ENGL 4850 - Reading for Writers

(LA-AS)

Fall. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Reading for Writers examines literary works through the eyes of a writer, focusing on the craft of literature. Topics vary with each section and semester and may focus on fiction, poetry, or both.

E. Quiñonez.

“I am a sick man. I am an angry man. I am an unattractive man.” These are not unreliable narrators who have lost it or are bats, but rather complex voices. We will read some really “off beat” narratives from all over the Americas and on. From Chile’s Jose Donoso, Colombia’s Laura Restrepo, Argentina’s Ernesto Sabato, Brazil’s Clarice Lispector, The United States’ Frederick Exley, Spain’s Felipe Alfau, Japan’s Yukio Mishima, Taiwan’s Qiu Miaojin, Russia’s Dostoyevsky, ending with France’s sappy but wonderful Marguerite Duras, “Take me. Deform me. Make me ugly. Why not you?” Be prepared to read and discuss these amazing voices with joy, humor, and an intimate, soaring passion. Dark sarcasm in the classroom is welcomed. Therapy not required but advised.

Topic for Fall 2017: Madness and the Novel

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