Course Descriptions

*Note: for day & time information, please go to SeaNet and search for courses.
Click here for the 2012-13 graduate catalogue course descriptions.

Fall 2013

CRW 503-001: CREATIVE WRITING PEDAGOGY, LEE R
Analysis of current theories of creative writing pedagogy and classroom practices; examination of teaching and learning theories related to the workshop model, process exercises, revision techniques, and the group dynamics of teaching creative writing. Enrollment is mandatory for and limited to graduate teaching assistants.

CRW 523-001: BOOKBUILDING, STAPLES B
This course offers intensive hands-on training in book design and production using desktop publishing technologies. Students develop skills through a progressively more complex series of projects, culminating in a finished chapbook of their own work, in a small edition (which they take with them, along with completed digital files of their work for later reprinting). Students should gain from this course basic software skills, a heightened design aesthetic, and an understanding of how books are built and produced, manuscript to bookshelf.

CRW 524-002: CHAUTAUQUA LITERARY MAGAZINE, GERARD J
This course is designed to give students a practical magazine publishing experience. Students will read and respond to submissions,work on a developmental editing projects, search for possible cover art, and assist with design work. In addition to the work required to build the next issue of Chautauqua, students will have the opportunity to work on marketing and sales projects. We will work in teams – with each group presenting regular updates on their projects and work.
Course may be repeated for credit. Variable credit (1 to 3 hours) possible for graduate students.

CRW 524-003: ECOTONE LITERARY MAGAZINE, PHILLIPS A
This is a practical course in the publication of our national literary journal, Ecotone. The coursework will consist of reading submissions and becoming part of an editorial team that will put out an issue of the magazine. We will concern ourselves with the business of running a magazine, including editorial, production, and some design, as well as marketing and, to a certain extent, sales. Editorially speaking, we will divide ourselves into smaller teams early in the semester, based on genre. Everyone will be responsible for reading a number of manuscripts per week, and for contributing to the ongoing practical business of the magazine. Recommended texts: The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition; Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition. MFA students may repeat for credit without limit.

CRW 530-001: POEM INTO STORY/STORY INTO POEM, COX M
An exploration of lyrical and narrative influences in the poetry and prose of such writers as Robert Penn Warren, Denis Johnson, and Raymond Carver, We will compare their poetry and prose to study how proficiency in one genre might enhance another. Students will also experiment with practical attempts to adapt their own writing from one genre to another.

CRW 540-001: WRITERS’ WEEK FALL 2013, COX M
This one-credit intensive course was designed to complement Writers’ Week. The week will consist of workshop sessions, panels, readings, and an individual manuscript conference with one of the seven visiting writers who will be in residence during the week. BFA students will conference with MFA program students or alumni. Students will meet to familiarize themselves with the work of our visiting writers and to learn the ins and outs of organizing the week. As a group, we are responsible for keeping the week itself running smoothly. Class members will participate in the many facets of the week, from introducing the writers at readings to driving them around town. Students are expected to attend a total of 10 event-hours over the course of the symposium.

CRW 542-001: BOOK-LENGTH POETRY, MESSER S
This year long course is run as a workshop with a focus on the long-form in poetry – series poems, chapbooks, full length collections. Students will bring in series of 3-5 poems for each workshop, and discussion will include the global project and how the new poems fit, or do not fit into the poet’s larger work. We will also be reading a variety of poetry books by way of example. Discussions will include: what makes a great poetry book? How does order and arrangement change the meaning of a book? The course will begin with trouble-shooting, idea-generation, and group discussion for possible book projects. Later in the semester the class will proceed together in supporting the process of writing a full-length book. The goal of the course: generating a full-length poetry book (50-100 pages) in one year’s time. Students are encouraged to take the course both semesters.

CRW 542-002: POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP, MÖRLING M
In this poetry workshop we will focus on the process of writing, the different ways of analyzing a poem and on how to listen with an open mind to a critique of your own work. We will focus on the process of revision and discuss the many approaches and ways to revise a poem. Is it possible for instance, to approach a revision the way one would a translation? How do you transform a poem without destroying its urgency and original spirit? How do you arrive at a poem in its ultimate form and visionary realization? Everyone is required to submit a raw and freshly written poem every week. The aim of this class is also for everyone to learn to become comfortable bringing in poems that are rough without making excuses for them.

