| Note: Text highlighted
in red indicates that a change
has been made to the course listing. The red text indicates the current, updated information. |
WRITING SEMINARS |
220.105 (H)
(W) |
INTRODUCTION TO FICTION AND POETRY WRITING I: TELLING IT STRAIGHT (3) Staff Limit 17 per section
This course is a prerequisite for most upper level courses
A course in realist fiction and traditional verse, with readings in Eudora Welty, Vladimir Nabokov, Henry James, Robert Frost, Paul Fussell, John Gardner, Seamus Heaney, and Gwendolyn Brooks. This first course for writers is a study of forms of short fiction and metered verse. Students compose short stories and poems; includes practice of critical attention to literary models and workshop of student writing.
*Note: Sections 12, 13, 19, and 24 are restricted to those intending major/minor in The Writing Seminars. Those students should register for those sections online. Students who do NOT intend to major or minor in the department and who register for these sections will be removed.
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Sec. 01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
*12
*13
14
15
16
17
18
*19
20
21
22
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*24
25 |
MWF 9-9:50
MWF 9-9:50
MWF 9-9:50
MWF 9-9:50
MWF 9-9:50
MWF 10-10:50
MWF 10-10:50
MWF 11-11:50
MWF 11-11:50
MWF 11-11:50
MWF 11-11:50
MWF 12-12:50
MWF 12-12:50
MWF 12-12:50
MWF 12-12:50
MWF 12-12:50
TTh 9-10:15
TTh 9-10:15
TTh 10:30-11:45
TTh 10:30-11:45
TTh 10:30-11:45
TTh 10:30-11:45
TTh 10:30-11:45
TTh 12-1:15
TTh 12-1:15
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220.106 (H)
(W)
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INTRODUCTION TO FICTION AND POETRY WRITING II: TELLING IT SLANT (3) Staff Limit 17 per section Prereq: 220.105
This course is a prerequisite for most upper level courses The second half of IFP, a course in counter-traditional antirealist fiction and free verse (Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bishop, Franz Kafka, Italo Calvino, and William Carlos Williams).
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Sec. 01
02
03
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MWF 11-11:50
MWF 12-12:50
TTh 10:30-11:45 |
220.108 (H) (W) |
INTRODUCTION TO FICTION AND NON-FICTION (3) Simpson
IFN I can be substituted for IFP I. Permission not required. Limit 17
A course in realist fiction and nonfiction, with readings by Eudora Welty, Vladimir Nabokov, Henry James; George Orwell, Beryl Markham and Truman Capote. Students compose short stories and essays with attention to literary models. |
Sec. 01 |
Th 6:30-9pm |
220.146 (H)
(W) |
INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE WRITING (3) Staff Limit 15
Science writing translates science to nonscientists. Students read, interview scientists, organize, write initial
drafts, then revise, with practice under journalistic pressures of deadlines and verification. Background in science
is useful but not essential. |
Sec. 01 |
M 3-5:30pm |
220.200 (H)
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INTRODUCTION TO FICTION (3) Davies (Secs. 1&2) / Roper (Sec 3) Limit 15 per section Perm. Req'd. Study in the reading and writing of short narrative with focus on basic technique: subject, narrative voice, character, sense of an ending, etc. Students will write weekly sketches, present story analyses in class, and workshop one finished story. Selected parallel readings from such models of the form as Henry James, Anton Chekov, James Joyce, John Cheever, Alice Munro, and others. IFP I and II required for admission. (Formerly 220.191)
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Sec. 01
02
03 |
M T 3-5:30
T Th 3-5:30
W 3-5:30 |
220.201 (H)
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INTRODUCTION TO POETRY (3) Williamson Limit 15 Perm. Req'd.
