WRC 7053 - The Iconoclastic Novel:Writing and Reading the Political,Fantastic,Alternative,One-of-a-Kind Novel

Institution:

California Institute of Integral Studies

Subject:

Description:

The class considers novels that combine formal invention with explicit or oblique social commentary and/or unusual approaches to consciousness: Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon; Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities; Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; Penelope Fitzgerald, The Blue Flower; Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping; Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red; and Manuel Puig, Kiss of the Spider Woman. We look at a range of ways that writers can extend and structure long-form narratives, exploring artistic questions of fantastic, social, and political writing from both theoretical and craft-oriented approaches. Participants will examine, in their own writing as well as their course reading, the craft issues that intersect with the artistic questions, including plot and structure; the layering of multiple narratives into a meaningful whole; the development of characters, patterns, imagery, and ideas over the course of a long work; the fiction/nonfiction boundary; and the inclusion of multi-genre elements.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.ciis.edu

Phone Number:

(415) 575-6100

Regional Accreditation:

Western Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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