CRW 544-001: FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP, DE GRAMONT M
In this class, students will work on craft through close reading of each other’s fiction in a workshop format. Students will write two new and original pieces for workshop and revise one of these pieces substantially. Reading assignments will be based on issues that arise during workshops.

CRW 544-002: FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP, BENDER K
This will be a workshop in which we explore the process of revision. Students turn in a draft of a story, and work on it for the rest of the semester, through structured exercises; students will turn in a new draft of the story in the second half of class. We will discuss ways to "re-vision" a story, talking about both the technical and psychological processes of revision, as students take their story to the next level.

CRW 545-001: FORMS OF CREATIVE NONFICTION, MESSER S
‘Just think what it would mean,’ Ferenczi wrote to Freud in 1910, ‘if one could tell everyone the truth...’ from Adam Phillips, Terrors and Experts.
In 1998, concerning the popularity of memoir, Daphne Merkin wrote: "Ours is a culture addicted to exposure, to 'outing' ourselves and others." This course focuses on the history of narrative non-fiction, autobiography, the essay, the lyric essay, and memoir in America from pre-colonial era to the present. We will explore ways in which the memoir genre has developed out of the personal essay, narrative broadsides, reportage and autobiography. William Zissner once described a memoir as “a window into a life…a portion of a larger autobiography.” Yet George Bernard Shaw wrote: "All autobiographies are lies … I do not mean unconscious, unintentional lies; I mean deliberate lies.”
Is it possible to write a truthful memoir? How has this genre developed and where is it headed? The course will examine different approaches to the various forms of nonfiction over-time including experimental and conceptually and formally innovative works. We will also look at controversy in the genre both past and present. The goal of the class is to give students craft-based instruction in specific formal issues in the tradition of creative nonfiction.
Assignments will include original nonfiction, extensive reading, and may also include writing critiques, papers, exercises, etc. May be repeated once for credit.

CRW 546-001: WRITING THE NOVEL I, EDGERTON C
This is the first one semester course of two semesters of working toward the completion of a book-length manuscript draft—fiction or nonfiction. The second course will follow in the spring, CRW 548. We will together sound out ideas, concepts, themes, characters, situations, scenes, plots, scope, scale, and general problems of individual narratives as each student works at a steady pace toward a rough draft to be completed by the end of the second phase of the course (CRW 548). We will workshop chapters and scenes as well as “story plans.” The course, in general, will resemble a fiction/nonfiction workshop with special attention to problems of the book length narrative. As appropriate, we will study structure and tone of published works.

CRW 547-001 FORMS OF FICTION, SIEGEL R
For a long time, American writers have been obsessing with what we like to call “the great American novel,” rarely stopping to notice or acknowledge that the novel is in fact a global genre—and that some of the most interesting work is being done elsewhere. This course will try to redress the balance, looking at how a selection of contemporary writers from other cultures have approached formal issues in the novel. We will read 10 novels by 10 international writers. Focus will be on issues of craft, including structure, style, voice, and point of view. All reading will be in English translation.

CRW 550-001: WORKSHOP IN CREATIVE NONFICTION, BRENNER W
This is a traditional workshop-format course in which student work is our primary text. Students will hand in two pieces of creative nonfiction (essays, thesis chapters, etc.) for discussion, critique, and/or conference w/ instructor. I am especially interested in the potential and possibilities of each piece we consider, and also in locating those moments that feel most urgent and unforgettable for the reader, what makes an editor have no choice but to publish it, what makes a piece feel alive and full of heart. We will also read recently published short works of creative nonfiction, distributed in class. Goals in the class are two-fold: to provide feedback, mentoring, and support for individual students and their projects, and to illuminate issues of narrative craft, form, and technique in general.

CRW 550-002 CREATIVE NONFICTION WORKSHOP, HOLMAN V
In this writing workshop, students will submit two pieces of creative nonfiction. We'll critically evaluate workshop pieces to illuminate hidden possibilities, and to help the author elevate the work to its highest purpose. I'll provide you with a variety of creative nonfiction readings, help you generate ideas and pages for new work through writing exercises, and address other issues of concern such as revision, editing, and publication.

