English 290F - Fall, 2016

Seminar in Creative Writing of Fiction

Class Information

Instructor: Townsend, Jacinda
Time: R 12:10-3:00
Location: 120 Voorhies

Description

All your great language, all your terrific characterization, all your meaningful symbolism--it's all in the service of story. And that story, generally speaking, is all in the service of the point of emotional resonance that your reader will take away from what you have communicated on the page. In order to explore that idea this semester, we will discuss three different Eugenides novels: The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex, and The Marriage Plot. How does Eugenides use these different points of view to inhabit different narrative consciousnesses? What lessons can you take away as a writer? We will be reading to find out.

Workshopping, obviously, is the primary component of the class. We are all here to help one another become better writers, and to that end, I would like for you to write your peers one-to-two page critiques. Please address, in your critiques, matters of language, character, plot and structure.

Grading

Stories (Two)
Final Revision (One)

Texts

The Virgin Suicides, Eugenides, Jeffrey
Middlesex, Eugenides, Jeffrey
The Marriage Plot, Eugenides, Jeffrey