ENGL 413 - Senior Research and Writing

Credits: 3

Winter 2018, ENGL 413-01: Senior Research and Writing: Trans*ing the Text (3). How does a text generate and direct its economy of movements? A prefix, trans denotes moving across, into, and through; it connotes departure, flow, and arrival—from here to there. It is a turn (think of the volta in sonnets) that, as Eva Hayward and Jami Weinstein observe, “is cause to move, a difference in position, a change in nature”. The asterisk affixed to trans* further marks both the word’s prefixial motions and its expansive suffixial space to which all sorts of objects and ideas can attach themselves. With roots in affect, gender, and post-human studies, trans*ing investigates various tipping points that facilitate the traffic within and transgression of socio-political norms. For instance, the bite of a monster induces a transformation of not only the body but the nature of desire; or, a rejection of the marriage plot blocks certain narrative fulfillments but makes available the transition into different possibilities of identity. We learn how to engage in practices of trans*ing, a la Raymond Williams, through a cluster of sticky keywords: animacy, speciation, form, matter, body, object, affect, monstrosity, liminality, and border. Students compile a portfolio of reading responses in the first half of the seminar as preparation for their individual guided research project. (HL) Kao.

Winter 2018, ENGL 413-02: Senior Research and Writing: Documentary Poetics (3). How do 20th- and 21st-century poets bear witness to social change, violence, and disaster? Students in this capstone read works by Muriel Rukeyser, Carolyn Forché, Patricia Smith, and many others, considering both the uses of poetry and the politics of documentation. What sources do documentary poets draw on and how do they handle the ethics of representation and citation? In response to the readings, students write critically and creatively, eventually pursuing research-based poetry projects on topics of their choosing. Previous workshop experience is not required but may be helpful. (HL) Wheeler.

Fall 2017, ENGL 413-01: Senior Research and Writing: The Art of Narrative (3). This seminar focuses on the development of narrative strategies in short stories and narrative essays. You identify specific literary techniques, analyze them, and apply them in your own writing—fiction, non-fiction, or a combination. A literary technique is any use of language that can be studied in the context of a literary work, abstracted into a general method, and then recreated in an entirely new work. During the term, you develop two major pieces of writing simultaneously, each worth one third of your final grade: (1) a portfolio of original short fiction and/or personal essays that employs some of the identified techniques; and (2) an analytical essay exploring literary techniques from a range of published works. The essay establishes patterns of technique use and argues why certain techniques are employed for similar or contrasting effects in varying contexts. The remaining third of your final grade is the accumulative average of smaller and process assignments leading up to the major pieces. (HL) Gavaler.