CRW 560-001,002: PUBLISHING PRACTICUM, SMITH E
[Prerequisite: CRW 523 and permission of instructor.] A select group of graduate students supports the work of Lookout Books (www.lookout.org). The practical course functions primarily as an internship at a small literary press and provides hands-on experience in grant writing, proofreading, designing covers and interiors, publicity, marketing, and producing books and promotional materials for the imprint. MFA students may repeat for credit without limit.

CRW 580-001: DOCUMENTARY POETRY, ADAMS L
This course is an examination of collections that adapt historical moments into poetry. What are the challenges created by this type of endeavor? How does each poet broach his/her subject? What forms and point of view are utilized? How does the collection function as a whole? We will read the following collections: Auchter, The Wishing Tomb (Louisiana history); Bradfield, Approaching Ice (Polar exploration); Cooley, The Afflicted Girls (Salem Witch Trials); Fisher, Kettle Bottom (1920’s coal Mining Wars); Jordan, Macnolia (1936 Natl. Spelling Bee); Smith, Blood Dazzler (Hurricane Katrina); Terry, Capturing the Dead (Civil War Photography); Trethewey, Bellocq’s Ophelia (New Orleans’s Red Light District, early 1900’s), Wright, C.D. One Big Self: An Investigation. Students are responsible for completing a critical/analytical essay, and a mini-collection in the documentary genre.

CRW 580-002: MODERN WRITERS AND ARTISTS, FURIA P
In this forms course we will study how modern American writers, such as Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, and e.e. cummings adapted the techniques of modern artists such as Cezanne, Picasso, Duchamp, Stieglitz, O'Keeffe, and other figures in movements such as Cubism, Fauvism, and Dadaism.

CRW 580-003: THE WRITING LIFE, GESSNER D
This class will focus on all aspects of the writing life. What does it mean to live a life of writing and reading books? The course will be broken down into roughly three sections. The first will focus on the spiritual aspects of the writing life, the second on work habits and work, and the third on the practical aspects, the brass tacks, from writing a cover letter to a book proposal. But while we will end on a practical note we will keep our focus on the larger picture, and the philosophical aspects of choosing to be a writer in today’s world. Our reading will include literary books on writing, biographies, and more practical writing guides.

Spring 2013

CRW 524-001: LITERARY MAGAZINE, GESSNER D
This is a practical course in the publication of our national literary journal, Ecotone. The course work will consist of reading submissions and becoming part of an editorial team that will put out an issue of the magazine. We will concern ourselves with the practical business of running a magazine, including editorial, production, and some design, as well as marketing and, to a certain extent, sales. Editorially speaking, we will divide ourselves into smaller teams early in the semester, based on genre. Everyone will be responsible for reading a number of manuscripts per week, and for contributing to the ongoing practical business of the magazine. MFA students may repeat for credit without limit.

CRW 524-001: LITERARY MAGAZINE, GERARD J
This course is designed to give students a practical magazine publishing experience. Students will read and respond to submissions, work on developmental editing projects, search for possible cover art, and assist with design work. In addition to the work required to build the next issue of Chautauqua, students will have the opportunity to work on marketing and sales projects. Graduate students will serve as team leaders. Each team will present regular updates on their projects and work. Course may be repeated for credit. Variable credit (1 to 3 hours) possible for graduate students.

CRW 530-001: SCREENWRITING, MONAHAN D
An introduction to screenwriting format, technique and narrative style for graduate creative writing students. Students will structure a plot outline and write and revise the first act of a feature film script. All students will complete a series of exercises designed to develop various skills (character, structure, format, transitions, scenes, dialogue, etc.) and aid in the development of their script.

CRW 542-001: POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP, WHITE M
This will be a traditional workshop offering instruction, support, and dialogue in the craft of writing and revising poems. Students are expected to submit poems to the instructor weekly, and to the class for workshop every other week. This semester, we’ll adopt an ekphrastic theme, although the term will be taken broadly. We’ll read and write poems inspired not only by paintings, but also by photography, sculpture, architecture, almost any outside form that invites the gaze. The point is simply to see, to engage, to hold aesthetic discourse. Grade will be based 50% on a final portfolio of at least six polished poems, and 50% on participation.

