Fall 2012 Undergraduate Course Schedule
INTRODUCTORY WORKSHOPS
Our popular introductory workshops offer an exciting introduction to the basic elements of poetry and fiction, with in-class writing, take-home reading and writing assignments, and substantive discussions of craft. The course is structured as a workshop, which means that students receive feedback from their instructor and their fellow writers in a roundtable setting, and should be prepared to offer their classmates responses to their work. 4 points.
CRWRI-UA 815 Creative Writing: Introduction to Fiction & Poetry
Section 001, Jill Davis, MW 9:30am-10:45am Syllabus
Section 002, Jennifer Levitt, MW 12:30pm-1:45pm Syllabus
Section 003, Tasmine Mocke, MW 3:30pm-4:45pm Syllabus
Section 004, Naomi Bishop, MW 4:55pm-6:10pm Syllabus
Section 005, Matthew Broaddus, MW 4:55pm-6:10pm
Section 006, Dinika Amaral, TR 9:30am-10:45am, Syllabus
Section 007, Amanda Calderon, TR 12:30pm-1:45pm Syllabus
Section 008, Adam Dalva, TR 3:30pm-4:45pm Syllabus
Section 009, Jacquelynn Osoro, TR 4:55pm-6:10pm Syllabus
Section 010, Rebecca Dinerstein, TR 9:30am-10:45am Syllabus
Section 011, Sarah Fieber, MW 12:30pm-1:45pm Syllabus
Section 012, Gino Figlio, TR, 12:30pm-1:45pm Syllabus
Section 013, Virginia McLure, TR 8:00am-9:15am Syllabus
Section 015, Daniel Hamilton, TR, 12:30pm-1:45pm Syllabus
Section 016, Madhu Kaza, MW 8:00am-9:15am Syllabus
Section 017, Ed Winstead, MW 9:30am-10:45am Syllabus
Section 018, Michael Nordenberg, MW 9:30am-10:45am Syllabus
Section 019, Maya Popa, TR 12:30pm-1:45pm Syllabus
Section 020, Tobin Hack, TR 9:30am-10:45am Syllabus
Section 021, Michael Mah, MW 11:00am-12:15pm Syllabus
Section 022, Julie Buntin, TR 11:00am-12:15pm Syllabus
Section 023, Jenny Xie, MW 12:30pm-1:45pm Syllabus
Section 024, Sarah LaBrie, TR 12:30pm-1:45pm Syllabus
INTERMEDIATE WORKSHOPS
The intermediate workshops offer budding prose writers and poets an opportunity to continue their pursuit of writing through workshops that focus on a specific genre. The workshops also integrate in-depth craft discussions and extensive outside reading to deepen students’ understanding of the genre and broaden their knowledge of the evolution of literary forms and techniques.
Prerequisite for fiction: CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA.816, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA 860, OR COSEM-UA 118 or equivalent. Prerequisite for poetry: CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA.817, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA.870, OR FRSEM-UA 388 or equivalent. Prerequisite for creative nonfiction: CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA 825, OR CRWRI-UA.880 or equivalent. 4 points.
CRWRI-UA 816 001 Intermediate Fiction Workshop
George Foy, R 3:30pm-6:10pm
This is a workshop, which means it combines some imparting of alleged wisdom and pompous declaiming by the prof, with the absolute best way to perfect your work, i.e., by doing it—writing, writing, writing. The workshop's philosophy is based on the premise that when a writer picks up a pen or opens a laptop to start a story, he or she breaks the connection with “normal” time and space to enter a storyworld in which anything is possible. Such a world, if well constructed, will like other complex systems start to generate and follow its own rules and acquire independent life. Too often, writers are prevented from taking advantage of this freedom by straitjacket expectations or fear of failure. In this class the idea is to vanquish fear, and use any technique or character as long as it works to create a believable world peopled by living characters, described in prose that takes wing and a voice that is recognizably yours. We will of course discuss traditional issues in writing, such as where to find story subjects, how to nurture and sustain the nuts and bolts of your writing practice. But we will also explore microfiction, non-linear narrative, illustrated narrative, fiction as street theater, plus traditional short stories.
