Download Sample Craft Course Syllabus: The Character of Character

Marilyn Abildskov
333 Dante
[email protected]
Spring 2013
Office: (925) 631-4360
Home: (510) 450-0499
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English 264
Craft of Nonfiction
Class time: Tuesday & thursday 2:50 p.m. to 4:20 p.m.
Class Location: 113 Dante
Office Hours: 1-2 p.m. Thursdays and by appointment
THE CHARACTER OF CHARACTER
Course Description:
Many of the most acclaimed novels in the history of literature focus on and are named after a single
character: Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dallaway, Gustave Flaubert’s
Madame Bovary. We read with focus, then, as we come to know the texture of Anna’s troubles, the
quality of Clarissa’s mind, the futility of Emma Bovary’s aspirations. Much of what we think of as
modern realist fiction probably centers on character. And so, in discussing the writing of fiction, it’s
natural to discuss the flesh-and-blood reality of characters we encounter on the page, how to build
characters, how to make them appear more believable and as complex as we know real people to
be.
But what of character in nonfiction? How does the writer of memoir and essay bring to life people
on the page who already exist or existed in real life, characters who do not need to be built so much
as revealed? This course will look at a range of work from the autobiographical novel to the
fragmented memoir to long-form literary journalism with an eye toward studying the nature of
characterization: how writers bring to life people on the page: through glimpses, sketches, fulllength scenes that rely on gestures, descriptions, dialogues, and monologues, and double portraits
arranged through memories, questions, and riffs of imagination. We will ask ourselves in what way
first-person narrators—those who recede into the background and those who take center stage—are
crafted (often through a distinctive voice) to become essential characters. We will also ask, to what
effect? For what purpose do these characters exist on the page? As windows into another culture?
As a way of examining—and arguing—political ideas? As the canvas on which an elegy is
composed? And what particular issues regarding character do nonfiction writers face? Do readers
expect to “like” a narrator in nonfiction in ways they do not when reading fiction? Do we yearn to
know a narrator will be OK at the end of a memoir in a way that we do not when reading a novel?
We will pose these questions and many more by delving into the character of characters (whether
these are people, places, or ideas) in each text.
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Required Texts:
 Sylvia by Leonard Michaels
 Long Ago in France by MFK Fisher
 Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas
 Michael Martone by Michael Martone
 The Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster
 “Undertaker, Please Drive Slow” by Jo Ann Beard
 An Exclusive Love by Johanna Adorján
 The Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster
 Handouts
Course Requirements:
You will be expected to complete all assignments, both creative and critical, to receive
credit for the course. Your critical work should reflect attention to the terms we use and
discuss in class. Your creative work may be part of a larger whole (i.e. a memoir or
book-length reportage or an autobiographical novel in progress) but it should be work
produced in response to these assignments, not something you have written for another
class. All work should typed and double-spaced, using 12-point font and one-inch
margins. Title your work and number your pages. Plan to participate every week in class
discussions and respond to others' work when asked.
Learning Outcomes:
Students in this course will:
 read with attention to how characters are rendered on the page;
 create original work, using the seminar’s theme as a means for experimentation;
 relate the issues discussed in this seminar to the practice of writing.
Grades:
All grades for Saint Mary’s MFA Creative Writing students are Pass / Fail. The student
who misses four or more class sessions will likely not receive credit. Arriving more than
10 minutes late to class, disappearing for extended periods during class, or leaving more
than 10 minutes early translates into an absence. Also in jeopardy of failing the course is
the student who fails to participate in the discussions on a weekly basis or who misses
deadlines for the major assignments or who does not turn in one of the assignments.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is the undocumented use of someone else's ideas, words, or sentences. To
present another's work as your own, even if you are paraphrasing, is plagiarism. Doing so
is a serious offense and will likely result in failure in the course.
Classroom etiquette:
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Non-alcoholic drinks are fine, but no food is allowed. Please turn your cells phones off
before coming to class. During class discussions, remember at all times that respect is
key: do not whisper to others while classmates are trying to articulate their ideas; do not
say things during our discussions such as, “I wouldn’t read this except that I had to.”
Consider it your job to find a more insightful way to communicate the nuances of your
reading experience to others. And in the interest of professionalism, do not discuss this
course or your peers in public forums such as Facebook.
Special considerations:
Student Disability Services extends reasonable and appropriate accommodations that take into
account the context of the course and its essential elements for individuals with qualifying
disabilities. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services
Coordinator at (925) 631-4164 to set up a confidential appointment to discuss accommodation
guidelines and available services. Additional information regarding the services available may be
found at the following address on the Saint May’s website: http://www.stmarysca.edu/academics/academic-advising-and-achievement/student-disability-services.html
If you have any concerns that require special consideration such as physical disabilities,
please see your instructor as soon as possible so we can make the appropriate
arrangements.
Words to write by:
“Can it be that I am the subject?”—Elizabeth Hardwick
"Your characters in a sense, should always have revolvers in their handbags. Not that they
should use them." —Robin Hemley
"You can renounce food, shelter, sex—but you cannot renounce character because, at the
very least, it is the expression of the body in time." —Donald Morrill
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