CRW 543-001: FORMS OF POETRY, COX M
A study of practical poetics focusing on free verse prosody against a background of traditional metrical prosody. Designed to help writers sharpen their sense of historical development and critical terminology, the course will aid students in preparing for the MFA examination. Format: seminar, close reading and discussion, exercises, presentations. Individualized reading; handouts in class.

CRW 544-002: FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP, EDGERTON C
The instructor serves in the roles of teacher and editor. Among class activities--in addition to the workshopping of stories, book chapters, and story plans (“story plan” will be explained in class)--will be a) lecture, discussion of scene, point of view, and story “form,” b) critiques of published stories, c) translations of dramatic scenes to a reader’s theater format (to be explained in class) and consequent dramatic presentations. In general, the student in this class approaches fiction writing as writer, reader, critic, and translator. Students will periodically turn in stories in progress and will keep a folder (journal) of short assignments given from time to time as well as one-page critiques of each story that is workshopped. Certain activities may be added or subtracted as the class unfolds.

CRW 544-003 (1 credit): FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP WITH CRISTINA GARCIA

CRW 548-002: WORKSHOP IN WRITING THE NOVEL II, SIEGEL R
Workshop in writing long-form narrative, whether fiction or creative nonfiction. Continued from the Fall.

CRW 550-001: WORKSHOP IN CREATIVE NONFICTION, GESSNER D
This is a workshop in nonfiction with an emphasis on new work and new forms. We will spend the first part of the term (3 weeks) trying to sparkthat new work, with a particular focus on the braided essay and writing that has a focus on place. We will also discuss other shapes and forms in the world of nonfiction, for instance the possibilities of melding journalism and memoir. Each student will be expected to workshop two pieces.

CRW 550-002: ART OF THE PERSONAL ESSAY, GERARD P
Special Workshop in Creative Writing: Writing Personally in the World. In this workshop students will write personal narratives that draw from their own lives and also include some aspect of the larger world: social, natural, political, historical, etc. We will explore our various identities as credentials for addressing important and interesting subjects through a compelling narrative voice. To do this, we’ll take on research—not as a dry exercise in finding bibliographical sources but as an exploratory adventure, part treasure hunt and part investigative reporting. We’ll practice some of the best tools of research: interviewing, raiding archives, walking the ground, etc., as appropriate to each writer’s projects. Assignments will include reading, writing original manuscripts, critiquing the work of peers, and offering short presentations on some aspect of research.

CRW 560-001: PUBLISHING PRACTICUM, SMITH E
[Prerequisite: CRW 523 or 524 and permission of instructor.] A select group of graduate students supports the work of Lookout Books (www.lookout.org). The practical course functions as an internship at a small literary press and provides hands-on experience in grant writing, copyediting, proofreading, design, marketing, publicity, and production of books and promotional materials for the imprint. MFA students may repeat for credit without limit.

CRW 580-001: LYRIC ESSAY/CROSS GENRE, MESSER S
This course operates as a forms course that investigates sub-genres, namely the prose poem, the short-short story, and the novel in verse, with a main focus on the lyric essay. We will be asking the question: what is the difference between these sub-genres? How to they intersect? What is the history and future of these forms? Text will include: Bluettes by Maggie Nelson, Autobiography of Red, and Red Doc by Anne Carson, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, by Claudia Rankine, Halls of Fame, by JohnD’Agata, The Next American Essay, (anthology) ed. by John D’Agata, Centuries, by Joel Brouwer, On Looking, by Lia Purpera, and selections from Lost Origins of the Essay and Sudden Fiction International (list is subject to change). Students will respond creatively to weekly readings and present a final creative piece in one of the forms studied.