CRWRI-UA 816 002 Intermediate Fiction Workshop Syllabus
Justin Taylor, T 9:30am-12:15pm
In this workshop, we'll focus on reading and writing short fiction. Since this is a workshop, we'll naturally devote most of our time to peer reading and critique, but we'll also read stories by acknowledged masters of the form, as well as newer work whose status remains to be determined—by us, perhaps. Whether we're reading published stories or student work our goals will be the same: to understand how a given story functions, to determine how and why it succeeds or fails (hopefully we won't all agree too much on this) and to identify techniques that we can adapt for use in our own fiction. We'll place a strong emphasis on editing and revision, so please come prepared to kill your darlings.
CRWRI-UA 816 003 Intermediate Fiction Workshop Syllabus
Maaza Mengiste, W 9:30am-12:15pm
We all exist in some form of conflict with another force. We practice large and small acts of resistance daily. Around us, people are fighting to maintain or assert their sense of self amidst shifting laws, alliances and borders. In this class we will explore in our writing and in discussions the rhetoric these struggles have produced. Our task will be to expand our own writing beyond the simple conflict-driven plot of good vs. bad, to a more complex and real understanding of the existence of both in everyone. You will be challenged to consider the blurry lines between fiction and nonfiction. We will also look at some of the most pertinent aspects of fiction: plot, place, voice, and character development. We will ask each other what it is about this story that demanded writing, what it is about these characters that make them unforgettable. What idiosyncratic tendencies does the writer reveal that makes this their story? This class will focus not only on what you create, but how you re-write and revise your work. Rewriting is the most significant aspect to writing.
CRWRI-UA 816 004 Intermediate Fiction Workshop Syllabus
Mohammed Ali, T 3:30pm-6:10pm
In this intermediate fiction workshop, the primary focus will be on your writing. Most of the class time will be dedicated to discussing your work and exchanging critiques and ideas on how to improve upon a draft and also your writing skills in general. Through in/out-of-class writing, primary text and assigned readings, class discussions and presentations, we will examine the structure of the short story and the novel, as well as the basic elements of fiction such as characterization, dialogue, plot, theme, and viewpoint. Additionally, we will be taking an in-depth look at form and style, the role of humor in fiction, and lastly, the fundamental grammar and language of fiction writing.
CRWRI-UA 816 005 Intermediate Fiction Workshop Syllabus
Said Sayrafiezadeh, M 6:20pm-9:05pm
This intermediate fiction writing workshop will be a combination of writing, reading, discussion, observation, and analysis. Our goal will be to develop skills and strategies for use outside of the classroom. First and foremost, of course, will be the writing of two original short stories during the term. Together we will examine how the story utilizes things like character, tone, plot, dialogue, pace. We'll also expand into the murkier realms of voice, surprise, humor, sentimentality, and cliché. Part of being a successful working writer is being able to give and receive criticism—neither of which are ever easy—and we will come up with ways in class for handling this. Our discussions will also include those essential writerly concerns regarding process, discipline and distraction. As well as how to be published, how to find an agent, how to deal with an editor, and whether or not New York City is the only place you can be a successful writer. In addition to your own work, we will be reading a selection of contemporary short stories. We will read them as writers reading writers. We will examine their strengths and weaknesses, and may come to regard them as either inspiring accomplishments or cautionary tales—or both. Finally, there will be some in-class (and out of class) writing exercises, as well as some analysis of songs, television programs, and anything else that might be used to help us learn to tell stories.
