In this 8-week critique-based workshop, we'll consider how to balance personal stories with other modes of writing, from researched history, to politics and theory, and everything in between. What is a memoir's ideal interplay between narrative and non-narrative elements? When is story enough; or, does every personal narrative need outside sources? These questions can feel as existential as they are formal, cutting to the very heart of authority and truth. We'll begin each meeting with short, in-class readings and discussions of exemplary nonfiction work. Then, workshop sessions will foreground each piece's possibilities, critiquing what's on the page while keeping eyes widely open to where and how the piece might evolve beyond the authorial self. Workshop authors will receive a full letter of editorial feedback from the instructor. Written peer reviews, however, will be limited to short answers to a prescribed set of questions.
Scheduling note: To accommodate Lighthouse's Illumination Gala, this class will not meet on September 18.
