English 50 — Introduction to Creative Writing
Paul M. Kellermann Office: 224 South Allen Street (Room 114, Cubicle A) Mailbox: 136 Ritenour Building Phone: E-mail: [email protected] Office hours: Monday 1:30-2:15 @ Webster’s Bookstore Café Wednesday 4:00-5:30 @ Kern Graduate Building Friday 1:30-2:15 @ Webster’s Bookstore Café and by appointment
A Syllabus of Sorts (Fall 2014) (subject to change at the whim of the instructor)
Texts: Dinty W. Moore, The Truth of the Matter William Zinsser, On Writing Well Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poetry as Insurgent Art Frances Mayes, The Discovery of Poetry Josip Novakovich, Fiction Writer’s Workshop
Please note: The pagination of The Discovery of Poetry differs from printing to printing. Please use color coding to determine the correct pages to read.
Week one: Intro to Nonfiction Course introduction: fumigation of preconceived notions. Monday 1/12 Nothing is real, and nothing to get hung about... Wednesday 1/14 Moore, chapter 1 Moore, chapter 2 Friday 1/16 David Sedaris, “The Drama Bug” (Moore 229-235) Zinsser, chapters 2 & 3
Week two: Foundations Monday 1/19 No class – Martin Luther King Day Moore, chapter 3 Wednesday 1/21 Zinsser, chapters 4 & 5 Moore, chapter 4 Friday 1/23 Zinsser, chapters 6 & 7 English 50 2 Course Schedule
Week three: Framework Moore, chapter 5 Monday 1/26 Zinsser, chapters 8 & 9 Moore, chapter 6 John Schwartz, “Is My Son’s Purple Hair Asking for Trouble?” Wednesday 1/28 (electronic reserve) Zinsser, chapter 10 Lucy Grealy, “Mirrorings” (Moore 157-166) Friday 1/30 Zinsser, chapters 20 & 21
Week four: Forms and Formations Moore, chapter 7 Monday 2/2 Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue” (Moore 252-256) Zinsser, chapter 14 Moore, chapter 9 Wednesday 2/4 Edward Hoagland, “The Courage of Turtles” (Moore 184-188) Zinsser, chapters 22 & 23 Moore, chapter 10 Mimi Schwartz, “Memoir? Fiction? Where’s the Line?” (Moore Friday 2/6 286-291) Laurie Drummond, “Alive” (Moore 103-104) Zinsser, chapters 24 & 25
Week five: Nonfiction Wrap-Up Monday 2/9 Peer review/workshop Wednesday 2/11 Peer review/workshop Friday 2/13 Peer review/workshop
Week six: Intro to Poetry Nonfiction due. Mayes, ix-xviii Monday 2/16 Let me count the ways of looking at a blackbird. Blues and haiku Ferlinghetti, “Poetry as Insurgent Art” Wednesday 2/18 Tim Seibles, “Meep,” “A Jitterbug for Spring,” “After All,” and “Dogs” (electronic reserve) Mayes, 1-14 & 457-463 / 1-15 & 479-486 / 1-16 & 567-572 Sherman Alexie, “Water”
Week seven: Words Mayes, 24-38 / 25-40 / 35-49 Langston Hughes, “Harlem Sweeties” (Mayes 445-446 / 466-467 / Monday 2/23 528-529) Elizabeth Bishop, “The Fish” (Mayes 53-55 / 55-57 / 67-68) Mayes, 38-47 / 40-50 / 49-59 Arthur Sze, “Mushroom Hunting in the Jemez Mountains” (Mayes Wednesday 2/25 61 / 64 / ?) Frank O’Hara, “Today” (Mayes 62 / 65 / 78) Ferlinghetti, “What is Poetry?” Sylvia Plath, “Words” (Mayes 62-63 / 64-65 / 78) Friday 2/27 Gary Snyder, “Hay for the Horses”
Week eight: Images Mayes, 64-75 / 66-77 / 79-90 Monday 3/2 Wallace Stevens, “Study of Two Pears” (Mayes 78-79 / 80-81 / 93-94) Walt Whitman, “The Runner” (Mayes 82 / 85 / 99) Mayes, 82-103 / 85-108 / 99-122 Yusef Komunyakaa, “Facing It” (Mayes 104 / 107-108 / 122) Wednesday 3/4 Dylan Thomas, “The Force that Drives Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower” (Mayes 105-106 / 109-110 / 126-127) Charles Simic, “Fork” (Mayes 127-128 / 133 / 148) Mayes, 132-147 / 138-155 / 155-174 Robin Becker, “Giacometti’s Dog“ (Mayes 400-401 / 418-419 / 475- 477) Allen Ginsberg, “In Back of the Real” Friday 3/6
SPRING BREAK
English 50 4 Course Schedule
Week nine: Rhyme and Repetition Ferlinghetti, “Populist Manifesto #1” Mayes, 158-171 / 165-179 / 189-202 Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool” Monday 3/16
Week ten: Poetry Wrap-Up Monday 3/23 Peer review/workshop Wednesday 3/25 Peer review/workshop Friday 3/27 Peer review/workshop
Week eleven: Intro to Fiction Poetry due. Monday 3/30 Picture yourself on a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies… Novakovich, chapter one Wednesday 4/1 Rick Moody, “Demonology” and “Wilkie Fahnstock, The Boxed Set” (electronic reserve) Novakovich, chapter two Friday 4/3 T. Coraghessan Boyle, “Greasy Lake” (electronic reserve) Sandra Cisneros “The Monkey Garden” (Novakovich 310-313)
English 50 5 Course Schedule
Week twelve: Character, Plot, and POV Novakovich, chapter three Monday 4/6 Tobias Wolff, “Bullet in the Brain” (electronic reserve) Novakovich, chapter four Wednesday 4/8 Mary Hood, “How Far She Went” (electronic reserve) Novakovich, chapter five Friday 4/10 Susan Minot, “Lust” (electronic reserve) Final day to submit optional nonfiction revisions
Week thirteen: Nuts & Bolts Novakovich, chapter six Monday 4/13 Sherman Alexie, “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore” (electronic reserve) Novakovich, chapters seven Sherman Alexie, “Because My Father Always Said He was the Wednesday 4/15 Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock” (electronic reserve) Novakovich, chapter eight Friday 4/17 Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried” (electronic reserve)
Week fourteen: Description & Revision Novakovich, chapter nine Monday 4/20 Ha Jin, “A Composer and His Parakeets” (Novakovich 266-277) Novakovich, chapter ten Wednesday 4/22 Robin Hemley “Reply All” (Novakovich 278-285) Tim O’Brien, “How to Tell a True War Story” (electronic reserve) Friday 4/24 Final day to submit optional poetry revisions
Week fifteen: Fiction Wrap-up Monday 4/27 Peer review/workshop Wednesday 4/29 Peer review/workshop Course evaluation. Friday 5/1 Tearful good-byes.
Finals week Fiction due. Monday 5/4 Portfolio due