CRWRI-UA 816 006 Intermediate Fiction Workshop Syllabus
Sharon Mesmer, M 12:30pm-3:15pm
Is it possible to write, as Clarice Lispector suggests, both "squalidly and structurally"? I say yes. Both ends of the trajectory are possible ... and necessary, really, in order to produce surprisingly inventive writing. In this workshop, we will explore and exploit the fertile (oftentimes untouched) mud of our imaginations through a series of five writing exercises paired with model texts, each utilizing a different prose form into which even the muddiest, most inchoate and problematic ideas, images and language can be flowed. (Occasionally I will use my own work to show you how I approached these forms . . . I never give assignments that I myself haven't tried!) We will discuss the visible and invisible architectures of these model texts, and how you can deploy those architectures for your own purposes. Are you an absolute beginner? an uncertain experimenter? a bitter literary world veteran? Doesn't matter. The assignments + model texts can be used by anyone at any level of proficiency. Additionally, having a varied mix of voices is important, as Bitter Literary World Veteran can always learn something from Absolute Beginner about (as Jack Kerouac said) being "submissive to everything, open, listening." Together we'll read, write, discuss, dissect, experiment and create. Our objectives? 1.) To read, learn about, and be inspired by, the writings of others, including our fellow classmates; and 2.) to produce five fully alive pieces of prose that you would feel confident submitting to magazines (if that's your goal) or just proud to have written. Surprise!
CRWRI-UA 816 007 Intermediate Fiction Workshop Syllabus
Joanna Yas, M 2:00pm-4:45pm
In this intermediate fiction writing workshop, the main focus will be on your writing, and what skills you need to develop and revise your work. We will discuss what works and what doesn’t, and why, as well as elements of craft—point of view, setting, character development, pacing, tone, plot development, dialogue—and other tools that can be honed in order to improve your writing. Receiving feedback from your peers on your work—as well as reading and providing constructive criticism on theirs—will contribute to your own process of crafting and revising. We will also do in-class writing exercises that will explore a range of strategies, impulses, and ideas.
CRWRI-UA 816 008 Intermediate Fiction Workshop Syllabus
Fiona Maazel, F 9:30am-12:15pm
For this class, we’ll be focusing on how to craft story—what skills you need to develop, and how. In workshop, we’ll talk about what in your fiction works and what doesn’t, and, most importantly: Why. Why doesn’t it work? Writing is a mysterious business, equal parts talent and know-how. One you can’t do anything about. But the other is craft, which can be learned. Dialogue, tone, pacing, point of view, tense, diction, syntax, these are your tools. They can be sharpened. So we’ll be workshopping student work and also published work, by way of exploring specific feats of craft. I put as much premium on how well you read as how well you write, so we’ll be talking a lot about how to read intelligently; how to look at a piece of fiction and figure out what makes it sing.
CRWRI-UA 817 001 Intermediate Poetry Workshop Syllabus
Geoffrey Nutter, T 11:00am-1:45pm
Surprising, disorienting, beautiful, lyrical, dream-like, fantastic, difficult, intense—a poem exists in a strange realm of ambiguity and can be all of these things at once. And poets in 14th century England, 10th century China, or 18th century Japan used the same raw materials as poets in 21st century America: dreams, strong or ambivalent emotions, the natural world, experience in its many forms, and language. In this class we will look with fresh eyes at some of the most amazing poems of the past, present, and future, asking not what they mean, but rather how they mean and what they do. We will also discuss the kinds of things that poems are uniquely capable of doing—those things that make poetry exceptional in the world of the creative arts. In other words, we will approach the reading of poems as writers of poems. Focused and rigorous discussions of our fellow students’ poems will further help us hone our craft.
CRWRI-UA 817 002 Intermediate Poetry Workshop
Miranda Field, R 12:30pm-3:15pm
Our objective in this class is to write new poems each week, and find ways to illuminate and articulate our processes as we go along. Among the questions we’ll explore, directly or indirectly, as we workshop: How do imagination, “real life,” and conscious artifice (among other things) enter into the writing of poems? How does a poem interface with its reader/listener? What’s the role of enigma, or even opacity, in poetry? How much clarity or accessibility is desirable? We’ll read poets representing a range of styles and esthetics, with an emphasis on contemporary American, though we will also read older poems, and some poems in translation—understanding that poetry is an art that grows and strengthens when work of different times and languages converse. Prompts will be given each week, intended to inspire, but also, sometimes, to throw hurdles in the way—to provoke inventiveness, ingenuity, even (creative) defiance. Students are required to hand in one poem per week in response to the prompts; give a short, informal presentation on a book of contemporary poetry; and keep a journal.