CRW 581-001: STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL WRITING AND TRANSLATION, MÖRLING M
Octavio Paz said: “Translation is an art of analogy, the art of finding correspondences. An art of shadows and echoes…” Charles Baudelaire said that poetry is essentially analogy. The idea of universal correspondence comes from the idea that language is a micro cosmos, a double of the universe. Between the language of the universe and the universe of language, there is a bridge, a link: poetry. The poet, says Baudelaire, is the translator.” In this class we will read and compare multiple translations of single poems and examine the choices and strategies of translation. In addition, each student in the class will also provide weekly contributions of his or her own translation of given poems. These translations will serve as focal points for the larger subject of translation, that of the poet as translator. Readings will include selections from Swedish, German, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Eastern European, Spanish and South American poets. Knowledge of a second language is welcome but not necessary.

Fall 2012

CRW 503-001: CREATIVE WRITING PEDAGOGY, GESSNER D
The goal of this course is to provide you with a wealth of materials and resources for your teaching career here at UNCW and beyond. Our weekly class meetings will follow our CRW 201 class sessions, serving as a forum in which to share and address your ongoing teaching experiences, questions, challenges and successes. From time to time, guest speakers will include experienced TAs and professors. We will also read and discuss a range of articles about pedagogical theory and methods, with an eye toward developing our own philosophies of teaching. Extensive reading and written response are required.

CRW 523-001: BOOKBUILDING, SMITH E
For students interested in the basics, this course offers intensive hands-on training in book design and production using desktop publishing software in a Macintosh lab. Students develop skills through a progressively more complex series of design projects, culminating in a finished chapbook of their own work, in a small edition. Students should gain from this course basic software skills, a heightened design aesthetic, an understanding of how books are produced, manuscript to bookshelf, and an overview of small press publishing. The course meets for three hours a week, but students should allow additional time to complete assignments in the Publishing Lab outside of class hours.

CRW 524-001: LITERARY MAGAZINE PRACTICUM, GEORGE B
This is a practical course in the publication of our national literary journal, Ecotone. The course work will consist of reading submissions and becoming part of an editorial team that will put out an issue of the magazine. We will concern ourselves with the practical business of running a magazine, including editorial, production, marketing, and, to a certain extent, sales. Editorially speaking, we will divide ourselves into smaller teams early in the semester, based on genre. Everyone will be responsible for reading a number of manuscripts per week, and for contributing to the ongoing practical business of the magazine. MFA students may repeat for credit without limit.

CRW 524-002: CHAUTAUQUA LITERARY MAGAZINE, GERARD J
This course is designed to give students a practical magazine publishing experience. Students will read and respond to submissions, work on a developmental editing projects, search for possible cover art, and assist with design work. In addition to the work required to build the next issue of Chautauqua, students will have the opportunity to work on marketing and sales projects. We will work in teams – with each group presenting regular updates on their projects and work.
Course may be repeated for credit. Variable credit (1 to 3 hours) possible for graduate students

CRW 540-001: WRITERS WEEK SYMPOSIUM, COX M
This course accompanies Writers Week. Students in the class will help organize the week, during which visiting writers come to campus to give reading and craft lectures. We will read the work of the visiting writers prior to their arrival, and students will conference with one of the visiting writers in their genre.

CRW 542-001: POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP, MÖRLING M
In this poetry workshop we will focus on the process of writing, the different ways of analyzing a poem and on how to listen with an open mind to a critique of your own work. We will focus on the process of revision and discuss the many approaches and ways to revise a poem. Is it possible for instance, to approach a revision the way one would a translation? How do you transform a poem without destroying its urgency and original spirit? How do you arrive at a poem in its ultimate form and visionary realization? Everyone is required to submit a raw and freshly written poem every week. The aim of this class is also for everyone to learn to become comfortable bringing in poems that are rough without making excuses for them.

CRW 542-002: POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP, MESSER S
This course will be run as a workshop, focusing on your own writing. Although any flavor of poetry will be accepted, I encourage students to explore something new this semester, to get outside your comfort zone. We will be looking at several books and talking about how they are put together; how they work, or don’t. We will also be discussing procedural poetics...ie different approaches to the writing process itself and producing new work. Required: one new poem per week. Assigned reading. Final portfolio containing five revised poems, or one long poem, or series of poems.

