CREATIVE
NONFICTION:
1:00-1:50 pm
CCWWAC160
|
Instructor |
Assistant Professor, Dr. Joel
Peckham—Ph.D. in English with a Dissertation on American Literature from The |
Office Location
|
CCSNYDER S272B |
Office Hours
|
MWF 11am-1pm |
|
Office Phone Number |
513-558-1249 |
Email Address
|
joel_peckham@yahoo.com |
Homepage
|
http://www.joelpeckham.com |
“How can you tell a first-rate essay? I am
tempted to repeat what
All I can say is that I was looking for a certain density of thought. A living voice. A text that would surprise me and take me through a mental
adventure.’—Phillip Lopate,
“Bold Face”
Course Description:
Readings in the development of autobiography, personal essay, and creative non-ficton in British and American culture and writing in this mode throughout the quarter.
COURSE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:
Conceived as a workshop designed to create publishable manuscripts and give practical advice regarding the market for those manuscripts, this course will focus on student writing of memoir and the creative non-fiction essay. Here we will explore the possibilities of the personal essay form as a work of art. Through reading, writing, careful revision and individual conferencing students will acquire the skills for writing publishable creative non-fiction and explore possible market outlets for that work.
LEARNING OUTCOMES/ INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS:
1) Essays:
Students will produce four short essays: a memoir, an explorative essay, an informative or purpose-driven essay, and a market driven essay written with the intent of submission for publication in a field-specific journal ( a literary journal for example or American Baby). These essays will be between 750 to 1500 words in length (at least). Three of these must be revised for a final portfolio which will form 60% of the grade for the Personal Responsibility Folder (and thus, the course).
Assignment #1, Memoir (slice of life): a short essay that recalls a moment in your life of intense emotional value that is part of a larger story. It should be a microcosm of the story itself. The essay will be graded on it’s ability to establish and maintain a narrative thrust, develop a character, reveal through very highly wrought language a scene, use metaphor and symbol. This essay should not end with a moral or point but with a startling image, idea, or realization. Outcome: to introduce students to the literary essay and to hone the lyrical skills necessary to create wonder and pleasure through phrasing.
Assignment #2, Exploring an Idea (short literary collage or braided essay): a slightly longer essay that attempts to explore an idea. This essay should be written in 7 to 10 disjunctive paragraphs and should be playful in form. Each paragraph should deal with the idea (pain, grief, abuse, motherhood, joy, pleasure, spirituality) in a very separate way, using anecdotes, quotations from literature and science, photographs, art, etc. to render an expressionistic understanding of the idea. This essay should not have a thesis or summation. Outcome: to break students from the 5 paragraph essay format and introduce new writing approaches and ways of conceiving the structure of the essay.
Assignment #3, Informative Essay (essay of witness, writing about the “other”): This essay should be about someone else—someone you don’t know but are curious about because you think that this life throws light on your own life. To do this essay, you must interview/observe/visit someone else who has experienced something that you need to know more about. This should be a subject with emotional significance to you. Though it may involve a job shadow, it should not be “just” a job-shadow. This interview/visit should take some emotional courage on your part and should involve significant research time, not a twenty-minute phone-call. It cannot be about an immediate family member or a grandparent. This essay should be purpose driven and move from initial assumptions, to experience, to intimate connection, to new awareness. Outcome: to get students to pay attention to the world outside themselves and to recognize the interconnectedness of people, events, and things.
Assignment #4, Market Driven Essay (essay written for the audience of a specific journal, designed for the audience of a specific journal). For this assignment you are required to purchase and research a journal in an area of interest to you that publishes personal essays. You are to read some of the essays that you have published, find out the subjects that interests the audience and editors, acquire the contact information and submission guidelines and write an essay that would adhere to those guidelines. Then you must submit that essay to the editor for publication consideration. The journal must be refereed (not a blog or open website), and must offer some kind of compensation to the writer (if not remuneration, at least copies of the journal). This should get students thinking of writing as a profession instead of a hobby.
2) Personal Responsibility Folder
This is an essential
part of your grade and participation in the class and will form 100% of your
overall grade. Essentially, the personal responsibility folder will
contain all your essays, required assignments, and a record of your individual
learning progress.
See Personal
Responsibility Folder Handout and
checklist.
Text/Other Materials:
Scorekeeping Robert Cowser
(available)
Cold
Snap As Yearning Robert Vivian (not yet available)
Handouts
329 Audio CD
Brevity, A
Journal of Concise Creative Nonfiction—
www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/index.htm (available on-line)
A Composition Notebook
A Large Three-Ring Binder
A USB storage device.
Final Exam Period: March 17-March 22, 2008
Grading:
3 of 4 Revised Essays: 600 pts
Personal Responsibility Folder: 400 pts
CODE OF ETHICS / BYLAWS:
Mutual Respect:
All members of this writing community exist on equal terms as scholars, writers, and as human beings. All cultural backgrounds, belief systems, lifestyle choices, etc. deserve and will receive respect. Community members will address each other with appropriate decorum. Any form of discrimination and/or prejudice, verbal or otherwise, is unacceptable. Violators may be asked to leave the classroom.
Attendance:
This course is process oriented with a heavy emphasis on class participation, discussion, and revision. Missed classes, therefore, will negatively affect student grades.
Students will receive 2 "free," unexcused absences (a free absence does not mean that you can make up a pop quiz on the day you have missed). After that, each absence will result in the deduction of 50 full points from your grade total (out of 1000). An excused absence requires supporting documentation and (preferably) prior notification. Illness, Family Emergencies, University sponsored field trips, and Automobile Accidents are reasons for missing class. Hangovers, tests in other courses, dates, and defective alarm clocks are not. At the beginning of every class I hand out a sign-in sheet for that day. If your name is not on it, you are absent. If you come into class after the sheet has been passed around, you are absent. Show up on time.
Withdrawals:
Standard University of Cincinnati Policy. Students who want to withdraw from this course will be able to do so on-line. The last day to withdraw with no entry to the academic record is January 21st. Students withdrawing from this course between January 22nd and March 4th must provide the professor with prior written communication about their intent to withdraw from the course on-line. At the discretion of the professor, these students will receive the grade of “X”, “WX”, or “F”. Students withdrawing March 5th and after will receive the grade of “F”.
Plagiarism: 1. Submitting another's published or unpublished work, in whole, in part, or in
paraphrase, as one's own without fully and properly crediting the author with footnotes, citations or bibliographical reference. 2.Submitting as one's own, original work, material obtained from an
individual or agency without reference to the person or agency as the source of the material.
3.Submitting as one's own, original work, material that has been produced through unacknowledged collaboration with others without release in writing from collaborators.
ADA: Students with Disabilities: The policy of the University of Cincinnati Clermont College requires students to self-identify and provide proper documentation to Jennifer Radt, 732-5327. Academic Director of Disability Services, located in the Student Services Building.