CRWRI-UA 817 003 Intermediate Poetry Workshop Syllabus
Tom Healy, R 3:30pm-6:10pm
Poetry is an act of attention: to ourselves, to the world, to language. We are going foster that attention by creating a community of writers in the classroom who read widely, write regularly and support one another through careful and honest consideration of new poems you write during the term. The purpose of this workshop is to look hard at how poems are made, to strengthen your skills in the craft of poetry, and then to encourage you to experiment boldly in your writing through exercises, examples and writing habits that will help you “make it new,” in Ezra Pound’s famous dictum.
CRWRI-UA 817 004 Intermediate Poetry Workshop
Matthew Rohrer, M 11:00am-1:45pm
This course will thrust students headlong into the dark cobwebby interiors of the modern poem. We’ll look closely at how modern poems are actually put together, considering such elemental concerns as image, voice, structure, etc. And we’ll also look at several revolutions in thinking about what poems are. This is a workshop, and priority will be given to reading our peers’ poems and giving them thoughtful, constructive criticism—but the course is also arranged more or less historically, so we can trace movements in poetry from the early sources of the modern to the present. Writing exercises derived from the techniques of each poet will help us dig beneath the surface to uncover what in the world is going on. Students will leave this course with a deeper understanding of the lineage of the modern poem what makes the modern poem go. And combined with the generous and critical attentions of the workshop, students will come to the same understanding of their own work.
CRWRI-UA 817 005 Intermediate Poetry Workshop
Dorothea Lasky, F 12:30pm-3:15pm
Maggie Nelson recently wrote a collection of short lyrical essays about the color blue, called Bluets (Wave Books, 2009). In her book, the idea and image of blue fixes meditations on love, life, and darkness on the color, so that a reader cannot help but see the color blue anew. In this course, we will study what texts concerned with color assert by looking at work by poets, writers, and color theorists, who have thought extensively about the connections between color and language. Questions addressed will include: 1. How do color and language relate?; 2.What kinds of ideas and impressions are contained in particular colors?; 3. How is color related to rhythm and sound? ; 4. What other poets and writers than those discussed have used color effectively? By examining the connections between color and language, the course will train students in the ability to break down real life into more basic forms, such as any sensual component of the world, like smell or sound, and incorporate these components into their own writing. In addition to weekly in-class workshops of students' poems, assignments will include 1-page weekly response papers, a proposed writing exercise for class members that incites color writing, a 5-page critical piece, and a 20-page manuscript of creative work influenced by the course.
CRWRI-UA 825 001 Intermediate Creative Nonfiction Workshop Syllabus
Maria Laurino, R 11:00am-1:45pm
How do we create essays and memoir that move beyond the personal “I” to a universal eye, or what Primo Levi has called, “A different way of saying ‘I’”? In this writing and reading workshop, we will explore the strategies of creative nonfiction, examining the roles of imaginative reconstruction, reporting, and research in developing personal narratives. We will focus on creating concise, shapely, and texturally rich essays and memoir. The participatory classroom setting will allow us, in Michel de Montaigne’s words, to “reserve a back shop all our own”—a supportive, creative environment in which students participate in classroom exercises, write and revise their narratives, and critically discuss the work of essayists and memoirists, including Montaigne, George Orwell, Joan Didion, Patricia Hampl, Zadie Smith, Jonathan Lethem, and Geoff Dyer.
ADVANCED WORKSHOPS
Advanced workshops provide emerging writers with the opportunity to hone their individual voice and experiment with different aesthetical strategies in a genre-specific workshop taught by an eminent writer in the field. The workshops focus on innovative revision techniques, the development of a sustainable writing process, and the broadening of students’ literary knowledge of classical and contemporary masters. Each advanced workshop has a distinct emphasis and area of exploration—students are advised to pay close attention to the course descriptions.
Prerequisite for fiction: CRWRI-UA 816, OR CRWRI-UA 818, OR CRWRI-UA 9818, OR CRWRI-UA 9828, OR CRWRI-UA 820, OR CRWRI-UA 860 or equivalent. Prerequisite for poetry: CRWRI-UA 817, OR CRWRI-UA 819, OR CRWRI-UA 9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9829, OR CRWRI-UA 830, OR CRWRI-UA 870 or equivalent. Prerequisite for creative nonfiction: CRWRI-UA 825, OR CRWRI-UA 850, OR CRWRI-UA 880 or equivalent. 4 points.
