ENGL 7850

ENGL 7850

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2019-2020.

In general, Reading for Writers examines literary works through the eyes of a writer, focusing on the craft of literature. While the class is geared toward MFA students, all graduate students are welcome to enroll. Topics vary with each section and semester.

When Offered Fall.

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ENGL 4850

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • Topic: Pleasure and Complexity

  •  5639 ENGL 7850   SEM 101

  • In this seminar, we’ll read poetry and fiction with attention to aspects that recount or impart the experience of pleasure. We might venture into Epicurean philosophy, “happiness studies,” the aesthetics of complexity theory. How do emergent structures contribute to a reader’s satisfaction? How do difficult works create a vertiginous sublime or resonant ambiguity? Why do elegies or stories of suffering afford pleasure? When reading poetry, we’ll consider the immanence created by excess, near non sequitur, emotional valances. Reading fiction, we’ll think about tension, characterization, language, closure, cultural relevance. Though pleasure is a variable, we’ll explore elements that create it. In addition to assigned texts, students will offer works that give them joy.