ENGLISH 90L: Latine Stories (CHILATST 90)
This is a course on the craft of fiction writing. We will read published literary short stories by contemporary Latine writers writing in the United States and begin to explore the vast range of fictional techniques employed by these writers. In discussing these published works, we will analyze how the formal elements of story - structure, plot, character, point of view, etc. - function in these pieces, so that students can apply these principles of craft to their own work. Students will write two complete short stories, which will be discussed in a traditional workshop format.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
Instructors:
Quade, K. (PI)
ENGLISH 90M: Queer Stories (FEMGEN 90M)
Like other 90 and 91-level courses, 90M will explore basic elements of fiction and nonfiction writing. Students will read a wide variety of stories and essays in order to develop a language for working through the themes, forms, and concerns of the queer prose canon. Students will complete and workshop a piece of writing that in some way draws upon the aesthetics or sensibilities of the work we have read, culled from exercises completed throughout the quarter. This final piece may be a short story, a personal essay, a chapter from a novel or memoir, or a piece that, in the spirit of queerness, blurs or interrogates standard demarcations of genre. The course is open to any and all students, regardless of how they define their gender or sexuality. NOTE: First priority to undergrads. Students must attend the first class meeting to retain their roster spot.
Last offered: Winter 2021
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE, WAY-EDP
ENGLISH 90Q: Sports Writing
Study and practice of the unique narratives, tropes, images and arguments that creative writers develop when they write about popular sport. From regional fandom to individualist adventuring, boxing and baseball to mascot dancing and table tennis, exceptional creative writers mine from a diversity of leisure activity a rich vein of sports writing in the creative nonfiction genre. In doing so, they demonstrate the creative and formal adaptability required to write with excellence about any subject matter, and under the circumstances of any subjectivity. Discussion of the ways in which writers have framed, and even critiqued, our interest in athletic events, spectatorship, and athletic beauty. Writers include Joyce Carol Oates, Roland Barthes, David James Duncan, Arnold Rampersad, John Updike, Maxine Kumin, Susan Sterling, Ernest Hemingway, Norman Mailer, Dervla Murphy, Haruki Murakami, Don DeLillo, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Annie Dillard, John McPhee, and Laura Hillenbrand. Close readings of essays on form and sport, as well as book excerpts. Students will engage in class discussions and write short weekly papers, leading to a more comprehensive project at the end of the quarter.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-CE
Instructors:
Evans, J. (PI)
ENGLISH 90QN: Quantum Narratives:Writing Fiction about Science, Philosophy and Human Experience in the Quantum Age
Classical modes of storytelling have served writers and readers for centuries, but with mainstream recognition of the complexities and uncertainties that underpin reality, might there also exist less traditional, but perhaps truer, modes of storytelling? Shouldn't our narrative approaches be updated to incorporate quantum realities such as uncertainty, superposition and 'spooky action?' Can characters become entangled or exist in many worlds? What are the narrative implications of a black hole? This course hopes to examine the assertion by Cixin Liu, in his novel The Three-Body Problem, that 'Science fiction is a literature that belongs to all humankind,' as it transcends culture, language and individual experience. Designed for writers and readers interested in exploring the narrative implications and possibilities of science, computing and AI, this workshop-focused course will combine readings, writing exercises and story crafting. Open to writers of all levels and backgrounds, the focus will be on research/science-based narrative rather than fantasy/folkloric writing. (i.e. wormholes, okay; elves and dragons, not so much.)
