Spring 2025  |  ENGW 8130 Section 001: Seminar: Writing of Literary Nonfiction (64619)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
4 Credits
Repeat Credit Limit:
12 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option
Instructor Consent:
Department Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person
Class Attributes:
Topics Course
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
01/21/2025 - 05/05/2025
Mon 11:15AM - 01:45PM
UMTC, East Bank
Enrollment Status:
Open (0 of 15 seats filled)
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
Advanced workshop. Assignments in common and individual projects. prereq: dept consent
Class Description:
Grief Memoirs and Humorous Reminiscence: Nonfiction is often at its most powerful when it acknowledges deep grief - or achieves deep humor. In this seminar, we'll read to see how memoirists handle both loss and levity. What patterns can we see in works that handle extremely sad material?
How do writers excavate humor from ostensibly unfunny situations? How can we hit these emotional registers in our own work? We will think about why and how writers articulate intense experiences - and will also endeavor to analyze jokes without destroying them. Texts may include work by Elizabeth Alexander, Shalom Auslander, Elif Batuman, Alison Bechdel, Sonali Deraniyagala, Joan Didion, Nora Ephron, Roxane Gay, Leslie Jamison, Elizabeth McCracken, James Alan McPherson, Tig Notaro, Marjane Satrapi, David Sedaris, Gary Shteyngart, Sarah Vowell, and selected others. We will also read critical theory on humor writing, and watch some performance clips.
This will be a combined seminar and writing workshop.
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/64619/1253
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
13 October 2015

ClassInfo Links - Spring 2025 English: Creative Writing Classes

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