CRW 544-001: FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP, BENDER K
This will be a course in revision, taking one piece and pushing it to the next level. Students will work on a draft of one piece during the semester, turning in a first draft and a second of the same story. We will do in-class and take-home exercises in which you re-vision and explore your story. We'll also read and discuss published stories, figuring out how they work.

CRW 545-001: FORMS OF CREATIVE NONFICTION, BRENNER W
This is reading and discussion course (elective, not workshop) in which we will wade enjoyably through many books and a few documentary films, paying attention to a wide range of narrative strategies, techniques, and special effects in creative nonfiction. Book and film list will likely include: Born Standing Up (Steve Martin), Truth & Beauty (Ann Patchett), Goat (Brad Land), Just Kids (Patti Smith), The Orchid Thief (Susan Orlean), Blood Horses and Pulphead (John Jeremiah Sullivan), Edie: An American Girl (Jean Stein and George Plimpton), The Lynda Barry Experience (spoken word audio CD), Swimming to Cambodia (Spalding Gray film), and documentary films directed by Errol Morris and others. Students will write one personal essay in response to the course materials, due at semester’s end.

CRW 546-001: WORKSHOP WRITING THE NOVEL I, SIEGEL R
This course is designed to help students write a novel. Topics include how to plan, research, outline and begin writing in an open, exploratory way. Discussion will also cover fundamental issues of craft and process: the relationship between character and plot; the role of voice; the importance of momentum; the crucial role of drafts; and the value of prioritizing (working big before working small). The second part of this course is offered in the spring.

CRW 547-001: FORMS OF FICTION, LEE R
Texts: The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler, We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver, Room, by Emma Donoghue, The Sweet Hereafter, by Russell Banks, among others. This course will study the contemporary novel, with an eye to reading as many formal choices available for writers-- maximalist/minimalist, experimental/traditional, lyrical/journalistic. We will write various imitative writing exercises, in an effort to inhabit the forms ourselves.

CRW 550-001: WORKSHOP IN CREATIVE NONFICTION, GERARD P
In this workshop course, students will write original works and critique those works in the context of discussion of the craft of creative nonfiction writing. Each student will write thoughtful critiques of each other's work. Creative Nonfiction is an inclusive genre. Students may submit reportage, memoir, biography, personal essay, or a variety of other forms; the significant criterion is artistic excellence. In reading and critiquing, we will explore the particular requirements of certain forms, including but not limited to the personal point of view, the more effaced or objective point of view, structure, character development, subtext, and ethics. Throughout the course we will be mindful of the role of research in the most imaginative sense. The aim of the workshop is not to edit any particular manuscript into a polished form but to understand significant truths about the principles of writing in the genre, which can then be applied to every future piece of writing.

CRW 550-002: WORKSHOP IN CREATIVE NONFICTION, BRENNER W
A traditional workshop course in which student work is our primary text. Students will hand in two pieces of creative nonfiction (essays, chapters, etc.) for discussion, critique, and/or conference w/ instructor. I am especially interested in the potential and possibilities of each piece we consider, and also in locating those moments that feel most urgent and unforgettable for the reader – what makes a piece feel alive and full of heart. We will also read recently published short works of creative nonfiction, distributed in class. Goals in the class are two-fold: to provide feedback and support for individual student work, and to illuminate issues of narrative craft, form, and technique in general.

CRW 560-001: PUBLISHING PRACTICUM, SMITH E
[Prerequisite: CRW 523 and permission of instructor.] A select group of graduate students supports the work of Lookout Books (www.lookout.org). The practical course functions primarily as an internship at a small literary press and provides hands-on experience in grant writing, proofreading, designing, marketing, and producing books and promotional materials for the imprint. MFA students may repeat for credit without limit.

CRW 580-001: FORMS OF AMERICAN HUMOR, FURIA P
Historical development of American humor in a variety of forms: light verse, song lyrics, comedy, musical comedy, film, fiction, essays, memoir. Typical authors: Washington Irving, Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein, Cole Porter, Nora Ephron, David Sedaris, Garrison Keillor.