Last offered: Spring 2023
ENGLISH 90R: American Road Trip
From Whitman to Kerouac, Alec Soth to Georgia O'Keeffe, the lure of travel has inspired many American artists to pack up their bags and hit the open road. In this course we will be exploring the art and literature of the great American road trip, including prose, poetry, films, and photography. We will be reading and writing in a variety of genres, workshopping our own stories, and considering the ways in which our personal journeys have come to inform and define our lives. The course includes a number of campus-wide field trips, and an end-of-quarter road trip down the California coast.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Carlson-Wee, K. (PI)
ENGLISH 90V: Fiction Writing
Online workshop course that explores the ways in which writers of fiction have used language to examine the world, to create compelling characters, and to move readers. We will begin by studying a selection of stories that demonstrate the many techniques writers use to create fictional worlds; we'll use these stories as models for writing exercises and short assignments, leading to a full story draft. We will study figurative language, character and setting development, and dramatic structure, among other elements of story craft. Then, each student will submit a full draft and receive feedback from the instructor and his/her classmates. This course is taught entirely online, but retains the feel of a traditional classroom. Optional synchronous elements such as discussion and virtual office hours provide the student direct interaction with both the instructor and his/her classmates. Feedback on written work ¿ both offered to and given by the student ¿ is essential to the course and creates class rapport.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
Instructors:
HolyWhiteMountain, S. (PI)
ENGLISH 90W: Writing and War
This introductory, five-unit course is designed for all students interested in reading the literature of and studying the expression of military conflict. Bridging the experiences of Veteran and non-Veteran students will be a central aim of the course and will be reflected in enrollment, reading materials, visiting guests and final narrative project.
Last offered: Winter 2019
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
ENGLISH 90WM: Writing Mystical, Spiritual, and Altered States: A Workshop
In this writing workshop, we will explore core fiction and nonfiction techniques by engaging with the long literary tradition of writing about mystical, spiritual, and altered states of experience. The logic is simple: if you can write well about what is often called 'indescribable; or 'ineffable,' you can write about almost anything. We will look at how mystical experiences, spiritual searching, loss of faith, drug experiences, pilgrimages, the natural sublime, and even migraines have made for exhilarating subjects by some of our best contemporary writers, including Michael Pollan, Jia Tolentino, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Oliver Sacks, Denis Johnson, Hillary Mantel, Peter Matthiessen, and Annie Dillard. After close readings and discussions, students will write and workshop their own pieces of questioning, exploration, and awe. Students must attend the first class to retain their roster spot.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
Instructors:
Brewer, W. (PI)
ENGLISH 91: Creative Nonfiction
Historical and contemporary as a broad genre including travel and nature writing, memoir, biography, journalism, and the personal essay. Students use creative means to express factual content. Prerequisite:
PWR 1 (waived in summer quarter and for SLE students). NOTE: First priority to undergrads. Students must attend the first class meeting to retain their roster spot.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Beaty, G. (PI)
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Brewer, W. (PI)
;
Ekiss, K. (PI)
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more instructors for ENGLISH 91 »
Instructors:
Beaty, G. (PI)
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Brewer, W. (PI)
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Ekiss, K. (PI)
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Evans, J. (PI)
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Frisch, S. (PI)
;
Holbert, J. (PI)
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HolyWhiteMountain, S. (PI)
;
Labowskie, M. (PI)
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Nguyen, H. (PI)
;
Perham, B. (PI)
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Porter, E. (PI)
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Shewmaker, M. (PI)
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Smith, A. (PI)
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Tanaka, S. (PI)
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Tomar, R. (PI)
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Williams, Z. (PI)
ENGLISH 91A: Asian American Autobiography/W (AMSTUD 91A, ASNAMST 91A, CSRE 91D)
This is a dual purpose class: a writing workshop in which you will generate autobiographical vignettes/essays as well as a reading seminar featuring prose from a wide range of contemporary Asian-American writers. Some of the many questions we will consider are: What exactly is Asian-American memoir? Are there salient subjects and tropes that define the literature? And in what ways do our writerly interactions both resistant and assimilative with a predominantly non-Asian context in turn recreate that context? We'll be working/experimenting with various modes of telling, including personal essay, the epistolary form, verse, and even fictional scenarios. First priority to undergrads. Students must attend the first class meeting to retain their roster spot.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Lee, C. (PI)
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