Courses and Descriptions
Theories of Writing:
Course Description
This course introduces a number of theories of writing, providing an overview of complex issues and research into the state and status of writing and writers. It takes up such questions as these: What is writing? Where did it come from? How did it develop–and did it do so the same or differently in other cultures? How do writers develop–and what accounts for differences? What are different types of writing, different situations for writing, different tools and practices–and how do these interconnect? What does it mean to study writing? How have major figures theorized writing, and what tensions emerge among their theories? What are relationships among thought, speech, and writing–and among image, film/video, and sound? How do such theories change our notions of what texts are and what texts do? Students will learn how various theorists, historians, and researchers have answered these questions, and they will apply that knowledge to their own projects.
Writ 1133:
Course Description
This course is designed to teach you ways of reasoning and writing needed in a variety of scholarly situations. It is a course on research methodologies—quantitative, observational, and textual—used across the academy, both in terms of secondary research (the kind that sends you to the library or its databases) and primary research (the kinds that research faculty and graduate students do to discover new truths about language, the world, and other people). Above all it is a writing course that asks you to refine further those skills in rhetorical analysis and argumentation you developed in WRIT 1122 or its equivalent.
Landmarks in Rhetorical theory:
Course Description
This course is a survey of some of the major conceptual innovations in the history of rhetorical theory. In particular we will investigate the conceptions of rhetoric prevalent in antiquity and how they inform contemporary perspectives on rhetoric. In order to carry this off, we will conceptualize rhetoric as an attempt to answer the following questions: what is the relationship between rhetoric and what we take as true, what we consider a legitimate use of power, and what how should we do with rhetoric as a tool for persuading others? This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.
Intro to creative Writing:
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Introduction to Creative Writing is a course designed to meet you where you are as a writer (you
are not expected to have any previous experience in the construction of creative prose or poetry)
and as a human being in the act of navigating the world we all share in common: we are not here to
debate “good” from “bad” writing or to harshly criticize ourselves or our peers, rather, I hope for
us to build a space together where we might risk our dreams and desires as living things, so that we
may help one another to reach toward the writers and people that we wish ourselves to be at the end
of this quarter, and more importantly, moving forward irrevocably in our lives, for this is, as I
understand it, the only value in any of our academic or creative pursuits, that is, to know ourselves
and our world as best as we are able, and to live well in this knowledge. Most weeks we will read
a text and then discuss that text during our class meeting, and each week you will write a short
creative or critical response to that text in order to engage and to put into practice different forms,
strategies, and foundational basis for the craft of creative writing. We will also do in class writing
of one sort or another almost every class period as a way to give birth and springboard to new ideas,
and you will participate in at least 2 workshops of your own work with your peers over the course
of the quarter, as well, you will read and offer constructive criticism of the work of your peers when
they are presenting their work in workshop. We will read, support, and grow together as writers.
CREATIVE WRITING - POETRY
Course Description & Objectives
In this workshop, in addition to examining classmates' work, we will focus on expanding knowledge of technical aspects of the craft of poetry, innovations and blurring of genres, and writing poetry as a valuable practice in the world. Reading, discussion and revision will figure prominently, as will deep engagement with contemporary poetry through in-class discussion and generative exercises. Our primary goal: to produce new work, informed by our in-depth study of poetry, its contexts and possibilities.
Art of Poetry:
Course Description:
This course will broadly introduce students to strategies for reading,
analyzing, and writing about poetry. During the first few weeks of the course, we will
consider questions such as: What is poetry? How do we read a poem, and why might we
want to? How do poetic techniques—such as form, diction, rhythm, and rhyme—add to
the meaning and power of a poem? We will learn and practice applying these tools and
techniques to individual poems before engaging with collections by Meg Day, Ilya
Kaminsky, and Melanie Rae Thon during the second half of the quarter. Through these
collections, we will explore the functions and roles of poetry, examining, in particular,
how poems tell stories and grapple with systems and structures of power. We will ask: Are
poems capable of creating change? What makes a poem powerful? How does poetry both
represent and critique power? How might it challenge existing understandings of power
and power structures?
The American Short Story:
Course Description:
The course is designed to cover the historical development of the short story as a literary genre within American literature. We will read four distinct clusters of stories, one cluster of approximately five stories per week, each group an example of innovation in the form or subject matter. Students will gain a close familiarity with the texts and with relevant historical and cultural contexts.