In this seminar/workshop, we will explore the architecture of stories–how we tell stories. We will watch, read and write stories that go beyond our traditional notions of “beginning, middle, and end,” and discuss the relationship between a story’s form and its content. We will read some theory on narrative, then move on to fiction, along the way writing our own stories. Be prepared to read a lot, and to do this reading as a writer—keeping an eye out for techniques that will enhance the architecture of your own stories.
In addition to a class presentation on some aspect of narrative theory, and written analyses of the works we read, students will experiment with different narrative structures; examples could include a variorum (a document that aggregates all known variants of a text), a testimonial, or visually parallel stories (using, for example, a margin gloss).
Learning Outcomes:
Foundational knowledge of the basic terms and ideas of narrative theory
Advanced understanding of how narratives are structured
Increased understanding of one’s own narrative tendencies
Written and oral ability to analyze and situate one’s own work within a broad range of narrative structures
Texts (this list may change)
Jazz,Toni Morrison
Ella Minnow Pea,Mark Dunn
The People of Paper, Salvador Plascencia
Dubliners, James Joyce
Dictionary of the Khazars, Milorad Pavic
Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
Dictee, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Time’s Arrow, Martin Amis
Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino
Rashomon (film)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (film)
Stray Dogs (film)
Selected stories and essays
Narrative Fiction Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan
Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method, Gerard Genette
Selections from Coming to Terms: The Rhetoric of Narrative in Fiction and Film, Seymour Chatman