Writing London and the Narrative of Cities: 3/28 Jean Rhys' "The Lotus"

Friday, May 24, 2013

3/28 Jean Rhys' "The Lotus"

In preparation for Tuesday's class, please read Jean Rhys' "The Lotus" in our textbook. Here is a link to the Google Books page of the collection. You won't be able to read the entire story here, and it isn't available online anywhere I can find it, so get your book, download it via Google reader or Kindle, or borrow a friend's copy.

Link to Rhys' Wikipedia entry

Your first Creative Response, inspired by our time at the Museum of London, is due on Tuesday, 5/28. Please title and double-space your piece, and print a copy for me.

For a lovely tribute to Rhys, titled, appropriately enough for our class, "Street Haunting with Jean Rhys," click here.

"Hills Like White Elephants"--talking text and subtext
What the Imagists have to do with fiction writers

Ezra Pound. 1884–

106. In a Station of the Metro

THE apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

Sharon Olds' "Visiting My Mother's College"

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Assessing Creative Work

All assignments will be evaluated on a 0-5 scale. Here's the breakdown:

0 --you didn't do the assignment

1 -the work produced has no resemblance whatsoever to the prompt, or is hastily done with little effort in evidence

2--the work has addressed a few of the craft elements in the weekly lessons; alternatively, one might earn a 2 if the work falls under the 2-3 page range for the Creative Responses, or the 10-15 range for the short story, and/or has so many
mechanical/grammatical errors that reading is interrupted

3--the work addresses most of the craft elements in the weekly lessons; there are few mechanical/grammatical errors; the ideas aren't entirely original, or "third column writing" yet, but they have the potential to get there

4--the work addresses all of the craft elements in the weekly lessons; mechanical/grammatical errors are absent, or very few; ideas are of the "third column" sort

5--the work is of publishable quality, and the sort of thing I would share with my co-editors for multiple reads!

Syllabus

Learning Outcomes:

--Students will produce effective pieces of creative writing in the short story genre
--Students will demonstrate the habits of professional writers, including revision, workshop and readings
--Students will read and interpret a variety of creative texts by British authors

Requirements:

--One 10-15 page short story. First draft worth 30% and revision worth another 30%

--Several 2-3 page creative responses, worth 20% of the overall grade, AVERAGED TOGETHER

--Participation in workshop of short responses, worth 20% of the overall grade, AVERAGED TOGETHER

Assessment criteria:

--Students will be assessed for each written piece according to their ability to put into practice elements of craft which will be discussed in class.

--Creative responses should be uploaded to the class blog on the evening prior to the workshop.

Text:

--The Penguin Book of Modern Short Stories

Detailed Course Outline:

5/21 First Day of Class/Introductions

5/23 "The Mysterious Kor,"/visit to the Museum of London

5/28 Creative Response #1 due/"The Lotus"

5/30 "Street Haunting: A London Adventure" (link)/visit to Trafalgar Square

6/4 Creative Response #2 due/"Strange Comfort Afforded by the Profession"

6/6 Visit to the British Library/work on short story first draft

PLEASE UPLOAD ONE OF YOUR CREATIVE RESPONSES BY 6/10 IN THE EVENING

6/11 Short story first draft due/workshop

6/13 workshop

6/18 "The House of the Famous Poet"/Creative Response #3 due

6/20 "Miss Pulkinghorn"/excursion TBA

6/25 "In the Hours of Darkness"/Creative Response #4 due

6/27 Short story revision due