Memory to Craft: English 79b

Spring 2015

Wednesday, 5-7:50 pm

Room: Shiffman Humanities Center 122

Instructor: Elizabeth Bradfield

Office: Rabb 206, 781-736-2145

Cell: 206-450-9137 (no texts!)

Office hours: Wed. 10-1 & by appointment

This creative writing course will investigate the way we tell our stories—through memoir, short stories, novels, poetry, and reportage. In all cases, we will view the self through the rubric of place. Place makes us, shapes us, gives us a setting to rile against and sing with. We cannot escape the physical realities of our lives… nor should we. In this course, we will work on turning them into art.

This term, we’ll focus on work by writers from/of Alaska. While it may be difficult to imagine a place as distant from Waltham as Alaska, that distance will give us perspective on how various writers tell their stories. By reading writers who all take Alaska as their given, we will be able to see how ideas of place change with genre, aesthetics, and personal details.

Goals

  • You will experiment and take risks
  • You will invent and discover forms/styles to sing with confidence
  • You will critique your own work and the work of others with honesty, openness,
    focus, and compassion, providing constructive feedback in the workshop forum
  • You will contribute actively and thoughtfully in class discussions
  • You will gain an understanding and appreciation for different styles and subjects of memoir, journalistic nonfiction, novels, short stories, and poems through a wide range of readings
  • You will learn to “read as writers” and develop your ability to articulate why a piece of writing might move you (or not)

READINGS

Required Books in order of reading (other handouts will be given in class):

  1. Dirt Work, Christine Byl
  2. Blonde Indian, Ernestine Hayes
  3. Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner
  4. Bear Down, Bear North, Melinda Moustakis
  5. The Bandsaw Riots, Arlitia Jones (excerpts/pdf)
  6. The Accidental Explorer, Sherry Simpson (excerpts/pdf)

All books will be on reserve at the library. IF you plan ahead, these can be found fairly cheaply at Sometimes, however, the shipping from abebooks can take a few weeks.

Requirements

All of the requirements below work toward fostering a deep engagement with creative writing: from reading and responding to each other; to engaging with literary criticism; to playing, refining, and developing your own work.

Attendance:

You must come prepared for every class. You must read all assigned writing. You must turn in written assignments when due. You must bring the books we’re discussing that week to class.

This class is offered on a Credit/No Credit basis. Since we meet only once a week, attendance is crucial: more than one absence will result in a NC grade. If you must unavoidably be absent, email me in advance.

Participation:

The success of this class is dependent on your participation. We will be doing most of our work in class out loud. Be on time, as a sign of respect for both yourself and your classmates. You must participate in and contribute to all discussions and workshops.

Writing:

You will turn in a finished piece of writing in each genre (memoir, fiction, reportage, and poetry). You will turn in revisions of work. There are critical requirements, too (see below).

Reading:

Expect to “read as a writer”—pay close attention to what you’re reading and be alert to moments that surprise you. Use them to learn. Ask yourself How did the writer do that? We will discuss each week’s readings in class. Be prepared.

WEEKLY REQUIREMENTS

(more details will be given in class)

  • A prose response to a question about prosody, process, or the like. This is an opportunity for you to think a bit more formally what you’re reading and the art of writing.
  • A bit: I define this as an observation, a few lines of verse, an overheard conversation: something that indicates that you are moving through the world as a writer, with your antennae alert.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

(more details will be given in class)

  • An author profile presented to the class. You will each be assigned one of the writers we are studying this term. You (and your partner, most likely) will present to the class a brief overview of who the writer is, and how their writing has made its way into the world.
  • Attendance of and a written response to a live public literary event. Hearing literature in person, in the writer’s voice, is a powerful and important part of a writing life.
  • A short story, a piece of short nonfiction, and three poems—all in the spirit of investigating how we tell our stories, how we make art from experience.
  • A final self-evaluation, which will allow you to reflect on your progress and process as a writer.

