Welcome to the Blog for Craft of Creative Non-Fiction at Mills, English 226, Fall 2011. Here is where you write your reader responses for the books we are reading this semester. These responses examine the scaffolding of the book in regards to presence and identity of the narrator. Don't forget to respond to your colleagues' blogs as well.

Presence and Identity

Bret Lott's article

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Double zero

Posted by diana at 9:59 PM

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Your book list

June Jordan Soldier

Vivian Gornick Fierce Attachments

Monica Holloway Driving with Dead People

Nawal Al Sadawi Woman at Point Zero

Anne Dillard, ed Modern American Memoirs

Savoy, Demings, eds The Color of Nature (2010 edition)

Jimmy Santiago Baca A Place to Stand

Andrew Lam East Eats West

Followers

Blog Archive

▼ 2011 (109)
- ► November (12)
- ► October (36)
- ▼ September (59)
- ► August (2)

Contributors

Celine Homer
Evan
Garrett
Jenn
MADlines
MsValentine
Penina
Shay Belisle
Terra
diana
elmaz
heidi
jacquiebenetua
jose a. vadi
krash
michellelouisegeck
sailor holladay
travelpants

The Syllabus for English 226, Fall 2011

Presence and Identity in the memoir

Instructor: Elmaz Abinader Tuesdays: 6:45-9:15pm 322 Mills Hall

Teaching Assistant: Meeta Kaur meetamills2011@gmail.com

Elmaz’s office hours:, Tuesday, 3-5 and by appt. 313 Mills Hall, x2225, elmaz@earthlink.net

The Gig: The class emphasizes the study of literature in a way that reveals to the writer, the strategies and issues of particular points of craft rather than criticism. Our current emphasis, Identity and Presence, focuses on the identity of the presence in the narrative. What is the positioning of the narrator and author in relationship to the identity of the piece. Whom is the reader relating to; whom is the reader following? Is the narrator necessarily a representation of the author? We discuss the narrative journey and the nature of the “guide,” control and relinquishing control, and how that affects the perception of the events of the story. Writers who take this craft class receive a literature/craft credit. The foundational article that generated this course is Bret Lott’s article on Fiction Technique in Non Fiction, http://www.creativenonfiction.org/thejournal/articles/issue17/17lott.htm

What we read:

June Jordan Soldier

Vivian Gornick Fierce Attachments

Monica Holloway Driving with Dead People

Nawal Al Sadawi Woman at Point Zero

Anne Dillard, ed Modern American Memoirs

Savoy, Demings, eds The Color of Nature (2010 edition)

Jimmy Santiago Baca A Place to Stand

Andrew Lam East Eats West

All the books will be available at Laurel Book Store at MacArthur and 39^th as well as the mills book store

What we do

Put on your writers’ lenses, we are examining these books from the writer’s perspective. Our focus of examination is the presence of the narrator and how that affects the journey through the story or information. Here’s what we will have:

v Riveting discussion

v Engaging group presentations

v Dynamic reader responses

v Amazing creative pieces

v Mystifying workshop sessions

v Inspiring in-class writing

v Hypnotizing responses on the blog

v Tantalizing final paper on a craft issue on the topic

the discussion part

The articles, books or papers should be read by the date they appear on the syllabus. Each week we focus on aspect of the voice/narrative thrust of the works. Craft is the center of the discussion and issues of analysis or interpretation are considered in light of the craft. This is the vitality of the class and so your part in the discussions indicates your familiarity with the reading. We follow good discussion rules: listen, no interrupting, no back and forth (please wait for 3 people to speak until you speak again

readers resposnes http://millscnf.blogspot.com/

2-4 pages of reflective and responsible analysis of the craft of the work are put on the blog every week (7 in all). Using moments from the book you analyze how the author created the voice and the angles of discovery. The responses are focused on the work but also reveal revelations you have as a result of reading it. You accomplish 7 of these responses and respond to 7 of your colleagues’ works. You will be invited to join the blog. If you do not have an invitation after the first class, contact me or Meeta immediately

group presentations

You and your colleagues select a 2 excerpts from a book for a presentation to the class. In a riveting 40 minute or more session you present to the class a discussion, presentation, production, play, skit whatever…to illustrate aspects of the craft to the class.

in class writing

We experiment with the issues of voice and perspective by doing 20 minute or less writings in the class. All of these go into your class portfolio—they contribute to your overall performance in the class. You will find unusual surprises in these writings; often, because of the nature of the prompts, so writers find future work here.

Creative pieces

You write one creative piece (memoir) for this class trying something new with voice or perspective. The piece may be between 10 and 20 pages, maybe part of an ongoing project or something new. The creative piece is due October 11

workshop

We workshop all the creative pieces in class in traditional Elmaz workshop style, guidelines include:

When you receive your copy of the piece, make visible comments on the writing to guide you through discussion and for the writer to see. Consider these points:

• what you thought the writer was trying to do in this piece

• how well you felt the characters were drawn

• how the interactions between characters felt

• whether you felt like you were in the place the story was occurring

• if you thought the writer had an interesting style for the story

• where you think more development along the lines of specific elements could happen

• if you thought the story carried its significance

• other ideas that might help the writer

What we don’t discuss, but we do note on the papers are areas of mechanics that need attention (spelling, punctuation, etc), syntactical approaches, etc.

