Fall 2012 Courses

CWR 201
Introductory Poetry
Michael Dickman, Paul Muldoon, James Richardson
Tracy K. Smith, Susan Wheeler
Practice in the original composition of poetry supplemented by the reading and analysis of standard works. Criticism by practicing writers and talented peers encourages the student's growth as both creator and reader of literature. This class is open to beginning and intermediate students by application.

CWR 203
Introductory Fiction
Jeffrey Eugenides, Chang-rae Lee, Joyce Carol Oates
Edmund White
The curriculum allows the student to develop writing skills, provides an introduction to the possibilities of contemporary literature and offers a perspective on the place of literature among the liberal arts. Criticism by practicing writers and talented peers encourages the student's growth as both creator and reader of literature.

CWR 205
Literary Translation
Paul Muldoon
Practice in the translation of literary works from another language into English supplemented by the reading and analysis of standard works. Criticism by professionals and talented peers encourages the student's growth as both creator and reader of literature. Students MUST be fluent in their chosen language.

VIS 215 / ARC 215 / CWR 215
Graphic Design
David Reinfurt
This studio course introduces students to graphic design with a particular emphasis on typography. Students engage typographic history through readings highlighting major shifts in print technologies. The readings provide the substance of studio assignments: students begin in the typography studio with letterpress printing and metal type, proceed to photo-typsetting and mechanical paste-up, finish in the computer lab using industry-standard typesetting and page-layout softwares. This course develops a synthesis of hands-on graphic design skills with a vocabulary and critical framework for speaking about them.

CWR 301
Advanced Poetry
Tracy K. Smith, Laurie Sheck
Advanced practice in the original composition of poetry for discussion in regularly scheduled workshop meetings. The curriculum allows the student to develop writing skills, provides an introduction to the possibilities of contemporary literature and offers perspective on the places of literature among the liberal arts.

CWR 303
Advanced Fiction
Chang-rae Lee, Joyce Carol Oates, Edmund White
Advanced practice in the original composition of fiction for discussion in regularly scheduled workshop meetings. The curriculum allows the student to develop writing skills, provides an introduction to the possibilities of contemporary literature and offers perspective on the place of literature among the liberal arts. Criticism by practicing writers and talented peers encourages the student's growth as both creator and reader of literature.

CWR 305 / COM 355
Advanced Literary Translation
Paul Muldoon
Advanced practice in the translation of literary works from another language into English supplemented by the reading and analysis of standard works. Criticism by professionals and talented peers encourages the student's growth as both creator and reader of literature. Students MUST be fluent in their chosen language.

CWR 345
Special Topics in Creative Writing - All the Moves: A Prosody Workshop
James Richardson
Prosody (Gr., tune) is the study of meter, rhythm, rhyme, stanzas, i.e. the aspects of poetry that ally it with dance and song. This workshop will focus on the major forms of English poetry and their adaptations by modern poets and also investigate the half dozen or so kinds of free verse. A flexible mix of assignments and exercises will have students trying out, parodying, humming, adapting and inventing forms and rhythms, learning how poetry works, and honing those qualities of "ear" and "style" by which poets recognize each other. This class would be an excellent first workshop and is open to poetry students at all levels by application.

CWR 348 / VIS 348 / THR 348
Screenwriting I: Screenwriting as a Visual Medium
Christina Lazaridi
The course will introduce students to basic screenwriting principals and techniques, using cross-cultural and cross-temporal examples. Course will examine the visual power of storytelling in film and other relative media, concentrating on the strategic use of visual elements to create a unified viewing experience and the use of visual moments/behavior in creating memorable characters. Students will complete the course with a strong working sense of the core elements used in visual storytelling as applied in film, tv, or new media. Final portfolio will include one silent short film and two narrative shorts.

CWR 448 / VIS 448 / THR 448
Screenwriting II: Adaptation
Christina Lazaridi
This course will introduce students to Screenwriting Adaptation techniques, focusing on adapting "true stories" pulled from historical sources or the news. Issues of documentary technique versus fiction, the ethics of adaptation, how to turn facts into dramatic structure and the questions surrounding the need to fictionalize truth for dramatic purposes will accompany the analysis of World Cinema examples of film adaptations through the 20th century. Students will be asked to write one short silent film and one 30 minute film, adapted from a story they find in the news.

