructor