Global Arc

How do we craft narrative from the material of another person's life? We will look at the oral history interview as an act of spontaneous literature - one that contains both the individual story, and the larger history. Students will learn the art of listening, the ethics of interpretation, and approach the writing process as translation of experience. We will borrow from documentary practices across different media (film, visual storytelling, audio storytelling), allowing them to inspire our efforts to find the literary forms that respond to the lived histories that are shared with us.

A reading-intensive advanced fiction workshop dedicated to a close reading of Primo Levi's The Periodic Table, an indefinable masterpiece of Italian literature which combines autobiographical and fictional elements, calling into question the equivocal relationship between truth and invention. Careful analysis of this text will serve as an ongoing frame of reference for class discussion and creative inspiration.

Writing about people who do not share our race, culture, gender, or sexual orientation is high-risk, particularly if we write from a place of privilege. Often, the fear of appropriation and stereotyping means that we avoid writing about characters of other backgrounds completely. Instead of excluding writing about or from the perspective of characters of Otherness at all, this course will provide the background and space to think critically and openly about the representations our work creates, even as we attempt to create our own work in this context. By application.

Students gain special access to the critical understanding of literature through their involvement in the creative process. Topics include autobiography, prosody, non-fiction, revision and point of view. Students are expected to prepare a manuscript at least every other week. Specific topics and prerequisites will vary. By application.

This course will introduce students to the foundational principles and techniques of screenwriting, taking into account the practical considerations of film production. Questions of thematic cohesiveness, plot construction, logical cause and effect, character behavior, dialogue, genre consistency and pace will be explored as students gain confidence in the form by completing a number of short screenplays. The course will illustrate and analyze the power of visual storytelling to communicate a story to an audience, and will guide students to create texts that serve as "blueprints" for emotionally powerful and immersive visual experiences.

This course will introduce students to core screenwriting principles and techniques. Questions of thematic cohesiveness, plot construction, logical cause and effect, character behavior, dialogue, genre consistency and pace will be explored as students gain confidence by completing a number of short screenplays. The course will illustrate and analyze the power of visual storytelling to communicate a story to an audience, and will guide students to create texts that serve as "blueprints" for emotionally powerful and immersive visual experiences. Final portfolio will include one short exercise and two short screenplays. By application.

How can screenwriters prepare for the evolving challenges of our global media world? What types of content, as well as form, will emerging technologies make possible? Do fields like neuroscience help us understand the universal principles behind screenwriting and do tech advances that alter the distance between audience and creator, man and machine, also influence the content of our stories? This class will use fairytales, films, games and new media to illustrate universal script principles while creating a rich interdisciplinary lens to explore the innovative intersection of narrative screenwriting, science and technology.

A reading-based advanced fiction workshop designed to introduce students to the practice of imitation as a point of creative departure. Reading the works of a series of twentieth-century Italian masters--Ginzburg, Lampedusa, Levi, Morante, among others--we will analyze a range of techniques and styles and focus our discussion on themes of linguistic crossing and hybrid identity. All readings will be in translation from the recently published Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories edited by Jhumpa Lahiri. Italian concentrators and certificate students will read the stories and produce all written work in Italian.

Tutorials in the original composition of fiction, poetry, or translations, open to those who have demonstrated unusual commitment and talent through four terms of creative writing or who provide equivalent evidence of their capacity for advanced work. Open also to qualified graduate students. Individual conferences to be arranged.

Tutorials in the original composition of fiction, poetry, or translations, open to those who have demonstrated unusual commitment and talent through four terms of creative writing or who provide equivalent evidence of their capacity for advanced work. Open also to qualified graduate students. Individual conferences to be arranged.