COURSES Spring 2008
Office Hours: 2 – 3:30 TTh and by appointment via email.
Email:
cwsmith@mail.smu.edu
Dallas
Hall 231
214-768-2957
English 2392 003 INTRODUCTiON TO FICTION WRITING. 12:30-2 TTh Dallas Hall 120
Beginning workshop in theory and technique, and writing of fiction. Writing assignments: various class exercises, writing and rewriting short stories. Enrollment limit: 15.
COURSE MANUAL FOR INTRODUCTION TO FICTION WRITING Spring 08
ENGLISH 4392/94 Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop 3:30-5 TTh Dallas Hall 137
Texts: The Contemporary American Short Story.
Syllabus and Calendar for Spring 08
Requirements and expectations.
(NOT ACTIVE SPRING 08)
4398 001 CRAFT OF FICTION I 3:30-4:50 TTh Dallas Hall 137
A course designed for all students interested in contemporary literature, whether they be writers, budding scholars, or hobbyists. We shall explore how contemporary fiction writers deliberately go against the grain of older, traditional conventions of realistic story-telling by flouting conventional expectations in readers for chronological or linear narration, formulaic plot devices, and the singular point of view. The course will not fulfill English major and minor requirements for 4000-level literature courses, but will fulfill specialization hours for Creative Writing and elective hours for all others. Writing assignments: several creative exercises, two short stories, 15 one-page response papers, two brief analytical essays. Enrollment limit: 15. Prerequisite: ENGL 2392.
Texts: The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Literature; Coover, Pricksongs and Descants; Amis, Time’s Arrow; Toni Morrison, Jazz; short stories by Angela Carter, A.S. Byatt, John Barth, Donald Barthelme, Jorge Luis Borges, and others.
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS FOR CRAFT:
Isms for Craft - Fabulism & Metafiction
Readings for Craft and Prompts for One-page papers
Joshua Weber’s version of the Cinderella story: “The Beginning of the End”
The text to Little Red Riding Hood
The text to Snow White
The text to Sleeping Beauty
Questions to consider in writing about The Thing In The Forest
Crot-by-crot breakdown of “The Gingerbread House”
Picasso’s painting Three Musicians
Realism in painting: Two Still Life paintings by Wm. Michael Harnett (circa 1888)
Early Paintings: Buoninsegna's Madonna (c. 1300); Bramantino's Adoration of the Magi (c. 1500)
Two lithographs by M.C. Escher: Reptiles and Drawing Hands.
Paintings by Roy Lichtenstein: Masterpiece and Image Duplicator
Cover of Purple Hearts
Six stories against the grain (by CW):
The Flying Uncle from Carolina Quarterly
Familiar Strangers from The Southwest Review
The Guide from Sunstone Review
Five Nature Studies from Vision
Vessel (unpublished)
Fearful
Wishes from
Mademoiselle.
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Memo to Prospective Independent Study Students
