Imaginative Writing: Experiments in Prose

CRN

43956

Course Number

222G

Course Description

“What if there were other forms of literature that weren’t reduced to nonfiction versus fiction? What if we thought of texts as being friendships, or autopsies, or elegies, or investigations?” Kate Zambreno

 

In this course we will read, write and discuss prose that embraces mixed genre forms and experiments with structure and narrative logic. We will approach the unclassifiable, the silent, the disaster and investigate what formal requirements these experiences at the margins demand. In turn, we will produce writing that is not necessarily bound to genre, plot or character development but which, at heart, attempts to avow complex forms of perception and existence. We will apprentice writers such as Fleur Jaeggy, Clarice Lispector, Kate Zambreno, Janice Lee, Jenny Erpenbeck among others, who descend and trespass, whose novels are also philosophical tracts, biographies that are part fictitious, and stories written as poems.

 

Criteria for Evaluation: Regular class attendance. Produce a portfolio of original writings. Read avidly and closely. Participate in class discussions and peer review. Engage in writing prompts and constraints. Develop critical vocabulary in conversation with mixed genre forms.

Core

Term

Fall 2022

Course Instructor(s)

Yanara Friedland