CRWRI-UA 820 001 Advanced Fiction Workshop Syllabus
Irini Spanidou, M 6:30pm - 9:15pm
The emphasis of this course is on the discovery, encouragement and development of each student's individual voice. The focus is not on theory of craft but on each case in point. Whatever works is right: a story that fulfills its intentions justifies its means. Rather than forcing a piece of writing into formulaic “perfection,” the aim is to facilitate its clarity and momentum, and to bring out its truth, enabling the work to achieve a cohesive, organic whole—a structure as unique as the voice that engenders it.
CRWRI-UA 820 002 Advanced Fiction Workshop Syllabus
Fiona Maazel, T 11:00am-1:45pm
Here’s Thomas Mann: “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” Sound right? It is. Welcome to class. We’re going to workshop your short fiction—two new stories and one revision you will be turning into me at the end of the semester. Workshopping has its drawbacks, but it’s not a jury. We’ll talk about what works and what doesn’t, and, most importantly: Why. Why doesn’t it work? Writing is a mysterious business, equal parts talent and know-how. One you can’t do anything about. But the other is craft, which can be learned. Dialogue, tone, pacing, point of view, tense, diction, syntax, these are your tools. They can be sharpened. So we’ll be workshopping your material and also published stories, by way of exploring specific feats of craft.
CRWRI-UA 820 003 Advanced Fiction Workshop
Darin Strauss, W 12:30pm-3:15pm
Our class will emphasize shop talk: how to begin a story, say, and how to introduce a character. And we'll take up such questions as, “What is the relationship of plot to sub-plot? How does one hold the reader's attention?” Of course, in Art, rules must be flexible—but I ask my students to think of writing in strategic terms; each story-telling decision needs to make tactical sense. With that in mind, we'll examine—with so much esprit de corps as to arouse envy—the tenets of the Art of Fiction.
CRWRI-UA 820 004 Advanced Fiction Workshop
Susan Minot, W 3:30pm-6:10pm
In our class discussions of student fiction, we will focus on refinement of style, structure and content. Strong editorial feedback will, hopefully, help each writer to shape and strengthen the material he or she is keen to express. I think there are no hard and fast rules in writing, but some tried and true guidelines. Depending on one’s bent, some advice is to be taken while some can be ignored. The workshop is an ideal forum for exploring this. Outside reading will have a fallback emphasis on the short story—for the sake of variety—with Anton Chekhov, Raymond Carver, Amy Hempel, Denis Johnson, Katherine Mansfield among others, as well as nonfiction selections by artists such as Flaubert, Forster, Van Gogh and Emily Dickenson addressing the mysterious creative process. But mostly we will concentrate on student work.
CRWRI-UA 830 001 Advanced Poetry Workshop Syllabus
Catherine Barnett, W 12:30pm-3:15pm
This advanced poetry workshop will take as its core concerns both improvisation and revision. These two practices are, of course, at the heart of the creative act, and students in this class will study and practice both: as they write and revise their own work, students will also read the poems and drafts of published poets to learn how initial inspiration turns (and re-turns) into final poem. Students will be asked to read and analyze primary sources (drafts, notebooks, letters, interviews) and will practice various strategies of revision with the hope of turning revision into an act as creative as the initial generating impulse: an act of discovery, invention, intention, and chance that can accommodate failure, mistake, and accident.
CRWRI-UA 830 002 Advanced Poetry Workshop Syllabus
Robert Fitterman, T 12:30pm-3:15pm
In 1871, Arthur Rimbaud declared that “the invention of the unknown new forms,” and for over 100 years innovative poets have been beckoned to uncover or invent forms for the unknown or for their own present condition. New times require new forms, and in the tradition of the avant-garde and experimental writing, this course will introduce you to several new poetic strategies and to the poets who employ them. In addition to workshopping, each week we will write poems in-class that are inspired by or modeled after the strategies we study. Some of these experiments might include: sampling, procedural writing, mixed media, collaboration, conceptual writing, appropriation, etc. The course also requires that you present your writing 2-3 times during the semester, participate in a collaborative project, and turn in a small “book” of your writing at the end of the term.
