ENGLISH 191RW: Reading for Fiction Writers

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IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ENROLLMENT: an approved petition does not guarantee a seat in the class. The first 45 enrollments will form the class—not everyone whose petition has been approved. Students with approved petitions must enroll ASAP to secure their seat. 

 

In the area below, provide basic, standard course information ahead of registration period to help students make informed course choices. Click the EDIT button and input your responses by over-writing the field description below each bolded heading. Consult the IT Help knowledge base or reach out to FAS Academic Technology at atg@fas.harvard.edu for assistance.

Course goals:

In this course, we will learn how to read closely, to interpret stories and novels, to figure out what literary works mean and, most importantly, how they embody their meanings in form. We will look at the wide spectrum of effects writers create in their texts. We will also be asking ourselves throughout the semester: How do writers read other writers? What are the technical things they look out for when they are reading? These conversations will, in turn, inform the creative work you generate this semester.  Please see the syllabus under "files" for more information.

Course format:

This class will be co-taught by two creative writing faculty members, Professors Laura van den Berg and Neel Mukherjee. The lecture component of the course will meet twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, for 75 minutes per session; one of those classes will be largely devoted to craft lectures, Q & A, and workshopping student writing. You will also meet for an hour-long section (separate from the weekly lectures) each week where you'll have the opportunity to do your own creative writing. This will involve writing exercises, imitations of writers we will be reading, flash fiction, and other writing prompts.
Please see the syllabus under "files" for more information.

Typical enrollees:

This course is intended for any student who is interested in reading and writing fiction. No previous experience with creative writing is required.

When is course typically offered?

Fall 2024 semester.

What can students expect from you as an instructor?

This class will be co-taught by two creative writing faculty members, Professors Laura van den Berg and Neel Mukherjee. You can expect deep dives into the craft behind the short stories and novels on the reading list and a chance to create your own stories.

Assignments and grading:

Please see the document 'course assignments' under "files" for more information.

Sample reading list:

The list is diverse in terms of genres. We will read sci-fi (Ursula K. Le Guin, Butler), fairytale inspired fiction (Angela Carter, Helen Oyetemi), metaphysical fiction (Leo Tolstoy), realist fiction (Alice Munro, Mavis Gallant). We will consider fiction through the lens of race and gender and politics (Mavis Gallant, Edward P. Jones, Vivek Shanbhag), and read several writers who wrote in languages other than English (Anton Chekhov, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar).

Enrollment cap, selection process, notification:

This course is capped at 45 students. Students do not need instructor permission to enroll. 

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ENROLLMENT: an approved petition does not guarantee a seat in the class. The first 45 enrollments will form the class—not everyone whose petition has been approved. Students with approved petitions must enroll ASAP to secure their seat. 

Absence and late work policies:

Please see the document 'course assignments' under "files" for more information.

 

READING FOR FICTION WRITERS

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: There is no writing without reading. This is an unimpeachable and incontrovertible fact that all writers know. Ask any writer why they became a writer, and they'll tell you that it's because they read. Octavia Butler, who came from a poor family, once said that she became a writer because she had access to public libraries. Books, in other words; they showed her what was possible. What kind of training in reading prepares one to become a writer? This is an open-enrollment creative writing course that will introduce you to some extraordinary writers who will inspire you, make you think, make you quarrel with them, fill you with wonder and awe and, sometimes, bafflement. It is by no means representative in any way, nor is it exhaustive, nor does it have any historical ordering. It is meant to be a stepping-stone to possibilities, to greater imaginative and creative worlds.  

  

The list is diverse in terms of genres. We will read sci-fi (Ursula K. Le Guin, Butler), fairytale inspired fiction (Angela Carter, Helen Oyetemi), metaphysical fiction (Leo Tolstoy), realist fiction (Alice Munro, Mavis Gallant). We will consider fiction through the lens of race and gender and politics (Mavis Gallant, Edward P. Jones, Vivek Shanbhag), and read several writers who wrote in languages other than English (Anton Chekhov, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar). We will learn how to read closely, to interpret stories and novels, to figure out what literary works mean and, most importantly, how they embody their meanings in form. We will look at the wide spectrum of effects writers create in their texts. We will also be asking ourselves throughout the semester: How do writers read other writers? What are the technical things they look out for when they are reading? These conversations will, in turn, inform the creative work you generate this semester.  

  

This class will be co-taught by two creative writing faculty members, Professors Laura van den Berg and Neel Mukherjee. The lecture component of the course will meet twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, for 75 minutes per session; one of those classes will be largely devoted to craft lectures, Q & A, and workshopping student writing. You will also meet for an hour-long section (separate from the weekly lectures) each week where you'll have the opportunity to do your own creative writing. This will involve writing exercises, imitations of writers we will be reading, flash fiction, and other writing prompts.  

 

SYLLABUS:

 

Week 1: Wednesday (4 September): Introduction. No reading required.

           

Week 2: Monday (9 September): Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969).

 Wednesday (11 September): Angela Carter, Helen Oyeyemi: Texts TBD.

 

Week 3: Monday (16 September): Rendering the world on the page in realist fiction: Craft lecture.

             Wednesday (18 September): Craft lecture.

 

Week 4: Monday (23 September): Jorge Luis Borges, ‘The Secret Miracle’, Julio Cortázar, ‘Island at Noon’.

            Wednesday (25 September): Vivek Shanbhag, Ghachar Ghochar (2017).

 

Week 5: Monday (30 September): Octavia Butler, ‘Bloodchild’, ‘Speech Sounds’.

 Wednesday (2 October): Zoe Wicomb, ‘Trompe L’Oeil’; Kij Johnson, ‘At The Mouth of The River of Bees’.

 

Week 6: Monday (7 October): Craft lecture.

            Wednesday (9 October): Anton Chekhov: Text(s) TBD.

 

Week 7: Monday (14 October): NO CLASS (Indigenous Peoples Day).

 Wednesday (16 October): Craft class.

 

Week 8: Monday (21 October): Alice Munro: Texts TBD

             Wednesday (23 October): Points of view: Craft class.

 

Week 9: Monday (28 October): Mavis Gallant, ‘The Cost of Living’, [ANOTHER GALLANT STORY].

      Wednesday (30 October): Miriam Toews, Women Talking (2018).

 

Week 10: Monday (4 November): Edward P. Jones, ‘Marie’, from Lost in the City (1992), and ‘Tapestry’, from All Aunt Hagar’s Children (2006).

             Wednesday (6 November): Craft lecture.

 

Week 11: Monday (11 November): Leo Tolstoy, ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’, ‘Master and Workman’.

 Wednesday (13 November): Craft lecture.

 

Week 12: Monday (18 Nov): Lucia Berlin, ‘Silence’, ‘Tiger Bites’.

            Wednesday (20 November): Craft lecture.

 

Week 13: Monday (25 November): Jenny Erpenbeck, Visitation.

            Wednesday (27 November): THANKSGIVING BREAK.

 

Week 14: Monday (2 December): Craft lecture.

               Wednesday (4 December): READING OF STUDENT WORK.