In the process of the in-class workshop

The writer and the instructor do not comment during the class discussion
All comments should related directly to the material and can be illustrated by citing parts of the work
we comment first on APPRECIATION—what are particularly exciting parts of the work. Then we discuss what caught our ATTENTION—what was a bit disorienting in terms of where the piece was trying to go. Finally, we recommend ACTION to the writer, keeping in mind the goal of her work.
Issues with language, culture or politics are connected to the craft of the work—not to the writer. We believe in a person’s right to their own language.
The discussion gives everyone an opportunity to respond to the work, a comment may be given by the same person after 3 others have commented.
Finally, I will summarize the class’s comments for the writer, adding more if there is more. And the writer then asks questions, responds to the feedback and so on.

Final Craft Paper

The final piece illustrates a journey you have taken in terms of exploring and understanding how authors go about creating voice or perspective. As a “craft” paper it should identify strategies by an author or author(s) that create a realization of how particular effects may be achieved. Example topics for the final paper are:

· Dueling Voices: how the two angles of discover are presented in Fierce Attachments through the voices of the daughter and the mother and what details are foregrounded via each narrator’s perspective

· The function of narrator as tourguide in Driving with Dead People in the presentation of the characters and culture of the particularized location

· Voice appropriation and the embedded “as if told” narrator in Soldier

What kind of research can you do for a craft paper? Look at articles and books that study narrative voice, perspective, angle of discovery and/or point of view in any kind of prose and see how their ideas transfer over to the work(s) that you are considering. Use at least two viable sources in print; others may be from the Internet.

SOME REALLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION –Procedures and Practices

· The computer may be used for in-class writing and then POW, close it. Cell phones off, no texting.

· Practically, please be on time, attend class, be present. If you aren’t going to make a class, or can’t make a class you need to notify us and meet with Meeta

· Breaks are short and prompt. If you need a cigarette, I’m just one person, trying to save your life—so forget it

· Our experiences as writers or our status in the universe or among our colleagues are not our talent; our talent comes from negotiating ideas and sharing them. No privileges

· Our classroom discussion can feel off course and we’ll try to keep it focused, but please be aware that real writing can touch your fire—please give space for flare-ups and generosity for listening.

· In any case, we are not p.c., we are conscious

A big one: Academic Integrity

Plagiarism is a serious breach of academic trust. For purposes of the Mills College Honor Code, plagiarism is defined as intentionally or knowingly using someone else’s ideas, with words or thoughts without crediting the sources. All words or thoughts not cited are presumed to be that of the writer. So here’s the deal: original work only, credit to ideas, writing or words from some other place. Any breach of this will alter your success in this course.

Resources, we love resources!

ADA Every effort will be provided to make this class universally accessible. Though “reasonable accommodation” is the legal right of people with disabilities, this course is designed for students regardless of disability or other individual categorization. Students with needs for alternate learning materials or strategies should contact SSD in the Cowell Building by calling 430-2130 in order for those accommodations and services to be arranged promptly.

Writing Center—there are great people at the writing center who can help you write, think, edit, strategize, not just scholarly, but also creatively: Reinhardt Hall, Rms. 251, 252 P: 510.430.3147 E: writing_ctr@mills.edu

My Pledge

As the English [ ] instructor, I am committed to conducting this course in a way that acknowledges and affirms the diverse identities of Mills College students. If you would like to be identified by a name and or/pronouns not apparent on the course roster, please contact me via email or during my scheduled office hours with your preferred name and/or gender identity. I will honor your stated gender identity in all official and unofficial communications and in all classroom activities.

class goals can be found at http://www.mills.edu/academics/graduate/eng/courses/course_goals.php?courseid=eng226

the schedule for the semester. please don’t lose this

Date	Reading	What’s due	topic
8/30	Bret Lott’s article	In class writing	Intro
9/6	Soldier	Blog and responses	What is determined by the first point of view, assumptions and orientations
9/13	Fierce Attachments	Blog and responses	The implied “I”, changing p.o.v.
9/20	Woman at Point Zero	Blog and responses	The voice as historian
9/27	East Eats West	Rough draft of creative piece; copies for your group (send to group on Sunday)	Tone/angle of discovery
10/4	Viewing of Frida	Final of creative piece, copies for everyone (Send to class on Sunday)	What lens establish
10/11	Frida Discussion	First group of workshop reviews	Workshop
10/18	Driving with Dead People	Blog and responses	Workshop voice
10/25	A Place to Stand	Blog and responses	Dramatic tension
11/1	American Memoir/2 selections	Group one Presentation Blog and responses	workshop
11/8	American Memoir/2 selections	Group Two Presentation Blog and responses
11/15	The Colors of Nature.2 selections	Group three Presentation Blog and responses
11/22	The Colors of Nature/2 selections	Group four presentation Blog and responses
11/29	Final paper due	Last responses due	The other story

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