English 143N

Other Readings and Media

There will be a required course reader.

Description

This course is a nonfiction workshop in which you'll learn to write about many different types of art and culture, from TV and film to music and other forms of performance, while developing your own voice as a writer and reflecting on what has shaped your own sensibility. For examples of the wide variety of student writing produced in earlier versions of the course, visit "The Annex" at www.medium.com/the-annex.

Our semester will be guided by a few basic questions: What can we demand from culture, and how are we transformed by it? What does it mean to love or hate a song, TV show, or work of art? How are we shaped by our encounters with specific works of art? And how do our arguments about a particular piece of "culture" connect to broader dreams about politics, freedom, community, and our sense of the possible?

On several occasions, we will be honored to host a visit with an esteemed writer, whose work will be featured in the class. Previous visitors have included the New Yorker's Hua Hsu, The Week's Lili Loofbourow, and Macarthur 'genius grant' winner Josh Kun.

Only continuing students are eligible to apply for this course. To be considered for admission, please electronically submit 5-10 double-spaced pages of your creative nonfiction (no poetry or academic writing), by clicking on the link below; fill out the application you'll find there and attach the writing sample as a Word document or .rtf file. The deadline for completing this application process is 11 PM, THURSDAY, APRIL 26.

Also be sure to read the paragraph concerning creative writing courses on page 1 of the instructions area of this Announcement of Classes for further information regarding enrollment in such courses.