Fall 2007
English 502: Writers on Writing
Professor Lewis Warsh
Mondays, 6:10 - 8:30 pm
Ten poets and fiction writers will give talks and readings
during the course of the semester. We'll read their work beforehand
(either a book, or a substantial excerpt) and do writing assignments
influenced and inspired by their work. This is a class in
the contemporary--what's being written today--and gives us
a chance to talk first-hand with people who have aspired to
advance the art of poetry and fiction into the 21st century
and beyond. Students are advised to e-mail
Professor Warsh for a list of readings for this course
so you can get a head start. Among the visiting writers for
Fall 2007 are: Samuel R. Delany, Bernadette Mayer, Wang Ping,
Karen Russell, Simon Pettet, Anne Waldman, and Chuck Wachtel.
English 509: Sociolinguistics and the Teaching of Writing
Professor Donald McCrary
Tuesdays, 6:10 - 8:00 pm
This course examines the social foundation of language and
the linguistic foundation of society. More specifically, the
course explores how language and society intersect to construct,
and in many ways, control both individual and group identity
and consciousness. The relationship between language and society
has relevance to the teaching of writing in that both teachers
and students possess socially constructed knowledge of language
that undergirds their understanding of writing competence
and performance. The course explores how sociolinguistic constructions
such as class, race, gender, academic discourse, and education
might impact upon student writing and teacher instruction
and evaluation. The course analyzes sociolinguistic theory
and practice, including the work of L.S. Vygotsky, Victor
Villanueva, Geneva Smitherman, Pierre Bourdieu, and Elaine
Richardson.
English 523: Fiction Writing Workshop
Professor Thulani Davis
Wednesdays, 6:10 - 8:30 pm
The class will be in a workshop format with some readings,
and students may work on short stories, or longer works. The
course will include completing one longish piece and going
through a revision process.
Text: Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers, ed.
by Joyce Carol Oates, W.W. Norton & Co., 1998.
Thulani Davis is a journalist, novelist, playwright and screenwriter.
Among her work are two novels, 1959 and Maker of
Saints; several plays; the scripts for Paid in Full
and Maker of Saints; and the librettos for Amistad
and Malcolm X. She is the author of two collections
of poetry, has worked on several PBS documentries, and has
published in numerous magazines and journals. Her most recent
book is My Confederate Kinfolk: A Twenty-First Century
Freedwoman Discovers Her Roots. Davis has been a Buddhist
priest for sixteen years.
Professor Davis's website: http://www.thulanidavis.com/
English 524: A Poetics of Voice & Time--A Contemplative
Practice Toward the Book
Professor John High
Tuesdays, 6:10 - 8:30 pm
What if as poets we were allowed to do whatever we wanted?
What would we do? How long would our own experience &
voice sustain us in writing? Every innovation in poetry has
grown out of tradition, and in this course we will attempt
to discover and connect with our own tradition/s and poetic.
Wallace Stevens wrote that all poetry is experimental. So
what is the relationship between tradition, innovation, and
a writer's unique poetic? In the book you are writing, what
underlies the voice, time, being and place of the poetic?
If our own voices grow out of the past and from traditions
firmly rooted in the power of language and contemplation,
our goal is to discover--to see what's out there, both as
writers and readers--as we examine the literary traditions
and lineages from which we have grown. We'll do this by writing
our own poems and by exploring various forms and schools of
poetry and by paying close attention to the way that poetry
changes through us and through time, how our own books change
us. We'll also discuss the act of writing poetry as one of
risk-taking and investigation, of destroying and reinventing
traditions in our own discoveries, of seeing how nothing ever
changes unless we explore and try to let our poems become
truly our own, and something new in this act. We'll discuss,
at length, what experimental means in relation to tradition
and poetic. Among the poets we'll look at closely are: Whitman,
H.D., Williams, Pound, Stein, Bishop, Hughes, Cullen, Breton,
Mandelstam, Cane, Spicer, Levertov, Creeley, Lorca, Baraka,
Whalen, O'Hara, Zukofsky, Oppen, Ginsberg, Mayer, Berrigan,
Howe, Palmer, Heijinian, and Jabes. A final portfolio, or
chapbook, consisting of all our written poems, as well as
a "manifesto" of your own emerging poetic, is due
at the end of the semester. We will also schedule a party
and reading of our work at the MFA program's reading series,
LIU @ Biscuit BBQ.
