Thinking Through Critical and Creative Writing

REVISED

Fall 2012 quarter

Faculty

David Wolach creative writing, poetics, aesthetics, media/performing arts

Fields of Study

writing

Description

When working through a set of ideas, many writers oscillate between what gets called "critical writing" and "creative writing"—for instance, between the essay and the poem. This course hopes to play with, complicate, and trouble the notion that these are set categories or distinct ideas by shifting between poetry, prose, and the essay to engage rigorously with contemporary social problems including the circumstances of living in classed, gendered, and racialized bodies. We will examine writing as labor and question the economic value attached to various kinds of written texts. We will take as models for our experiments the work of several writers, such as Fred Moten, kari edwards, and Rodrigo Toscano. Weekly writing assignments will revolve around processes of radical revision—shortening and lengthening the work and translating it from one form into another. This course is suitable for students without significant experience in either creative or critical writing and will teach skills that can be applied to any future writing. More advanced students will be encouraged to take more risks with their formal experimentation.

Advertised Schedule

5-7p Wed, 4-6p Sat

Location

Olympia

Online Learning

Enhanced Online Learning

Books

Greener Store

Offered During

Evening and Weekend

Program Revisions