Writing London and the Narrative of Cities: Muriel Sparks and Strange Truths

Monday, June 17, 2013

Muriel Sparks and Strange Truths

Muriel Spark

"The House of the Famous Poet," first published in the New Yorker

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Light is Like Water"

Emma Bolden's "House"

Paul Delvaux's "Sleeping Venus," 1944, at Tate Modern

Off to the Tate!

While there, take notes on surreal elements that speak to you. In your notebooks, describe the pieces, noting their titles and the names of the artists for reference. Then, list the emotions and abstract ideas that the art brings to mind. "Collect" at least five artworks this way. We'll work with your research in class on Thursday in preparation for CR #4.

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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