ENG 470: Creative Nonfiction
Fall 08, MWF 12:20-1:10, C205
Dr. Gold, 314 McClung, MW 11-12 and by appt.
course website: pe1404.com/470
“We can no more understand what creative nonfiction is by trying to define it than we can learn how to ride a bike by looking at a bicycle.” —Brett Lott
Fiction writers have it easy; when in doubt, they can always make something up. Nonfiction writers—memoirists, essayists, journalists, and critics—have it tougher. We cannot, as Tim O’Brien might put it, sacrifice the happening truth for the story truth. We have to honor both. Any honest writer will admit, of course, that all texts have some fictive element. In telling even the truest of stories we must decide what to include, what to leave out, what to foreground, what to background, what to emphasize for a particular audience. Authors of creative nonfiction do not make their stories up, but they do make up how they will tell their stories, and in that process lies both the fictive and creative elements of the craft. Writing creative nonfiction is thus always a rhetorical act.
This course will concentrate on two principal types of creative nonfiction, that which seeks to represent the personal experience of the author—diary, autobiography, travel writing, meditative essays, cultural criticism—and that which seeks to document the experience of others—reportage, biography, profiles. We will read a number of representative works of creative nonfiction and write three creative essays and one critical review. Our classwork will include a mixture of reading discussions, drafting workshops, style and editing exercises, and peer reviews. Students who are interested in publishing their work will be encouraged to seek out appropriate journals and periodicals and to consider how best to develop and submit their work for their chosen audience. Our goals will be to gain a greater understanding of what constitutes creative nonfiction, sharpen our writing and reading skills, and create a supportive, critically engaged space for the creation, discussion, and dissemination of our works.
Texts: Mark Kramer and Wendy Call, Telling True Stories; This American Life, “What I Learned from Television” (downloadable from iTunes). Other readings may be downloaded from the class website. You should also purchase a grammar and mechanics reference, such as Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers or the Scott Foresman Handbook
Contacting me: The best way to contact me is through email. Please make sure that you put the course number (ENG 470) in the subject line and send from your UTK account. If you need to send a file, I accept attachments in MS Word or RTF format. If you would like to meet with me but cannot make my office hours, I am happy to arrange a mutually convenient time.
The fine print: You are expected to come to every class on time, having completed all assigned readings and homework, and to actively, enthusiastically, and respectfully participate in all class activities. Or, to quote a typical student evaluation, “He has a very low tolerance for slackers and class participation is a must.” All homework or take-home assignments must be typed, carefully proofread, and properly formatted: 12 pt. serif font (i.e., Times New Roman, not Helvetica); 1″ margins; double spaced; stapled. Please make sure that all your work is your own; appropriating others’ work, cutting and pasting from the web, failing to properly acknowledge sources, recycling work from a previous class, or other forms of plagiarism or academic dishonesty are grounds for failure and further disciplinary action. Late work is not accepted; if work is due and you will not be present, send it with a peer or email it before the start of class. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to contact your peers to find out what you missed. Turn off all electronic devices before class. No eating, no slouching, no napping.
ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING
Reaction papers: For each reading, you will write a 200-250-word reaction paper, due at the beginning of class. This should take the form of a mini-argument about the text; make it as dense, specific, and concise as you can, focusing on one or two elements of the text that strike you and offering both claim and textual support.
Homework: Most days there will be a written homework assignment in addition to the assigned reading and reaction paper(s). Some of these assignments will take considerable time to prepare for and complete, so stay well in advance of the syllabus; missing homework assignments will quickly bring down your course grade.
Major essays: For each of our three units, you will write a creative nonfiction essay and submit it as part of a mini-portfolio of work; these are each worth 20% of your grade. You will also submit a final class portfolio containing two revised essays and a critical essay on a published nonfiction book, worth 30%.
Participation: 10% of your grade will be for participation. To achieve full credit for this portion, you must satisfactorily turn in all assignments on time, actively participate in class, and not miss or be late to any more than two class sessions. Each missed assignment or tardy/absence for any reason beyond the allotted amount will bring your participation grade down one full letter. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late, you will be marked absent. If you have five or more absences, you will fail the course.
Extra credit: You will receive one point extra credit (up to a total of five) toward your final grade for being the first person to point out a typo in something I have written and handed out to you.
CLASS SCHEDULE
TT=Telling True Stories; TAL=This American Life. For detailed homework and assignment instructions, see the “HW and Assignment Schedule.”
