ENGLISH 202: Poetry
Fall Semester, Mr. Bidart
The student who enjoys poetry but has always been shy of writing should feel free to take this course. I assume that you may or may not have written before, but have wanted to write and felt a serious audience would be helpful.
Class periods will be devoted to reading the poems written by members of the class, as well as published poems that seem relevant or illuminating in relation to student work.
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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ENGLISH 203: Short Narrative
Fall Semester, Mr. Channer
This workshop is designed for students who’re interested in discovering the mystery and mechanics of prose fiction. Members will write and revise short stories in the range of 5-7 pages and discuss them in class. Assignments will include the close reading of short fiction by established writers, oral storytelling, character sketches and storyboarding. However, the focus of the workshop will be the work generated by its members.
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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ENGLISH 203: Short Narrative
Fall Semester, Spring Semester, Ms. Sides
This course requires the full immersion of each writer into immediately producing her own stories. From even the most hazy first draft, we will work on finding the pulse of each story and then bringing that story into sharp focus. During the semester, each student will write two short stories (10-16 pages) and five "short-short" stories (1-5 pages). One stipulation: I want all work to be produced during the semester; please don't come armed with stories you have already written. Everyone will have a chance to present their stories in the class workshop and to work in small writing groups. To remind us of the amazing variety of the short story form, we will look closely, in a writerly way, at stories by favorite authors, old and new.
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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ENGLISH 203 - Short Narrative
Fall Semester, Ms. Cezair-Thompson
The course focuses solely on the craft of fiction writing, primarily the short story. Students are required to turn in a substantial amount of written work every week. At first these might be mere “sketches”—character and place descriptions, reflections, dialogue, the beginning or end of a story. Students will then work on developing and shaping material into stories. All work must be produced during the semester (do not come to the course with previously written material). Works–in–progress will be read and critiqued in workshop–styled groups. We will also read and examine the technique of published writers such as James Joyce, Nadine Gordimer, Richard Wright. Although your subjects may originate from autobiographical material, note that this is a course in fiction writing, not autobiography. You will be encouraged to “invent” “imagine” and “re–create,” in other words, to take the necessary steps to turn life into art. Possible xeroxing fee of five to ten dollars. Two finished stories will be required, along with a 2 to 3–page critical appreciation of technique in one of the assigned readings. Grade depends on meeting weekly deadlines and on the quality of the finished stories.
Required texts: Dubliners, James Joyce
The Story and its Writer
(Supplementary reading—on reserve—Clarise Lispector, Soul Storm; Maxine Hong Kingston, Woman Warrior; Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio; V.S. Naipaul, Miguel Street).
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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ENGLISH 204: The Art of Screenwriting
Fall Semester, Mr. Channer
This workshop will cover several key elements of the screenwriter’s art, but will place special emphasis on the theory and practice of character development and story design. Discussions will center on the short original screenplays generated by workshop members as well as a range of screenplays of varying lengths created by established artists. Assignments and activities will include the close viewing and analysis of a selected short film and feature films from around the world.
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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ENGLISH 204: The Art of Screenwriting
Spring Semester, Ms. Cezair-Thompson
An introductory course for students who want to learn how to write a screenplay. We will approach film as both a literary and visual art and apply our critical skills as readers of fiction and drama to screenwriting. At the same time we will explore the differences between writing for viewers and writing for readers and in doing so hopefully deepen our appreciation of the screenwriting genre. The practical objectives of the course are learning to write (1) an original script and (2) a screen adaptation of a literary work. We will watch films made from original screenplays and film adaptations of short stories and plays. We will also read several screenplays, some short stories, and one or two plays.
Possible works from which these will be chosen:
Plays/films: Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire; Shakespeare, King Lear/Kurosawa, Ran; Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story.
Stories/films: Chekhov, 'The Lady with the Pet Dog; Isak Dinesen, "Babette's Feast"; Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener"; Joyce/Huston, "The Dead."Novella/film: Conrad, Heart of Darkness/Coppola's Apocalypse Now.
Other possible films: Casablanca, Double Indemnity, Dog Day Afternoon, Midnight Cowboy, Chinatown.
Along with exercises in script development, students will complete two screenwriting projects: (1) the first 15 minutes of an original screenplay and (2) the first 10-15 minutes of an adaptation from a short story. (Note: 1 minute of screen time = 1 page.)
No prerequisite. Recommended for students interested in film, drama, creative writing.