A study of the fundamentals and strategies of poetry writing. This course combines analysis and discussion of traditional models of poetry with workshop critiques of student poems and student conferences with the instructor. (Formerly 220.141)
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Sec. 01
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W 1:30-4
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220.202 (H)
(W)
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INTRODUCTION TO NONFICTION: MATTERS OF FACT (3) Biddle Limit 10 A first course in nonfiction writing, emphasizing how facts can be woven into narrative forms to portray verifiable, rather than imagined, people and events. Students read and discuss model works, then write frequent papers to refine their own style. (Formerly 220.145)
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Sec. 01
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W 1:30-4
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220.204 (H) |
INTRODUCTION TO DRAMATIC WRITING: FILM (3) Lapadula Limit 15 Perm. Req’d An examination of the screenplay as a literary text and blue-print for production. Professional screenplays will be critically analyzed, with focus on character, dialogue, plot development, conflict, pacing, dramatic foreshadowing, the element of surprise, text and subtext, and visual story-telling. Students write one complete script. |
Sec. 01 |
F 4:30-7pm 1:30-4 |
220.205 (H)
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INTRODUCTION TO DRAMATIC WRITING: PLAYS (3) Lapadula Limit 15 Perm. Req’d. Students study conventions and strategies of writing for the stage through examination of the basic principles of dramatic action, character, and language. Analysis of works by dramatic masters (e.g., Shakespeare, Moliere, Ibsen), as well as contemporaries such as Vogel, Churchill, and Guare, with writing assignments and critiques of student writing. (Formerly 220.139)
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Sec. 01
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F 1:30-4 4:30-7pm
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220.316 (H) (W)
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SEMINAR: OPINION WRITING (3) Kane Limit 20 The study of exposition and argument in literary prose, with exposure to journalistic practices. Instructor will assign topics on which students write essays subsequently discussed in class and critiqued for style, grammar, coherence, and effectiveness.
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Sec. 01
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W 7-9:30pm
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220.319 (H)
(W)
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INTERMEDIATE: NON-FICTION AND NON-FACT (3) Biddle Limit 15 A study of differences between accuracy and truth in nonfiction writing. Students discuss mutually correct but incongruent biographies, incompatible news reports, hoaxes, fictitious memoir, and class writing assignments chosen to elicit disparate statements of fact.
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Sec. 01
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T 1:30-4
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220.324 (H)
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INTERMEDIATE FICTION: LANDSCAPE AND SETTING (3) McGarry Limit 15 Perm. Req’d Students will write sketches and stories.
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Sec.01
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T 3-5:30
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220.331 (H)
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INTERMEDIATE FICTION: FORMS OF FICTION (3) Leithauser Limit 15 Perm. Req’d. A course in such forms of fiction as romance, confession, anatomy, novel, and short story. Students write sketches and three stories.
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Sec. 01
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M 1:30-4
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220.339 (H)
(W)
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SEMINAR: SCIENCE STORIES (3) Kestenbaum Limit 15 Perm. Req’d. Prereq: 220.146 The course’s model is the scientific press conference. Scientists from different fields talk about their research. Students interview scientists and write short articles. Emphasis is on identifying and structuring a story.
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Sec. 01
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W 4:30-7pm |
220.377 (H)
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INTERMEDIATE POETRY: POETIC FORMS (3) Williamson Limit 15 Perm. Req’d. A consideration of a variety of poetic forms and conventions, analysis and discussion of characteristic approaches, with a balance of workshop of student poems. Admission requires completion of Introduction to Poetry.
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Sec. 01
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Th 1:30-4 |
220.397 (H)
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INTERMEDIATE POETRY: THE LYRIC (3) Scafidi Limit 15 Perm. Req’d A study of the lyric form from image to contemporary song with emphasis on the form’s brevity, personal speaker, and rhythmic character. May be taught as a readings course in the history of the lyric, as a workshop in writing lyric forms, or as a combination of both. Readings will vary from instructor to instructor, as will required writing.
