01   MW5  CAC  73049   ROGERS  SC-216

Writers at Rutgers: The Art of Memory

In Spring 2008, Rutgers will host readings by the novelist Colson Whitehead, the poet Li-Young Lee, and the graphic novelist Alison Bechdel.  This section of Contemporary Literature will work in conjunction with the Writers at Rutgers series, allowing students to complement classroom study of these writers with attendance at their readings.  In this course, we will look closely at the art of poetry and the art of fiction as they are practiced by Lee, Bechdel, Whitehead, and a handful of other living writers.  Our focus will be on the way contemporary literature represents the act of memory—and on literature as an act of memory in its own right.  Since the genres of lyric poetry and narrative fiction have different resources of form and style, they address the issue of memory, as well as its related themes of loss and impermanence, in significantly different ways.  In order to understand those differences, we will pay close attention to the literary techniques at work in the fiction and poetry we read, observing the way writers manipulate everything from syntax, figurative language, and verbal rhythm to plot structure and point of view.  The syllabus will include Colson Whitehead’s novel The Intuitionist, Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home, and poems selected from the work of both Li-Young Lee and Charles Wright.  Requirements are six short response papers (1-2 pages each), a long final essay (10-12 pages), and attendance at each of the readings.  The readings, which will take place in the College Avenue Student Center, are scheduled for the following evenings: 2/6, 2/20, 3/5, and 4/2.