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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ENGLISH 205 : Writing for Children
Spring Semester, Ms. Meyer
What makes for excellence in writing for children? When Margaret Wise Brown repeats the word “moon” in two subsequent pages—“Goodnight moon. Goodnight cow jumping over the moon”—is this effective or clunky? Robert McCloskey’s One Morning in Maine is much more diffuse than picture books now being published. Would it be stronger if it were edited? What makes rhyme and repetition funny and compelling in one picture book (such as Rosemary Wells’s Noisy Nora) but vapid in another? In this course, students will study many examples of this genre from the point of view of writers and will write their own picture-book texts and share them in workshops. No background in art is required, but interested students may also work on illustrating their stories. Enrollment limited to 15 students.
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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ENGLISH 206/WRITING 225 : Nonfiction Writing
Fall Semester, Ms. Sides
Topic for 2008-09: Travel Literature.
That horrible family car trip! Your summer internship on another continent! Year abroad romance (widely defined)! Turn them into travel essays. We will be studying the genre of literary travel essay (as distinguished from the more journalistic travel writing appearing in newspaper travel sections) and writing our own travel narratives.
The course will focus on the essentials of travel writing: evocation of place, research, careful use of the first person (remember travel narratives are often closely related to the genre of memoir), and strong basic writing skills.
Texts: The Best Women's Travel Writing 2007
The Lonely Planet Guide to Travel Writing
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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ENGLISH 206/WRITING 225 : Nonfiction Writing
Spring Semester, Mr. Shetley
Topic for 2008-09: Reviewing the Arts.
We often use reviews of books, films, records, and performances merely as a consumer guide, but the best reviewers both illuminate the works they discuss and produce writing that can outlive its occasion. In this course, students will learn the craft of reviewing by practicing it on a range of works in different media, and by reading examples of the work of outstanding reviewers of the past and present. While the class will undertake some common assignments, students will also have ample opportunity to focus on a medium in which they have a particular interest. We'll be open to exploring visual art, theater, literature, music, film, dance and other artforms. Frequent writing assignments of varying lengths (reviewers must learn to say a great deal in a small space); much of class time will be devoted to workshop-style discussion of student work.
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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ENGLISH 301: Advanced Writing/Fiction
Spring Semester, Mr. Channer
A workshop in the techniques of fiction writing together with practice in critical evaluation of student work.
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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ENGLISH 302: Advanced Writing/Poetry
Spring Semester, Mr. Bidart
Intensive practice in the writing of poetry. Classes will be devoted to discussion of the students’ poems. The emphasis will be on the possibilities for revision, and on developing some objectivity about one’s own work.
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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ENGLISH 351 : The Robert Garis Seminar
Fall Semester, Mr. Oppenheimer
An advanced, intensive writing workshop, open to six students, named for a late Wellesley professor who valued good writing. This is a class in writing non-fiction prose, the kind that might someday land you in The New Yorker or The Atlantic. Our genre is often called "literary journalism," and here the special skills—technical precision, ability for physical description, and psychological insight—necessary for writing fiction are applied to real-life events and personalities. We will read and emulate authors like Joan Didion, Hilton Als, Ian Frazier, John McPhee, and Joseph Mitchell, and you will produce a 5,000-word piece of your own.
We will meet once in the spring and students are expected to work on their project over the summer. Many students will be inclined to write about themselves—memoir is ever popular—but memoirs will only be permitted if they elucidate some topic other than the self. Thus, you might write about growing up on a commune, but then you must also plan to make your piece about communes: how they form, their history, what academic experts have to say about them, their politics, etc. You may write about your high school gymnastics career, but only if you plan also to research and include discussion of high school gymnastics across the country, its history, its critics, etc. It will be hard to write about, say, your parents' divorce or a high school romance in a way that sheds light on any larger questions, and so you will likely avoid such topics, preferring to spend the summer reporting on a topic of personal interest but in which you are not personally implicated.
You will be expected to do some research for your paper over the summer, and there will also be required summer reading. The payoff will come in the fall, when you will, it is hoped, produce your most polished, and likely longest, piece of writing yet.
English 351 carries .5 units of credit and meets over the course of six weeks.
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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(Theatre Studies)
THST 221: Introduction to Playwriting
Fall Semester, Ms. Lopez. Ms. Roche
This course will teach basic playwriting skills implemented through in-class exercises and at-home writing assignments. This hands-on, practical approach will require writing one short play each week. Emphasis is on experimentation, innovation, risk taking, and process. A spirit of fun, innovation, and creativity will dominate this workshop format. Each class meeting will incorporate reading student work aloud with commentary from the instructor and the class. Students will listen, critique, and develop the vocabulary to discuss plays, structure, story, and content. Each student will begin to connect her dramatic voice and theatrical passion. Students will ultimately write a one act play as the capstone experience for this class.
Mandatory credit/noncredit.
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