CRW 580-001: CONFESSIONAL POETRY, ADAMS L
This course is not for the squeamish, as we will read poetry that deals with alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, molestation, emotional abuse, insanity, etc. In more academic terms, this course is an examination of the Confessional Poetry movement, spanning from Robert Lowell and Ann Sexton to more contemporary practitioners. In addition to work by Lowell (Life Studies) and Sexton (selected poems), we will read collections by Kim Addonizio (Tell Me), Nick Flynn (Some Ether), Rigoberto Gonzalez (Other Fugitives and Other Strangers), Sarah Hannah (Inflorescence), Debra Nystrom (Bad River Road), Sharon Olds (One Secret Thing), Nancy Pearson (Two Minutes of Light), and Daniel Nathan Terry (Waxwings—the full-length collection). Students are responsible for brief weekly journal responses to the collections, for reading and responding to several articles, and for completing a critical/analytical essay. We will conclude the course by workshopping student work in the confessional genre.

CRW 580-003: POETRY AND ART, WHITE M
This seminar for writers in all genres will focus on the longstanding and fruitful struggle for mastery between the image and the word. Beginning with the epics of Homer, Virgil, and Dante, and concluding with several contemporary American poets, we will study each poem along with the art that inspired it. Requirements will include three projects: a research paper on a writer’s response to a work of art; a presentation to the class on both the writer and the art; and finally, a creative (ekphrastic) response of your own, which we will workshop, to an art work of your choice. Texts will include James Heffernan’s: Museum of Words: The Poetics of Ekphrasis from Homer to Ashbery.

Spring 2012

CRW 524-001: LITERARY MAGAZINE PRACTICUM, GEORGE B

This is a practical course in the publication of our national literary journal, Ecotone. The course work will consist of reading submissions and becoming part of an editorial team that will put out an issue of the magazine. We will concern ourselves with the practical business of running a magazine, including editorial, production, and some design, as well as marketing and, to a certain extent, sales. Editorially speaking, we will divide ourselves into smaller teams early in the semester, based on genre. Everyone will be responsible for reading a number of manuscripts per week, and for contributing to the ongoing practical business of the magazine. MFA students may repeat for credit without limit.

CRW 542-001: POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP, COX M

Though it is essentially a craft-oriented workshop wherein poets will critique and encourage each other's work, I am also planning to make room for a number of in-class writing exercises. I will tailor these exercises in process and revision to the group’s needs. I will provide individualized reading lists. Student products will include a portfolio of nine finished poems, plus revision drafts. The journal will consist of:
a) responses to reading assignments in modern and contemporary poetry and poetics; b) process exercises; and c) extensive research into a craft concept of your choosing.

CRW 542-002: POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP with Visiting Writer (1 credit)

CRW 542-003: THE BOOK-LENGTH POETRY COLLECTION I, WHITE M

This two-semester poetry workshop is designed to help poets write and revise a chapbook-length collection, which can stand on its own as a potentially publishable book, and/or function as part of the MFA thesis or other full-length collection. In the spring, we will study and discuss several notable chapbooks with particular attention to the structure of the book. Students will each propose their own book project, and the final chapbook will be presented to class and workshopped as an organic whole. Final grade is based 50% on the chapbook, and 50% on participation in every aspect of the course.

CRW 543-001: FORMS OF POETRY, MESSER S

This course will explore the craft of poetry reflected specifically in traditional, experimental, and procedural forms. We will go over the mechanics of prosody as well as practice traditional forms (like ghazal, sonnet, blank verse, etc.). This course will also cover procedural and non-traditional forms like the prose poem, novel in verse and poems influenced by Dada, Oulipo and other movements. Students will write and workshop at least six new poems in a chosen form (that stick strictly to the original or purposely diverge from it) and also memorize and recite at least two poems. Texts may include: Kindertotenwald, by Franz Wright; Alphabet, by Inger Christensen; American Sonnets, by Gerald Stern; Autobiography of Red, by Ann Carson; Sleeping with the Dictionary, by Harriet Mullen.

