In this class students will study and practice the art of storytelling with particular emphasis on the role of formal and stylistic innovation. Authors we will read include Susan Sontag, Fran Ross, Donald Barthelme, Raymond Queneau, Lydia Davis, and Italo Calvino.

Reading for Writers classes focus on a given literary style, genre, or aspect of craft through the consideration a representative selection of readings. Writing and discussion in these classes discovers the subtle techniques used by authors to achieve aesthetic and expressive goals. Rather than engaging primarily in interpretation, these courses illuminate the formal properties of a genre as defined by its practitioners: the bricks, mortar, and architecture of writing. The goal of this inquiry is to enrich our writing, therefore these insights are put into practice through short creative assignments. Since aesthetic and social philosophies often play a role in the development of literary styles, students will master the ideas that informed the works under consideration. The goal, as the name suggests, is for writers to obtain usable knowledge through careful reading and bring this knowledge to their own work.

Reading for Writers classes focus on a given literary style, genre, or aspect of craft through the consideration a representative selection of readings. Writing and discussion in these classes discovers the subtle techniques used by authors to achieve aesthetic and expressive goals. Rather than engaging primarily in interpretation, these courses illuminate the formal properties of a genre as defined by its practitioners: the bricks, mortar, and architecture of writing. The goal of this inquiry is to enrich our writing, therefore these insights are put into practice through short creative assignments. Since aesthetic and social philosophies often play a role in the development of literary styles, students will master the ideas that informed the works under consideration. The goal, as the name suggests, is for writers to obtain usable knowledge through careful reading and bring this knowledge to their own work.

READING FOR WRITERS FICTION: THE REAL LIVE CONTEMPORARY SHORT STORY: In this class we will read the work of some of the most significant writers of contemporary short fiction at work today, discuss and analyze the technique, structure, and themes of their stories, and seek to apply their methods to the students’ own writing. Then, we will bring the authors of some of the assigned stories into the classroom to interact with the students and to discuss the origin, creation, and intention behind the stories we will read. Visiting authors will include Phil Klay, ZZ Packer, Daniel Alarcon, Sam Lipsyte, Maryse Meijer, Chris Adrian, and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, among others.