Techniques in Fiction (The Child Narrator) (CW)

This course
explores why and how writers choose to tell stories through a child’s eyes. If
successful, their narratives inevitably evince more emotional appeal than if
told through adult eyes. Yet the works – often about war, family break-up,
mental or physical disability, murder, and abuse – are deadly serious. They are
for adults. The child is often an innocent observer; the child is also the
cunning survivor. In this space between guilelessness and guile lies his or her
‘victory’ for us, the grown-ups, as we find ourselves rooting for those who can
be wronged but not outdone. If the pattern is predictable, it is also endlessly
varied. Or is it? We will look at works from around the world and from
different time periods that have used the child’s voice – from falsely naiive
to ironic, from cute to controversial – with varying degrees of success. I may
also choose to include memoirs, and/or works that are from a child’s
perspective, but as painted by an absent third-person narrator (who is quite
possibly the child grown up).

Required
Texts
may include
but not be limited to:

Barbara
Comyns THE VET’S DAUGHTER;

Adania
Shibli TOUCH;

Marjane
Satrapi PERSEPOLIS 1: THE STORY OF A CHILDHOOD;

Ishmael
Beah A LONG WAY GONE;

Mark Haddon
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME;

Karen
Russell SWAMPLANDIA!

Roddy Doyle
PADDY CLARKE HA! HA! HA!

Course Requirements

Reading and Presentations. There will be in-depth
class discussions on the books. The discussions will be led by individual
students. By the end of the course, each of you will have given two reasonably
lengthy presentations, paying particular attention to the dexterity with which
each writer handles the voice and perspective of the child.

Writing. There will be a combination of creative
and analytical writing. For the creative part, I will ask for one or two
(depending on the size of our class) works of original fiction, each of approximately 7-10 pages, double-spaced,
in which you employ some of the techniques of writing we have seen in the
books. We will workshop each together, which means that this course lays a high
emphasis on class participation as well as commitment to self-evaluation and
the evaluation of your peers’ work. The analytical writing will include short (one
page) response papers (typed) on each book, as well as a research paper. I may
also give in-class writing exercises and/or surprise quizzes.