CW 170 — Reading Like a Writer: Close Reading for Craft
Quarter: Summer
Instructor(s): Jonah Willihnganz
Date(s): Jul 6—Aug 24
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Mondays
Class Meeting Time: 5:30—8:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $615
Refund Deadline: Jul 8
Unit(s): 2
Enrollment Limit: 24
Status: Registration opens May 18, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Summer
Day: Mondays
Duration: 8 weeks
Time: 5:30—8:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jul 6—Aug 24
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $615
Refund Deadline: Jul 8
Instructor(s): Jonah Willihnganz
Enrollment Limit: 24
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens May 18, 8:30 am (PT)
One of the best ways to become a skilled writer is to become a skilled reader. In this immersive seminar, you will learn to read—not as a critic but as a craftsperson. This course will teach you how to x-ray any piece of writing, from its design to its prose, so that you can make its strategies your own. Examining contemporary masters like Joan Didion, Louise Erdrich, and George Saunders, you will learn, for example, what makes a particular physical description effective, how to advance plot with dialogue, and how to subtly develop a piece’s insight. We will look at design elements (like plot, point of view, and image systems) and prose elements (patterns that help produce narrative voice, style, and tone). Other authors we will consider include Alice Munro, Colson Whitehead, Colum McCann, Isabel Wilkerson, David Sedaris, David Quammen, Ocean Vuong, and Jhumpa Lahiri. This is a close reading course; we will not critique student manuscripts.
JONAH WILLIHNGANZ
Director, Stanford Storytelling Project
Jonah Willihnganz has taught writing and literature at Stanford since 2002. He is a lecturer in the Schools of Education, Medicine, and Humanities and Sciences at Stanford, and he is the co-founder of the LifeWorks Program for Integrative Learning. Willihnganz has published fiction, essays, and literary criticism, and his research focuses on how stories and storytelling can heal the mind. He received an MFA from Hollins University and a PhD in English from Brown. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Francine Prose, Reading Like a Writer (ISBN 978-0060777050)
(Required) Alice LaPlante, Method and Madness: The Making of Story (ISBN 978-0393928174)
(Required) Alice LaPlante, Method and Madness: The Making of Story (ISBN 978-0393928174)