Writing the Family

Semester and Year	SP 2012
Course Number	WRTNG-UG1333
Section	001
Instructor	Cris Beam
Days	Tue
Time	3:30 PM - 6:10 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement

Description

Many of us want to write memoirs, but families—good or bad—are loaded territory. How do we navigate wisely? In this class we’ll look at writers who have done it, such as James Baldwin, Annie Dillard, Vivian Gornick, Richard Rodriguez, and Sister Souljah, to trace their fault lines and unearth their strategies for remaining faithful to their readers while truthful to their lived experience. We’ll look at issues of voice and point of view, and how to gain enough emotional distance from characters to make them both believable and three-dimensional. We’ll write and workshop several family scenes, building them into a few full-length stories or, if the student wishes, chapters for a larger work. Readings may include Modern American Memoirs , edited by Annie Dillard and Cort Conley; Heaven’s Coast , Mark Doty; Name All the Animals, Alison Smith; The Women , Hilton Als; and An American Childhood , Annie Dillard.

Course Type

Advanced Writing Courses (WRTNG-UG)