ENAM 0175 The Structure of Poetry
This course is an introduction to the reading and writing of poetry emphasizing its structural and musical aspects. Exemplary American and English poems will be examined carefully to appreciate, as Frost says, "the easy way the obstacle of verse is turned to advantage." Among the poets we shall read are Seamus Heaney and Charles Simic. Students will write their own poems and give oral reports on contemporary poets. ART (K. Gottshall)
Limit on Enrollment: 15
ENAM 0370 Workshop in Fiction-Level II
We will engage in the study and practice of fiction writing through workshops and readings in short fiction. Class discussions will be based on student manuscripts and published model works. Emphasis will be placed on composition and revision. (Approval required; please apply at the department office in Axinn) (ENAM 0170) ART (R. Cohen)
Limit on Enrollment: 15
ENAM 0380 Workshop: Nonfiction
In this course we will study and practice the techniques of nonfiction writing through contemporary essay, narrative non-fiction workshops, and readings in the contemporary essay. Class discussions will be based on student manuscripts and published model works. Emphasis will be placed on composition and revision. (ENAM 0170, 0175, or 0185) (Approval required; please apply at the department office in Axinn) 3 hrs. lect. ART (D. Bain)
Limit on Enrollment: 15
ENAM 0715 Senior Review Seminar in American Literature
Required of all majors in American literature preparing for the comprehensive examination to be given at the end of winter term. (Seniors only) (B. Millier)
ENAM 0720 Senior Comprehensive Program
This course is required of all English and English and American Literature majors in their final Winter Term at Middlebury. The course will include readings and discussions of a range of poems, plays, fiction, and theory from 1400 to the present. Discussion of these texts will take place in intense daily seminars, supplemented by three lectures by literary scholars. Four papers are also required, one for each week of seminars. Three informal receptions will round out the communal aspect of this culminating enterprise. (J. Berg, J. Bertolini, E. Napier, D. Price)
ENAM/WAGS 1005 Intermediate Workshop: Transgressive Fiction
It is said that art mirrors life, but what about fiction that depicts lives that fall far outside so-called "norms" and defy simplistic categorization (such as the male/female binary)? In this intermediate fiction workshop, we as writers will explore the transgressive potential of literary expression with an emphasis on gender—transgender, hyper-gender, and post-gender narratives. We will examine primarily works of fiction but will also explore interdisciplinary models including performance, essays, lyrics, and short film. We will read and consider texts by artists such as Jeffrey Eugenides, Michelle Tea, Chuck Palahniuk, Kate Bornstein, Eminem, Virginia Woolf, Gore Vidal, Louise Erdrich, Felicia Luna Lemus, and Scott Turner Schofield, among others. (Approval required; please apply at the department office in Axinn) (ENAM 0170 or ENAM 0175) ART LIT (T Cooper, a visiting winter term instructor)
T Cooper, '94, is the author of the novels,"Lipshitz Six or Two Angry Blondes", and "Some of the Parts". Cooper holds an MFA from Columbia University, and has had writing appear in a variety of publications including "The New Yorker", "The New York Times", and "The Believer".
ENAM 1006 Exploring the Boundaries Between Forms: A Master Class in Cross-Genre Writing
Throughout history, some of the most startling and transformative writing has blurred the boundaries between prose and poetry, creative non-fiction and magic realism, fable and fact, script and novel. In this workshop-style course, students will use techniques from a variety of forms to create new cross-genre work to practice revision and reading performance, and to identify potential journals for publication of their work. The course will culminate in a formal reading open to the public. Readings will include Basho, Carson, Singer, Malamud, Joyce, Busson, Eugenides, Marquez, Orwell, Timpanelli, Calvino, and others, as well as a sampling from writers working in online venues. ART LIT (J. Smyth, a visiting winter term instructor)
Limit on Enrollment: 15
Jessamyn Smyth is a Pushcart Prize nominated writer whose work has been acknowledged in the "100 Distinguished Short Stories of 2005" listing of Best American Short Stories. She is a poet, essayist, short story, and creative non-fiction writer as well as a playwright, producer, and director of theater with several books in progress.
ENAM/WAGS 1012 Writing Lives: Autobiographical Narratives by American Women (CW)
In this course we will explore American women’s autobiographical writing including narratives by immigrants, activists, literary figures, and “ordinary” women, as well as a fictional autobiography and literary criticism. What are the ways in which women have chosen to represent themselves and their lives? What have they hoped to achieve by writing their life stories? How do they infuse their own personal stories with social meaning? Through our readings and discussion, we will examine the constructed nature of autobiographical writing, its formal elements and political uses, and the narrative of women’s history as a history of progress. LIT NOR (W. Teachout, a visiting winter term instructor)
Limit on Enrollment: 12
Woden Teachout holds a Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization from Harvard University. She has taught at Harvard University and other colleges, and currently teaches in the M.A. program at Union Institute and University.
ENAM/FMMC 1013 Short Stories and Feature Films
When novels are adapted into films, the task is almost always reductive—eliminating unnecessary characters, subplots, and themes. Short stories, on the other hand, usually require thoughtful expansion in order to fit the scale of a feature film. In this course we will examine this elaborative process in the context of several recent films that have been widely admired, including Brokeback Mountain, Memento, and In the Bedroom, as well as such classics as Hitchcock's Rear Window. Our critical concerns will be wide-ranging, but with an emphasis on what it means to be “faithful” to a literary text while deliberately stretching it beyond its original boundaries. (Not open to students who have taken FYSE 1166) ART LIT (D. Mitchell)
ENAM/THEA 1020 Going Solo: Writing and Performing the One-Person Show (CW)
Please refer to Theatre for the course description. ART NOR (D. Yeaton)
Limit on Enrollment: 12