In this workshop class students will study and practice the art of storytelling. In order to deepen understanding of the relationship between authorial intention and reader response, they will read work by established authors (as well as one another) and offer written and oral analyses that detail the mechanics of literary technique. In our reading of canonical as well as contemporary authors drawn from a diverse range of national literatures, we will parse the literary process from inspiration through execution to reception. The goal here is to refine our perceptual ability as readers so we can employ this heightened awareness as writers. This discussion—focusing on form, style, rhetorical technique, narrative voice—will inform each student’s project: sustained works of fiction by semester's end.

In this workshop class students will study and practice the art of storytelling. In order to deepen understanding of the relationship between authorial intention and reader response, they will read work by established authors (as well as one another) and offer written and oral analyses that detail the mechanics of literary technique. In our reading of canonical as well as contemporary authors drawn from a diverse range of national literatures, we will parse the literary process from inspiration through execution to reception. The goal here is to refine our perceptual ability as readers so we can employ this heightened awareness as writers. This discussion—focusing on form, style, rhetorical technique, narrative voice—will inform each student’s project: sustained works of fiction by semester's end.