Fall 2006 Courses

ENGL 282-01: Crafts of Writing: Nonfiction (Bauer)

M 7:00-10:00pm, Old Main 003

Creative nonfiction. These became fighting words with the disclosure that James Frey's "memoir," A Million Little Pieces was largely fiction. Frey clearly didn't follow his moral compass or attend to the expectations of the American reader. But there is a place for ethical, truthful, narrative nonfiction in the canon of modern literature. Real stories, dramatically told, evoke for people shared experience and understanding. This course will focus on the essay as it was developed by the masters - Michel de Montaigne, E.B. White, and Joan Didion - as well as memoirs that utilize so-called fictional technique without crossing the line to deceit. We will read the stories of J.M. Coetzee, Bernard Cooper, Truman Capote, Lauren Slater, and local author Jennifer Vogel. Most of the class, however, will be devoted to workshops and students will be expected to produce two full-length essays and revise (completely) one of the two for a final grade.

Fall 2006 Course Listings