CRWRI-UA 830 003 Advanced Poetry Workshop
Matthew Rohrer, T 9:30am-12:15pm
This course is designed to plunge students head-first into the world of contemporary poetry. Besides workshopping each others’ poems, students will read a different book of contemporary poetry each week, and present it to the class. We will discuss the book as writers, not literature students; we’ll want to figure out what each poet is doing, how he or she does it, and how we can do that. Writing exercises derived from the readings will help us get into the poets’ heads. This is an advanced course, and students will be expected to do all of the reading, participate in the discussions, and generally contribute towards that elusive thing which is a workshop environment that is constructive and critical and ultimately generative for everyone. The goal of the course is for students to engage with the work of their peers and their contemporaries in a critical and hungry manner which will lead to a greater understanding of how their own poetry is working.
CRWRI-UA 850 001 Advanced Creative Nonfiction Workshop
Ann Hood, T 12:30pm-3:15pm
This class will help you to continue to develop skills in creative nonfiction writing by exploring themes that are typical to the genre as well as the various forms and lengths used in it. In addition, we will work on developing your critical skills through one on one reading and critiques, small peer group critiques, and workshop. You will write five essays and present one final project.
MASTER CLASSES
These workshops and craft seminars—taught by acclaimed poets and prose writers—are open to select NYU undergraduates. Master classes are limited to 12 students and provide intensive mentoring and guidance for serious and talented undergraduate writers. Each Master Class has a distinct emphasis and area of exploration—students are advised to pay close attention to the course descriptions, which are available online prior to registration. Application required.
Prerequisite for fiction: CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA 816, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA 820, OR CRWRI-UA 860 or equivalent. Prerequisite for poetry: CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA 817, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA 830, OR CRWRI-UA 870, OR FRSEM-388, or equivalent. Prerequisite for creative nonfiction:CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA 825, OR CRWRI-UA 850, OR CRWRI-UA 880 or equivalent. Recommended prerequisite: CRWRI-UA 820 (for fiction), CRWRI-UA 830 (for poetry), or CRWRI-UA 850 (for creative nonfiction). Application required. 4 points.
CRWRI-UA 860 001 Master Class in Fiction (Craft Seminar)
Zadie Smith, M 11:00am-1:40pm
What does “having a sensibility," literary or otherwise, mean? Is it something you can acquire, or something innate, or something else again? We’re going to read a selection of 20th century novels concentrating on whatever is most particular to them, in the hope that this might help us understand whatever is most particular to us. The course will be punctuated by secondary readings of literary criticism and philosophy. Writers include: Vladimir Nabokov, Muriel Spark and Franz Kafka. Note: this class has a great deal of reading and no “creative writing.” The aim is to learn how to read well. To this end, you will produce critical writing, in the form of short literary essays that address the novels we read. This class believes that good writers are first of all good readers.
CRWRI-UA 870 001 Master Class in Poetry Syllabus
Rachel Zucker, T 11:00am-1:40pm
This master class is for students who are passionate about reading and writing poetry. Students will focus on generating a range of new poems and exploring unfamiliar forms, voices and styles. We will also discuss revision, and at the end of the semester each student will compile a chapbook of his or her best work and participate in a celebratory reading. In addition to writing and discussing student work, we will also read and discuss the work of other poets in order to be instructed and inspired.
CRWRI-UA 880 001 Master Class in Creative Nonfiction Syllabus
Sarah Manguso, M 12:30pm-3:10pm
What are the dimensions of a self? What constitutes autobiography? How does a first-person essay succeed or fail? In this course we will read and discuss autobiographical works that approach their subjects head-on as well as those that reveal their authors more insidiously. You will read one (short) book per week, write weekly (short) critical responses, participate in weekly discussions, and produce one longer piece of critical writing. Please note that this is not a workshop course but a reading course for those who wish to become more attentive, sensitive, and obsessive autobiographers. Authors under discussion will include Augustine of Hippo, Michel de Montaigne, Eula Biss, Joe Brainard, Jamaica Kincaid, Spalding Gray, Peter Handke, Maggie Nelson, and others.
