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Home , Annie Proulx, Jhumpa Lahiri, Robert Olen Butler

Please Note: Draft syllabi are provided to assist students in the course registration process. Final syllabi will be provided by instructors.

Wesleyan University, Graduate Liberal Studies HUMS622: Writing and Revision

Brando Skyhorse Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:30pm-9:30pm June 26-August1; No Class July 4

Course Description

Revision is considered the final stage of writing but what is it, exactly? What does the process entail? What constitutes a revision? How do other writers revise? And what are the rules writers can follow to make revision a cornerstone of their writing process? You’ll find out in this class. Revision, simply, is not correction. Revision is not changing “red” to “crimson” or running your spell checker. Revision is a change in your point-of-view.

This class’s goal is to help you learn how to change your point-of-view.

Through a series of writing exercises, classroom discussions, and applying a specific checklist of revision oriented questions, the goal is to help you understand how revision works, and how you can develop your own revision process to apply to both fiction and non-fiction writing. This is a graduate level writing course. We’ll be focusing on short stories and personal essays but the bulk of our course will be based on a of fiction OR a non-fiction essay that you write and revise over the course of a semester. Think of our five week, ten session class as an arc of a story. YOUR story.

In the first week you’ll write the first draft of a short story or personal essay. You need to make it clear whether your story is fiction or non-fiction when you submit it. Your piece will get workshopped. The workshop will give you a blueprint for revision which will include writing a significant amount of new material. You’ll submit that revised story again for a second workshop. You’ll get ideas for your third and final revision which will be submitted in your final portfolio.

One story. Three drafts. Five weeks.

Learning Outcomes

All of this means you’ll be doing a) preparatory readings from the assigned texts, b) a LOT of writing and c) a LOT of close reading/commenting on your classmates writings.

Expectations for learning outcomes are that students will 1) Learn how to critically read, evaluate, and respond to different genres of fiction and non- fiction writing. 2) Have a specific understanding of revision and how to apply those ideas to a student’s own writing.

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Evaluation and Grading

Students will participate in daily in-class free-writing prompts, write three study questions for each story assigned, and write three drafts of a 5-7 page short story or essay. Drafts #2 and #3 must contain 60% new material.

Additional papers may be assigned. A final portfolio collecting the student’s entire written output will be due at class’s end.

You’ll discuss your story with me during office hours at least twice during the semester. We’ll determine what your goals as a writer are, review your classmates’ comments together, and come up with additional revision ideas. Students must meet with instructor at least once before our class’s midpoint

During the semester you’ll also be keeping a journal for both in-and out-of class writing exercises but largely for in-class free writes. EVERY class will begin with a free-write. These free writes must be saved and turned in at the end of the semester as part of your class portfolio.

Here’s a percentage breakdown of your grade: Weekly take home assignments, free writes, & your two stories (and revision): 40% In-class participation: 30% Written comments/critiques on other students’ work and office visit: 30%

Required texts THE SCRIBNER ANTHOLOGY OF 50 AMERICAN STORIES SINCE 1970 Lex Williford (Editor) and Michael Martone (Editor),

GROWING UP ETHNIC IN AMERICA: CONTEMPORARY FICTION ABOUT LEARNING TO BE AMERICAN Maria Mazziotti Gillan (Author), Jennifer Gillan (Author) (G & G)

Blank Journal

CLASS RULES (they’re really simple) 1.) Show up ON TIME. 2.) Talk/participate in EVERY class. 3.) Turn in PROPERLY FORMATTED WORK ON TIME. 4.) DON’T BE MEAN.

BREAKING THESE RULES = YOUR FINAL CLASS GRADE DROPS (see me for specifics/details).

Disability Statement: Wesleyan University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with disabilities are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from its programs and services. To receive accommodations, a student must have a documented disability as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, and provide documentation of the disability. Since accommodations may require early planning and generally are not provided retroactively, please contact Disability Resources as soon as possible. If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact Dean Patey in Disability Resources, located in North College, Room 021, or

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call 860-685-2332 for an appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations. Present all necessary paperwork by the end of our first week of classes.

SCHEDULE

WEEK 1 Tue June 27th Daniel Orozco, Orientation, 484 – 488 Amy Tan, Two Kinds, 599 – 608

Thurs June 29th , The Red Convertible, 103 – 114 (G & G) , A Temporary Matter, 321 – 334

WEEK 2 Tue July 4th – NO CLASS (FIRST STORY DUE VIA EMAIL)

Thurs July 6th Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried, 469 – 83 Denis Johnson, Car Crash While Hitchhiking, 288 – 292

WEEK 3 (WORKSHOPS FOR STORY ONE) Tue July 11th Sherman Alexie, This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona, 287 – 301 (G & G) Ben Marcus, Cold Little Bird (can be found online, New Yorker)

Thurs July 13th (REVISION ONE DUE) Mary Gaitskill, Tiny, Smiling Daddy, 228 – 238 , The Caretaker, 152 – 180

WEEK 4 (WORKSHOPS FOR REVISION ONE) Tue July 18th George Saunders, Sea Oak, 547 – 566 Edward P. Jones, Marie, 293 – 304

Thurs July 20th Charles Baxter, The Disappeared, 52 – 71 Akhil Sharma, A Mistake (can be found online, New Yorker)

WEEK 5 Tue July 25th , from The Bluest Eye, 115 – 121 (G & G) E. , The Half-Skinned Steer, 520-532

Thurs July 27th Russell Banks, Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story, 1 – 18 , Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot, 103-108 FINAL PORTFOLIOS (WITH REVISION) DUE

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