Summer 2004

HUMS 624
Place, Character, and Design

Greene,Anne F.

06/28/2004 - 08/11/2004
Monday & Wednesday 05:00 PM - 07:30 PM

Public Affairs Center 422

Special Schedule: July 4th Holiday makeup class will be held Friday, July 6 from 2:00-5:00pm.

This course offers a rich and varied reading list and a chance to write and experiment, with careful editing of one's work. We welcome a diverse group of participants: people who have professional or personal goals or projects, aspiring writers who have just begun, and experienced writers refining their craft. The assignments are flexible and will suit each student's interests. Whether you are writing a novel, journalism, a memoir, or a grant proposal, we will focus on issues central to the work: how to establish your narrator's voice or characters' presence, place your piece, develop style and design, and connect with readers.

Previous Graduate Liberal Studies students who participated in this class have turned their work into published pieces of fiction and non-fiction, as well as award-winning professional projects.

Readings include works by writers who are particularly concerned with issues of place and character, including Henry James, Nadine Gordimer, Maxine Hong Kingston, Gish Jen, Ayi Kwei Armah, Annie Dillard, Vivian Gornick, William Finnegan, and John McPhee.

Students are welcome to adapt the writing exercises to suit their own interests, which might include writing short fiction, memoirs, biography, profiles, social commentary, family history, or travel sketches.


Anne Greene (B.A. Radcliffe College, M.A. Brandeis University) is adjunct professor of English, director of writing programs, and director of the Wesleyan Writers Conference. She was awarded the 2006 Binswanger prize for excellence in teaching. Click here for more information about Anne Greene.

ENROLLMENT INFORMATION

Consent of Instructor Required: No

Format: Seminar

Level: GLSP Credits: 3 Enrollment Limit: 18

Texts to purchase for this course:
Joan Didion, SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM (Noonday Press), Paperback

Annie Dillard, AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD (Perennial), Paperback

Nadine Gordimer, JULY'S PEOPLE (Viking Press) Paperback

Henry James & John Updike, THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY (Oxford University Press) Hardcover

Adrian LeBlanc, RANDOM FAMILY (Scribner), Paperback

Sue Miller & Katrina Kenison, THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2002 (Houghton Mifflin), Paperback

Michael Ondaatje, IN THE SKIN OF A LION (Vintage), Paperback

Paul Theroux & Jason Wilson, THE BEST AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITING 2001 (Houghton Mifflin), Paperback

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