College of Arts and Humanities

IMF 51614 Fiction: Writing on the Edge: Memoir Meets Fiction

IMF 51614 Fiction: Writing on the Edge: Memoir Meets Fiction

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Instructor

Gillian Parrish

Class Type 

Lit & Craft [Final Fortnight: Workshop]

Course Description

Developed with fiction writers and creative nonfiction writers in mind, this course will provide material to help deepen your fiction characters and/or refine how you render your own life on the page. We will engage in lively discussion of our readings, which span a range of genres—from fairytale (Yolen), to fantasy (Gaiman), to war stories (O'Brien), to historical fiction (Otsuka), to a poetic retelling of myth (Carson), to a lyrical memoir (hooks and Flynn)—all of which will encourage us to try out new frames, new forms, new ways of telling our own stories. We will write a few flash pieces stemming from our readings. Fiction writers might find themselves drawing more from memoir, while creative nonfiction writers will find ways to cross over into fiction. 

Textbook

The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Author: Gaiman
ISBN: 9780063070707

Bone Black
Author:bell hooks
ISBN:9780805055122

Briar Rose | Edition: 16
Author:YOLEN
ISBN:9780765382948

The Buddha in the Attic
Author:Julie Otsuka
ISBN:9780307744425

The Things They Carried
Author: Tim O'Brien
ISBN: 9780618706419

[Instructor will provide excerpts of work by Ann Carson]