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Creative Writing: Telling Stories: Memory in Nonfiction and Fiction

ENGL 010.302
instructor(s):

This interactive workshop will focus on literary non-fiction and fiction. Students will explore – through their own work and others’ – how writers use memory to create narrative. Writing experiments will be conducted to help students get a handle on how memory and language guide (and fail) the writer. Students will be encouraged to test the boundary between fiction and non-fiction as they shape stories through description, plot, character and theme.

Readings will include work by Joe Brainard, Phillip Lopate, Joan Didion, Rick Moody, Paul Auster, and others.

A large portion of class time will be spent discussing student work. Revision will be essential. Students will keep a journal for in-class and at-home writing experiments and reflections. An email listserv will be used to discuss readings and other topics. In addition to writing assignments throughout the semester, students will complete a final portfolio of approximately fifteen pages of revised work.

fulfills requirements