Spring 2024 - ENGL 472W E100
Seminar in Advanced Creative Writing (4)
Class Number: 7681
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
-
Course Times + Location:
Jan 8 – Apr 12, 2024: Wed, 4:30–8:20 p.m.
Burnaby -
Exam Times + Location:
Apr 22, 2024
Mon, 7:00–10:00 p.m.
Burnaby
-
Instructor:
Hari Alluri
-
Instructor:
Hari Alluri
halluri@sfu.ca
-
Prerequisites:
ENGL 372 or 374.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
An advanced seminar-workshop in the theory and practice of poetry or fiction. Genre varies from term to term. Students with credit for ENGL 472 prior to fall 2015 may not complete this course for further credit. Otherwise, course may be repeated for credit when the genre varies. Writing.
COURSE DETAILS:
A seminar-workshop in the theory and practice of creative writing with specific emphasis on poetry.
Poetic Response: Interventions in Culture
“We have an entire body for carrying. We have an entire body for listening.”
—Patrick Rosal, Atang: An Altar for Listening to the Beginning of the World
As intoned by the quote above from poet and essayist Patrick Rosal, in this course we will ask ourselves what we carry, and what it is that our bodies listen for. These questions guide us towards why we write, a question Chris Abani considers “the crux of craft.” We will encounter texts which attend to questions of craft and respond to these texts in order to contend with these questions in our own writing lives.
Intertwined with these questions, we will work from our own obsessions to write with curiosity through our fears into our wonder: we will create and revise new poetic work guided by processes that will help our writing grow within and beyond the course. For this part we will respond to cultural artifacts that move and trouble us, learning from poetic works whose approaches—from lyric and narrative through experimentation and displacement of the author—deepen our relationships to the act of poetic creation.
We will begin class weekly with a free-write. We will hold discussions about our encounters with assigned and self-selected texts, digging into the processes at work, which will lead to further in-class and take-home writing, mindful revision, and reflection about our choices and processes. Through practice, we will learn to better support each other and ourselves in our growth as writers—grounding our feedback in attentive, self-reflexive and ethical reading whose anchor is in the process.
Grading
- Reading Journal + Homework Prompts 35%
- Writing & Process Journal (10 opening free-writes + 10 at-home entries) 10%
- Attendance and Participation (includes peer reviews, in-class discussion, quizzes) 10%
- Portfolio I + Reflection 15%
- Portfolio II + Reflection 15%
- Presentation: One Significant Poem 5%
- Final Reflection 5%
- Final Class Reading 5%
NOTES:
Education research shows that improvement and discernment in skills such as creative writing come primarily through the processes of iterative and reflective practice. This course will therefore include: in-class writing, reading responses, homework prompts, writing journals, multiple drafts, and revision. Learners will write and read a lot.
To offer each other the most collaborative support and to make discussion most fruitful to the process, learners will be expected to come to every class prepared and ready to engage.
Learners will practice attentive reading of each others' work for the purpose of offering reflective, generative, and respectful feedback, deepening their understanding of their own processes, and helping them transform feedback they receive into processual learning.
This is a place where you can expect to challenge your own and others’ ideas of writing, and to explore new ground in your writing and reading. Each student is an important member of the community that is this class; your thoughtful, creative, and respectful participation is expected and appreciated.
Department Undergraduate Notes:
IMPORTANT NOTE Re 300 and 400 level courses: 75% of spaces in 300 level English courses, and 100% of spaces in 400 level English courses, are reserved for declared English Major, Minor, Extended Minor, Joint Major, and Honours students only, until open enrollment begins.
For all On-Campus Courses, please note the following:
- To receive credit for the course, students must complete all requirements.
- Tutorials/Seminars WILL be held the first week of classes.
- When choosing your schedule, remember to check "Show lab/tutorial sections" to see all Lecture/Seminar/Tutorial times required.
Materials
MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:
Digital Course Pack (through SFU Bookstore, with individual readings posted on Canvas)
The Big Smoke. Adrian Matejka (Penguin, 2013). Available at Massy Books (discounted), or another local independent bookstore (not ordered at Bookstore)
A folder for handouts and/or Materials posted online (SFU Bookstore; stationary stores and sections).
Access to a printer
A writing journal or for in-class and take home writing and reflection assignments (SFU Bookstore; Foo Hung Curios; Opus Art Supplies, Rath Art Supplies).
All other supplementary materials will be available on our Canvas website.
Registrar Notes:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS
SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
REQUIRED READING NOTES:
Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.
Department Undergraduate Notes:
IMPORTANT NOTE Re 300 and 400 level courses: 75% of spaces in 300 level English courses, and 100% of spaces in 400 level English courses, are reserved for declared English Major, Minor, Extended Minor, Joint Major, and Honours students only, until open enrollment begins.
For all On-Campus Courses, please note the following:
- To receive credit for the course, students must complete all requirements.
- Tutorials/Seminars WILL be held the first week of classes.
- When choosing your schedule, remember to check "Show lab/tutorial sections" to see all Lecture/Seminar/Tutorial times required.
Registrar Notes:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS
SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION
Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.