Spring 2012 Courses

CWR 202
Introduction to Poetry
Michael Dickman, Meghan O'Rourke, James Richardson
Tracy K. Smith, Susan Wheeler
Practice in the original composition of poetry supplemented by the reading and analysis of standard works. Criticism by practicing writers and talented peers encourages the student's growth as both creator and reader of literature.

CWR 204
Introduction to Fiction
Sheila Kohler, Chang-rae Lee, Susanna Moore
Joyce Carol Oates, Edmund White, Colson Whitehead
The curriculum allows the student to develop writing skills, provides an introduction to the possibilities of contemporary literature and offers a perspective on the place of literature among the liberal arts. Criticism by practicing writers and talented peers encourages the student's growth as both creator and reader of literature.

CWR 210
Life Writing
A.M. Homes
Practice in the original composition of personal narratives drawn from experience for discussion in regularly scheduled workshop meetings. The curriculum allows the student to develop writing skills and provides an introduction to the possibilities of contemporary memoir. Writing assignments are supplemented and supported by copious readings in the memoir (and accidental memoir) tradition.

CWR 215 / VIS 215 / ARC 215
Graphic Design
Staff 
This studio course will introduce students to the essential aspects and skills of graphic design, and will analyze and discuss the increasingly vital role that non-verbal, graphic information plays in all areas of professional life, from fine art and book design to social networking and the Internet. Students in the course will explore visual organization through a series of focused, interrelated assignments dealing with composition, page layout, type design, and image. Hands on production will include an array of do-it-yourself printing and distribution technologies, from letterpress and mimeograph to photocopying and websites.

CWR 302
Advanced Poetry
Michael Dickman, Timothy Donnelly, Tracy K. Smith
Advanced practice in the original composition of poetry for discussion in regularly scheduled workshop meetings. The curriculum allows the student to develop writing skills, provides an introduction to the possibilities of contemporary literature and offers perspective on the places of literature among the liberal arts.

CWR 304
Advanced Fiction
Jeffrey Eugenides, Chang-rae Lee, Joyce Carol Oates
Edmund White
Advanced practice in the original composition of fiction for discussion in regularly scheduled workshop meetings. The curriculum allows the student to develop writing skills, provides an introduction to the possibilities of contemporary literature and offers perspective on the place of literature among the liberal arts. Criticism by practicing writers and talented peers encourages the student's growth as both creator and reader of literature.

CWR 206/306/COM 356
Literary Translation
Staff 
Practice in the translation of literary works from another language into English supplemented by the reading and analysis of standard works. Criticism by professionals and talented peers encourages the student's growth as both creator and reader of literature.

VIS 215 / ARC 215 / CWR 215
Graphic Design
Staff 
This studio course will introduce students to the essential aspects and skills of graphic design, and will analyze and discuss the increasingly vital role that non-verbal, graphic information plays in all areas of professional life, from fine art and book design to social networking and the Internet. Students in the course will explore visual organization through a series of focused, interrelated assignments dealing with composition, page layout, type design, and image. Hands on production will include an array of do-it-yourself printing and distribution technologies, from letterpress and mimeograph to photocopying and websites.

JRN 240 / CWR 240
Creative Non-Fiction
John McPhee
This is a course in factual writing and what has become known as literary nonfiction, emphasizing writing assignments and including several reading assignments from the work of John McPhee and others. Enrollment is limited to 16 second-year students, by application only.

CWR 345
Special Topics in Creative Writing - How to Write a Novel in Twelve Weeks (or at least make a start)
Staff 
This advanced workshop will be devoted to the novel. What makes a novel? How do novels work? Most important, how do we write one? Participants will arrive with a novel in prospect (in other words, an idea) or even a novel already in progress, will produce a minimum of eight draft pages per week, and will have their novels-in-progress workshopped by the group. In addition we will read at least three canonical novels of the past century to see what we can learn about why they succeed. Each participant's goal will be as much of a rough draft as possible of his or her novel-in-progress.

CWR 349/THR 349/VIS 349
Screenwriting: Creating Visual and Emotional Unity
Christina Lazaridi
This class will familiarize students with the complex use of metaphorical, emotional, and visual threads in screenplay writing. Analyzing examples of international, independent, and classical structures, students will be exposed to the rhythms and demands of the process of conceiving and writing a long form narrative film.