CRWR 191 A-Z - Advanced Topics in Creative WritingSemester Hours: 3
Fall, Spring
Special topics related to the creative writing genres. Subjects to be selected yearly.
Current Special Topics
CRWR 191L, CRN 23892: Fiction & Memoir in Extreme Times
In an essay for the New York Times in the Spring of 2020, during the start of the global pandemic, Orhan Pamuk writes:
”The knowledge that the whole of humanity, from Thailand to New York, shares our anxieties about how and where to use a face mask, the safest way to deal with the food we have bought from the grocer and whether to self-quarantine is a constant reminder that we are not alone. It begets a sense of solidarity. We are no longer mortified by our fear; we discover humility in it that encourages mutual understanding.”
This classic, advanced writing workshop will explore student writing through the specific lens and theme of writing about the pandemic. Though the subject is narrow, the response does not need to be. Our responses and our imaginations are broad and will necessarily interpret the pandemic in unique and singular ways, but the goal is to arrive at stories – either real or fictional – that seek to beget solidarity and to reveal that we are not alone in our experience or fear.
Using literature as our guide, we will be reading stories and excerpts from memoir and fiction, including works by Poe, Defoe, Camus, Thucydides, Porter, Manzoni, Pamuk, Dostoyevsky, Brooks, Boccaccio, (Jenny) McPhee, Lepore, among others.
Students will be working on one story across the semester, submitting it in both draft and revised form, which will allow for a deep exploration of both generation and realization in the storytelling process.
Prerequisite(s)/Course Notes:
WSC 001 and CRWR 133 . May be repeated for credit when topics vary. As individual subjects are selected, each is assigned a letter (A-Z) which is affixed to the course number. Specific titles and course descriptions for special topics courses are available in the online class schedule.
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