CRW 544-001: FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP, EDGERTON C

The instructor serves in the roles of teacher and editor. Among class activities—in addition to the workshopping of stories, book chapters, and story plans (“story plan” will be explained in class)—will be a) lecture, discussion of scene, point of view, and story “form,” b) critiques of published stories, c) translations of dramatic scenes to a reader’s theater format (to be explained in class) and consequent dramatic presentations. In general, the student in this class approaches fiction writing as writer, reader, critic, and translator. Students will periodically turn in stories in progress and will keep a folder (journal) of short assignments given from time to time as well as one-page critiques of each story that is workshopped. Certain activities may be added or subtracted as the class unfolds.

CRW 548-002: WORKSHOP IN WRITING THE NOVEL II, GERARD P

This course builds on the foundation laid by Novel I, open to those who have taken CRW 546 and other MFA students with instructor’s approval. The goal is for each member of workshop to produce a solid beginning of a viable novel, fictional or non fictional, then to exploit that beginning with several chapters of lively, original writing that advances the story and its themes—both text and subtext. Whether this particular novel ultimately succeeds or fails, the goal is to get far enough along in this course that the writer can and will finish it, thus learning how to handle the arc, scope, and scale of the long form of fiction. The project is to write new pages rather than to revise in multiple versions, to establish a flow and momentum toward a finished manuscript. This will mean that some of the writing is rough, some transitions are tenuous, some elements are not fully formed, and passages may occur in a different sequence than in a final draft. Each writer in class will hand in working drafts of the opening chapter (s) and at least one other significant passage from the novel-in-progress. There is no precise word count, but we will shoot for something in the neighborhood of at least 10,000–15,000 words (40–50 pages) total. Attached to the first handout should be your one-sentence précis of the main focus of the novel.

CRW 550-001: WORKSHOP CREATIVE NONFICTION, FURIA P

Students will write and revise two essays or chapters in any form of creative nonfiction. Research and interviews are required for at least one of the essays or chapters. Students will also write and revise "pitch" letters for each essay or chapter after researching magazines or presses as possible publishing venues.

CRW 550-002: WORKSHOP CREATIVE NONFICTION, LEE R

Texts: essay collections by JoAnn Beard, Italo Calvino, and Salman Rushdie
This will be a traditional workshop, with writers turning in two pieces for discussion. Heavy emphasis on the various possibilities for each essay, doors still to be opened, pleasures that the reader might spy that even the writer cannot yet see.

CRW 560-001: PUBLISHING PRACTICUM, SMITH E

[Prerequisite: CRW 523 and permission of instructor.] A select group of graduate students supports the work of Lookout Books (www.lookout.org). The practical course functions primarily as an internship at a small literary press and provides hands-on experience in grant writing, copyediting, proofreading, designing, marketing, and producing books and promotional materials for the imprint. MFA students may repeat for credit without limit.

CRW 580-001: THE WRITING LIFE, GESSNER D

This class will focus on all aspects of the writing life. What does it mean to live a life of writing and reading books? The course will be broken down into roughly three sections. The first will focus on the spiritual aspects of the writing life, the second on work habits and work, and the third on the practical aspects, the brass tacks, from writing a cover letter to a book proposal. But while we will end on a practical note we will keep our focus on the larger picture, and the philosophical aspects of choosing to be a writer in today’s world. Our reading will include literary books on writing, biographies, and more practical writing guides.

CRW 580-002: NARRATIVE METHODS IN FILM, BRENNER W

In this course we will spend most of our time viewing and discussing films—and excerpts thereof—with the goal of illuminating issues of narrative, i.e. how we tell stories. I am especially interested in the many ways tension and suspense are created, with and without words, and the role of accident and collaboration in the creative process. We will think about what can be done in film that can’t be done in writing—and perhaps discover new ways to break through those alleged limitations. Assignments will include a short in-class oral presentation (presenting/discussing a film clip of student’s choice) and a longer personal essay at semester’s end. Films will likely include many of the following: The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death, Rosemary’s Baby, Poltergeist, Mystery Science Theater’s Werewolf, Altman’s Three Women, De Palma’s Sisters, The Women (1939), The Night of the Hunter, Being John Malkovich, Stardust Memories, L.A. Story, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Note: This course is an elective, not a writing workshop. The course does not cover or include screenwriting.

Creative Writing