English 526: Writing for Media I--The Story
Professor Peggy Gormley (Media
Arts)
Mondays, 6:00 - 8:50 pm
This cross-listed course is an introduction to the methods
and principles of great storytelling in the media. It is the
cornerstone course for all forms of story: commercials, sitcoms,
movies, experimental shorts, even documentaries and photographic
essays. In the first half of the semester, by means of screenings
and discussion, students will learn to recognize and analyze
basic story elements such as narrative structure, character,
setting, plot, design, irony, and comedy. In the second half,
in workshop-style classes, students will work on creating
their own stories using these elements. Each student will
develop his/her own movie-short screenplay and treatment as
a final project. A professional screen writer will be a guest
speaker at one of the classes. Requirements: access to a computer,
purchase of Final Draft writing software, permission
of instructor to take the course.
English 579: Contemporary Poetry
Professor Rosamond King
Wednesdays, 6:10 -8:00 pm
Is contemporary poetry a bastion of soulless academics or
invigorating experimenters? Has it been taken over by the
powerful spoken word or glorified screamers? Whatever your
views of contemporary poetry, these are exciting times for
what used to be an extremely marginalized form. This course
will focus on a variety of poems from the late 20th and early
21st centuries. Genres studied will include contemporary lyric,
"spoken word," and "experimental" or "avant-garde"
work. We will examine voice and style, as well as form and
content, and aesthetics and politics. Readings will also incorporate
theory and criticism by scholars and the poets themselves.
This course is an interactive, discussion-based seminar, and
students will have the opportunity to lead some of the sessions.
Other requirements include writing a review of a poetry collection
and several responses to class readings, in addition to completing
a serious research essay on topics of your choice. Attendance
to local poetry readings and events is also encouraged.
English 626: African American Short Fiction
Professor Louis Parascandola
Thursdays, 6:10 - 8:00 pm
This course will examine masterpieces of African American
short fiction. We will be starting with Harlem Renaissance
authors Zora Neale Hurston and Claude McKay, and then progressing
through Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Alice Walker to
emerging talents. Guest authors will be visiting during class
to read and discuss their work. The goal of this course is
to make you not only a better reader and critical thinker,
but also a better writer, teacher, and researcher. Therefore,
in addition to the primary texts, we will be examining literary
critics on the stories.
English 646: Individual & Small Group Instruction
Professor Patricia Stephens
Tuesdays, 4:10 - 6:00 pm
In this course, students will examine the theory and practice
of individual and small group writing instruction. We will
examine a range of strategies for working with students one-on-one
as we locate that work within its various theoretical and
historical contexts. Our work will focus on the following:
structuring sessions and establishing priorities; assessing,
diagnosing, and responding to student writing; strategies
for intervention, planning, drafting, revising, proofreading,
and editing; helping students with grammatical and mechanical
concerns; helping students improve reading comprehension;
working with ESL students; attending to interpersonal dynamics
and cultural and ethnic differences; and tutoring online.
Students who enroll in this course will be required to tutor
for one hour per week during the semester at the Writing Center
and to audio and/or video tape one session with a student.
The taped session will be transcribed and analyzed for use
in a self-study. Classes will be conducted as seminars/workshops
so that all students have the opportunity to participate in
class presentations, mock tutorials, etc. Each student will
generate her/his own idea/s for a final written (and/or action)
project, based on topics of interest that arise during the
semester.
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