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CS92PROD
Senior Seminar in Advanced Creative Writing: The Literary Manifesto

WRCT 350
Spring 2012
Section: 01  
Certificates: Writing

This seminar is the required capstone course for qualifying seniors who wish to complete Wesleyan's Writing Certificate Program. In spring 2012, the senior seminar will explore theories spun by writers about the role of mood and emotional effect in prose and poetry. In pursuing this theme, we will ask, What impels writers to form literary schools and to air literary manifestos? Seminar participants will write original works of prose or poetry, borrowing techniques from writings studied in class. Students will discuss techniques advocated by Edgar Allan Poe for evoking "emotional effect" in verse and short fiction. Next, the class will read Baudelaire's poetry and his essays on Poe; examine Jean Moréas' "Symbolist Manifesto"; read French symbolist poetry; and discuss symbolist techniques for evoking mood in verse and prose poems. Thereafter, the class will read André Breton's "Surrealist Manifesto" and discuss theories of the unconscious propounded by 1920s French and Spanish surrealists. We will conclude by reading Jorge Luis Borges' "Ultra Manifesto" and fiction by authors affiliated with the Latin American Boom who were influenced by surrealism. At the end of the semester students will write a literary "manifesto" that sets forth principles for founding a new literary school. A central purpose of this seminar is to create a sense of community and camaraderie among graduating Wesleyan writers. To this end, students will share their work in both seminar workshops and a public reading. Participants also will assemble a portfolio of their best work produced over their four years at Wesleyan.

Essential Capabilities: Designing, Creating, and Realizing, Writing
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: None
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Credit/Unsatisfactory
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (CWRC)
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available

Last Updated on MAR-28-2024
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