CW 81 — Reading Like a Writer: Unlocking Creativity Through Literary Analysis
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Nina Schuyler
Date(s): Sep 25—Dec 4
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Thursdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 6:30—8:20 pm (PT)
Please Note: No class on November 27
Tuition: $545
Refund Deadline: Sep 27
Unit(s): 2
Enrollment Limit: 50
Status: No Status
Quarter: Fall
Day: Thursdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 6:30—8:20 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 25—Dec 4
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $545
Refund Deadline: Sep 27
Instructor(s): Nina Schuyler
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Enrollment Limit: 50
Recording Available: Yes
Status: No Status
Please Note: No class on November 27
The art of close reading unveils the many craft choices made by authors, which are available to any writer willing to read slowly and deeply. Step by step, this course will guide you through the creation process by closely examining published works. How does Daniel Orozco blend seriousness and humor on the page in his short stories, while Grace Paley, with only a few words, manages to bring characters to life with such vividness that you can see them? How does Nicole Krauss effectively use summary and delay to masterfully create tension and propulsion, and how do Justin Torres and Julie Otsuka use the first-person plural in dramatically different ways? Throughout this course, by reading primarily short stories and two short novels, we'll learn how to craft memorable writing and explore essential questions: What constitutes a successful metaphor? How do you develop dynamic characters? What defines a brilliant use of detail or a powerful image, and why do they work? Each writer we study has valuable lessons to impart, and we'll extract those lessons through careful analysis of their work, enabling us to incorporate these techniques into our own writing later on.
This is a large-format course with reading but no writing assignments. All discussion of the readings will take place during the class sessions. While the course is tailored for writers, all students interested in understanding the craft behind great works of literature are welcome.
NINA SCHUYLER
Author
Nina Schuyler is the author of In This Ravishing World, which won the W.S. Porter Prize and was shortlisted for the Northern California Book Award. Her novel Afterword won the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award for Literary and Science Fiction, and The Translator received the Next Generation Indie Book Award for General Fiction. She is also the author of Stunning Sentences: A Creative Writing Journal. She was an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Julie Otsuka, The Swimmers, 1st edition (ISBN 978-0593321331)
(Required) Justin Torres, We the Animals, 1st edition (ISBN 978-0547844190)
(Required) Justin Torres, We the Animals, 1st edition (ISBN 978-0547844190)