Literature MFA Course Descriptions SP26

Pre-authorization is required for students not enrolled in the Literature Department's MFA Program in Creative Writing. Please submit any pre-authorization request through the Enrollment Authorization System.

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LTWR 215 - CROSS-GENRE WORKSHOP
Cadence
Instructor: Ben Doller

This is a concentrated MFA workshop in creating, editing, theorizing, and engaging with cross-genre writing practice, process, and production—with a focus on the word to word, line to line, paragraph to paragraph micro-decisions that cohere into a style or voice.

We will share multiple short selections of our in-progress work for discussion and highlight exercises and strategies to overcome writerly obstructions. The concept of cadence--verbal rhythm and momentum--will be engaged and explored as we seek to acknowledge and sharpen the lyrical qualities of our writing, regardless of genre.

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LTWR 220 - TOPICS IN WRITING
Writing and Politics
Instructor: Kazim Ali

The Politics of Writing (and Art)

Though all writing can be said to be "political," writers often avoid writing work which proceeds from particular ideological agendas, or that engages directly with public events or issues of policy. In this seminar, we will read poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama that has explicitly political content, to grapple with essential questions: What are the purposes of political art? What is at stake aesthetically and ethically in political art? What makes political art "good" or "bad"? Are those aesthetic categories in all cases, or does political art preclude conventional aesthetic judgements? What are the pitfalls, risks, or rewards which face a writer who embraces the political? Authors we will read may include Shakespeare, Osip Mandelstam, Carl Sandberg. Anna Akhmatova, Mahmoud Darwish, Layli Long Soldier, Pat Parker, Robert Hass, Muriel Rukeyser, Lucille Clifton, and Etel Adnan, as well as writers engaging contemporary issues both in the United States and internationally.

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