Please keep, and bring to every class, copies of everything you present or work on, as we will use them throughout the semester. Bring the books you are reading with you.

OTHER NOTES:

  • Please turn off mobile phones during class.
  • If you use a laptop, do so appropriately: to read an electronic version of a book, to take notes, etc. Not for any of the other many inappropriate uses we could name but will not.
  • When you’re in class, BE IN CLASS. Not on your email, not planning dinner, not in the slight pain in your right toe. Even if you are not speaking, attend.
  • If you must unavoidably be absent, please email me in advance. In the event of an absence, contact a classmate to catch up on class activities and assignments.
  • If you have a documented disability, please let me know.

A Note on “Questionable Content” in Creative Writing

My promise is to never expose you to explicitly sexual or explicitly violent material. By that I mean material which has no value beyond its explicit content. We will, however, encounter material that is sexual in content and material that is violent in content. Sexual or violent content may indeed still fit within the boundaries of literature, as may bigoted slurs and other content considered offensive.

For example, both T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, at one point, supported Hitler’s government. This does not decrease the value of the poems of T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound as historical and artistic markers, nor does it depreciate their ability to capture the human condition in other subjects. To the contrary, we must reckon with the values of our predecessors.

Your half of the promise is that you come into my classroom with an open heart, no matter how much the poems we are discussing might challenge you, and to make sure that writing you bring to class earns the right to push boundaries for reasons beyond mere shock value.

We are not here to bolster our current values or be affirmed in our life choices. We are here to learn, which is often a terrifying and life-changing experience. If you should find a particular piece offensive, let me know. We will discuss your discomfort and possibly establish an alternative.

Schedule: Highly subject to change! Most weeks, there will be a pdf on some aspect of craft as well.

All assignments are due at the beginning of class, printed and properly formatted.

Week / Readings/Assignments (subject to change)
Week 1:
Jan 14 / Introductions and more…
Week 2:
Jan 21 / Dirt Work, Christine Byl (through page 112)
“What Is Creative Nonfiction” - Gutkind
Week 3:
Jan 28 / Dirt Work (112 – end)
Bamboozle: Ryan
Week 4:
Feb 4 / Blonde Indian, Ernestine Hayes (all)
FRIDAY, FEB 6, 5 PM: NONFICTION PIECE (~10 PGS) DUE
Bamboozle: Ashley
Week 5:
Feb 11
Note: NO CLASS Feb 18 (break) / NONFICTION WORKSHOP:
Ryan, Mariya, Andrew, Aliza, Mijal
Bamboozle: Christina
Week 6:
Feb 25 / Bear Down, Bear North, Melinda Moustakis
Bamboozle: Andrew
Week 7:
Mar 4 / Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner
Eudora Welty, “Place in Fiction”
Bamboozle: Margot, Mariya
Week 8:
Mar 11 / Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner
FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 5PM: FICTION DUE (~10 PAGES)
Bamboozle: Mijal, Bryan
Week 9:
Mar 18 / FICTION WORKSHOP:
Gwen, Christina, Heather, Ashley, Monique, Brian
Bamboozle: Soojun
Week 10:
Mar 25 / The Bandsaw Riots, Arlitia Jones
Bamboozle: Gwen, Amanda
Week 11:
April 1
Note: NO CLASS April 8 (break) / POETRY WORKSHOP:
Margot, Amanda, Arielle, Soojung
Bamboozle: Aliza
Week 12:
April 15 / The Accidental Explorer, Sherry Simpson
Bamboozle: Arielle, Heather
Week 13:
April 22 / IN-CLASS REVISION WORKSHOP
Deadline for having attended and written up your experience of a “live event” AND Final self-evaluation due
Bamboozle: Monique

DATES OF NOTE (READINGS ETC):

Blacksmith House Series: Mondays in Harvard Square, a reading.

- a listing of literary events in Boston’s BRAND NEW (as of August 2014)Literary District and beyond.

Spring 2015, p. 1 of 1
Updated 1/13/2015