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Sec. 01
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M 1:30-4
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220.400 (H)
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ADVANCED POETRY (3) Salter Limit 15 Perm. Req’d The capstone course in poetry writing. Consideration of various poetic models in discussion, some assigned writing, primarily workshop of student poems. Students will usually complete a “collection” of up to 15 poems. Completion of Introduction to Poetry required for admission.
(Formerly 220.396) |
Sec. 01
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M 1:30-4 |
220.401 (H)
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ADVANCED FICTION (3) McDermott Limit 15 Perm. Req’dThe capstone course in writing fiction, primarily devoted to workshop of student stories. Some assignments, some discussion of literary models, two or three completed student stories with revisions. Completion of Intermediate Fiction is required for admission. (Formerly 220.355) |
Sec. 01 |
T 2-4:30 |
220.411 (H)
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READINGS IN POETRY: CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POETRY (3) Scafidi Limit 15 This course will have readings in contemporary American poetry. |
Sec. 01
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F 1:30-4
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220.413 (H)
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READINGS IN POETRY: CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN FICTION (3) Blake Limit 20
Perm. Req’d A survey study of novels, novellas, and short stories by American writers from 1945 to the present. Readings and course make-up vary from instructor to instructor, as do requirements for student writing. |
Sec. 01
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Th 1:30-4 |
300.333 (H)
(W) |
MODELS OF NARRATIVE SHAPING THE STORY (3) Macksey Limit 15
Seminar meets at instructor’s home.
Cross-listed with Humanities |
Sec. 01 |
F 2-4:30 |
213.343 (H)
(W)
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THE HOLOCAUST IN MODERN LITERATURE: THE LIMITS OF REPRESENTATION(3) Caplan, M. Limit 30 All readings and discussions conducted in EnglishCross-listed with Jewish Studies, English, and German and Romance Languages and Literatures
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Sec. 01 |
TTh 10:30-11:45 |
220.501
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INDEPENDENT STUDY
Ordinarily no more than one independent study course may be counted among the eight Writing Seminars courses presented for graduation.
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220.507
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HONORS THESIS Perm. Req’d
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220.509
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PRACTICING JOURNALISM INTERNSHIP Perm. Req’d. Satisfactory/ Unsatisfactory only
This internship is given in conjunction with local media and must be taken on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.
It covers many aspects of the operation of a metropolitan newspaper or magazine or TV station.
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220.610
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READINGS IN FICTION: ALTERNATIVES TO REALISM Leithauser Limit 10 We will look at three strains of non-realistic fiction: surreal fiction (readings to include Franz Kafka and Kobo Abe), supernatural fiction (Henry James, M. R. James, Edith Wharton, Sylvia Townsend Warner), and early science fiction (H. G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson).
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Sec. 01
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W 2-5
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220.613
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WRITING ABOUT SCIENCE FinkbeinerLimit 8 A seminar in the writing of factual prose about scientific matters, whether for the general reader or for professional scientists as audience. Weekly writing, editing, and reading
assignments.
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Sec. 01
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M 3-6pm
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220.623
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FICTION WORKSHOP McGarry Limit 12 Discussion and critique of fiction manuscripts by students
enrolled in the M.F.A. program. Some assignments possible.
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Sec. 01
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Th 2-4:50
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220.625
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POETRY WORKSHOP Smith Limit 12 Discussion and critique of poetry manuscripts by students enrolled in the M.F.A. program. Some assignments possible.
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Sec. 01
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M 2-4:50
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220.631
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READINGS IN FICTION: THE MODERN SONNET Salter Limit 15 Perm. Req’d A study of some of the masters of the sonnet, in both its traditional and more innovative incarnations, in the 20th and 21st century. Poets discussed may include Robinson, Frost, Wiley, Auden, Millay, Cummings, Owen, Bogan, Bishop, Lowell, Merrill, Heaney, Muldoon, others. Students will write imitations as well as their own sonnets or sonnet sequence.
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Sec. 01
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T 2-5 |
220.800
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INDEPENDENT STUDY Staff
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