OWC 201 B — The Writing Life: Form and Theory in Memoir
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Amanda Montei
Date(s): Sep 22—Nov 30
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tues/Mondays
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
Class Meeting Time: 12:00—1:15 pm (PT)
Please Note: Class will meet on Mondays, 12:00 - 1:15 pm (PT). Note: No class on Monday, September 21. The first class will meet on Tuesday, September 22 instead. No class the week of November 23.
Tuition: $1290
Refund Deadline: Sep 24
Unit(s): 2
Enrollment Limit: 15
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Fall
Day: Tues/Mondays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 12:00—1:15 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 22—Nov 30
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $1290
Refund Deadline: Sep 24
Instructor(s): Amanda Montei
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
Enrollment Limit: 15
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Please Note: Class will meet on Mondays, 12:00 - 1:15 pm (PT). Note: No class on Monday, September 21. The first class will meet on Tuesday, September 22 instead. No class the week of November 23.
This course is not open to the public, but rather by admission only. For more information on the Writing Certificate Program and its application process, please click here.
As Mary Karr said, "In some ways, writing a memoir is knocking yourself out with your own fist, if it’s done right." In the first course of the Memoir Writing Certificate program, students will be asked to engage deeply with their proposed memoir and the elements of craft employed in nonfiction. As we survey the diverse landscape of memoir today, we will analyze books, essays, and excerpts, experimenting with new techniques and approaches to the genre, from the narrative to the lyric, and unearthing how authors’ theories of the self inform their craft choices. The beginning of the course will be exploratory and generative, inviting students to let go of fixed notions of what their story might be. In the second half of the quarter, students will share up to 5,000 words of their memoir for peer and instructor feedback, and begin to hone their narrative persona and story, crystallizing their approach to the genre. If a student engages fully with the course, submitting a 5,000-word workshop piece and written responses to most optional creative prompts, they can expect to generate approximately 10,000 words of work in this course.
As Mary Karr said, "In some ways, writing a memoir is knocking yourself out with your own fist, if it’s done right." In the first course of the Memoir Writing Certificate program, students will be asked to engage deeply with their proposed memoir and the elements of craft employed in nonfiction. As we survey the diverse landscape of memoir today, we will analyze books, essays, and excerpts, experimenting with new techniques and approaches to the genre, from the narrative to the lyric, and unearthing how authors’ theories of the self inform their craft choices. The beginning of the course will be exploratory and generative, inviting students to let go of fixed notions of what their story might be. In the second half of the quarter, students will share up to 5,000 words of their memoir for peer and instructor feedback, and begin to hone their narrative persona and story, crystallizing their approach to the genre. If a student engages fully with the course, submitting a 5,000-word workshop piece and written responses to most optional creative prompts, they can expect to generate approximately 10,000 words of work in this course.
AMANDA MONTEI
Author
Amanda Montei is the author of two memoirs including, most recently, Touched Out. Her work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, The Believer, Ms. Magazine, and other publications. Montei has taught and presented work at Stanford, Columbia, UC Berkeley, and the University of Chicago and runs the newsletter Mad Woman. She received an MFA in writing from the California Institute of the Arts and a PhD in English literature from SUNY at Buffalo.Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Tracy Clark-Flory, My Mother's Daughter: Finding Myself in My Family's Fractured Past (ISBN 978-1668083321)
(Required) Elissa Altman, Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create (ISBN 978-1567927634)
(Required) Elissa Altman, Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create (ISBN 978-1567927634)