ENGL469J Writing the Impossible: Fantastic Beings, Haunted Places, Other Worlds

Beginnings of African-American literature including origins of literary expression in folk tales, songs, and spirituals; slave narratives; pamphlets, essays and oratory; and the emergence of poetry and fiction. Emphasis is on interaction between literary forms and the salient political issues of the day.

Writing the Impossible: Fantastic Beings, Haunted Places, Other Worlds. In this class we will read and experiment with writing fiction that departs from depictions of the everyday world to incorporate the strange, the surreal, the marvelous, the supernatural and the speculative. We'll look at a variety of approaches writers have taken to creating fabulist stories, and how these can have different effects on the reader. Then we'll work on creating, discussing and revising our own stories in these genres. Readings may include work by Octavia Butler, Ursula LeGuin, Leonora Carrington, Donald Barthelme, Ted Chiang, Stanislaw Lem, Clarice Lispector, Carmen Maria Machado, Victor Lavalle, Samantha Hunt and Thomas Ligotti.

Section(s):
0101 -  Emily Mitchell