Unit 1: Autobiographical narratives
Week 1: Openers
W 8/20: Class intro, policies
F 8/22: Read “Openers” ; HW: Openers exercise
Week 2: Readings
M 8/25: Tim Cahill, “Getting Lost”; Kathy Moseley, “Vegas”; David Sedaris, “Jesus Shaves”; William Zinsser, “Writing about Places”; HW: Discourse community exercise
W 8/27: Gary White, “My 50 Marriages”; Kelly Winters, “Cubicle with a View”; Phillip Lopate, “The Personal Essay and the First-Person Character” (TT 79)
F 8/29: Dan Savage, “My Other Dog” (TAL 38.44); Sarah Vowell, “Turkeys in Pilgrims’ Clothing” (TAL 19:45); Essay 1 topic proposals due (four copies)
Week 3: Readings
M 9/1 : Labor Day—no class
W 9/3: “Sarah Vowell, “Luther and Johnny”; Edward Abbey, “Down the River with HDT”; Tom French, “Sequencing” (TT 140)
F 9/5: Annie Dillard, “Heaven and Earth in Jest”; HW: Juxtaposition
Week 4: Showcases and peer review
M 9/8 : Essay 1 draft due
Showcases _________________________ _________________________
W 9/10: Showcases _________________________ _________________________
F 9/12: Peer review (macroediting)
Week 5: Tightening 1
M 9/15: Essay 1 final draft due; John Trimble, “Editing Packet” (wordiness)
W 9/17: Wordiness continued; Peer review (microediting)
F 9/19: Preview of profiles; Interviewing exercise
Unit 2: Profiles
Week 6: Writing about others
M 9/22: Annie Hull, “Being There” (TT 39); Tomas Alex Tizon, “Every Profile Is an Epic Story” (TT 71); Kelley Benham, “Hearing Our Subjects’ Voices” (TT 104); Lane DeGregory, “Narrative as a Daily Habit” (TT 239); HW: Bios due; discussion of bios
W 9/24: HW: Revised bios due
F 9/26: HW: Outsider narrative due; discussion of narratives
Week 7: Readings
M 9/29: John McPhee, “Fleet of One”; Padgett Powell, “Grappling with a Giant”; HW: 100 words on someone you know
W 10/1: David Ramsey, “Some Like It Hot”; Diane Roberts, “Old Sparky”; HW: 100 words on a favorite place
F 10/3: Joseph Mitchell, “Mess of Clams”; Rick Bragg, “Sample”
Week 8: Readings
M 10/6: David Gates, “Constant Sorrow”; Elizabeth Gilbert, “The Ghost”
W 10/8: Bill Buford, “Delta Nights” (long essay: read ahead); Details exercise
F 10/10: Fall break—no class; HW: Read “Queries Packet” before beginning topic proposal
Week 9: Conducting research
M 10/13: “Queries Packet”; Paper 2 topic proposal due; Discussion of proposals
W 10/15: Timothy Egan, “Excerpts”; “Source Packet”; Synthesizing sources exercise
F 10/17: HW: Before you were born narrative due
Week 10: Tightening 2
M 10/20: HW: 200-word music review due
W 10/22: “Keeping It Fresh”; “From the Heart” (word choice); HW: Revised review due
F 10/24: TBA
Week 11
M 10/27: Paper 2 due
workshops _________________________ _________________________
W 10/29: workshops _________________________ _________________________
F 10/31: Peer reviews (bring four copies)
Unit 3: Encomia, invectives, and meditations
Week 12
M 11/3: Paper 2 final draft due
Camile Paglia, “Elizabeth Taylor”; Nick Hornby, “Thunder Road”; HW: Write 1) 100 words contrasting two differing people or places and 2) 100 words on your favorite recording artist or song; bring a sample CD to class.
W 11/5: Joe Queenan, “The Civil War Sucks”; Edward Abbey, “Great American Desert”; HW: Write 100 words on something you love that everyone else hates, or vice versa; make us share your passion.
F 11/7: Roy Blount, “S.O.B”; Chuck Klosterman, “Importance of Being Hated”; HW: In less than 200 words, redefine a word or set of terms, making them your own; your goal should be that we never hear the words again without thinking of your definitions.
Week 13: Sentence rhythm
M 11/10: Paper 3 topic proposal due (include 3 sources); Martha Kolln, “Excerpt”; HW: Grammar exercise
W 11/12: “Poetry Basics”
HW: Meter exercise
F 11/14: Root, “Writing by Ear”; HW: Following Root, 1) take a brief passage from a favorite text and turn it into a poem; 2) do the same for yours. How can the rhythm be improved?
Week 14: Showcases and peer review
M 11/17: Essay 3 due
Showcases _________________________ _________________________
W 11/19: Showcases _________________________ _________________________
F 11/21: Peer review (bring four copies)
Week 15: Finding an angle/expanding perspective
M 11/24: Essay 3 final draft due
Wallace Stevens, “Thirteen Ways”; Dorrie Bargman, “Thirteen More Ways”; Matthew Sewell, “Super Mario Bros.”; Angle exercise
W 11/26: TBA
F 11/28: Thanksgiving—no class
Week 16
M 12/1: Final class; portfolios due; wrap up; evaluations