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Seminar in Advanced Fiction
 Course: ENGL 527
When: 8:30am-12pm
Where: TBA
Instructor: Stephen Gutierrez
Phone: 810-885-3382
Email: sgutierr@csuhayward.edu
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Required Texts:
Story of the Eye. Georges Bataille. City Lights Books,
1987. ISBN, 0-87286-209-7 (paperback)
Burning Down the House, Essays on Fiction. Charles Baxter.
Graywolf Press, 1998. ISBN, 1-55597-270-5 (paperback).
The Writing Life. Annie Dillard. HarperCollins, 1999. ISBN,
0-06-091988-4 (paperback)
Nine Stories. J.D. Salinger. Any paperback edition.
Class-generated Text. (See under Course Requirements)
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Course
Description:
My past experience with fiction writing classes is that most of the students
are in need of reminding what writing is--they need to be told whether they are writing or
not, and if they are not, they need to be taught, in so far as that is possible (and I
believe it is), how. They need to be nudged, inspired, upended into a new awareness of
writing. I will eschew, then, the workshop method of discussing work that is not writing,
that is not ready. I would rather try to change a student in regard to his own work and
conception of writing, particularly of the short story if that is his genre, but equally
of the novel, since it is all fiction, if that is his game. What we're talking about here
is art, and how it works on the page, and what it is, and how the composition of your
sentences, followed by others in like-minded relations to them, bearing a certain tone and
weight, are all that matter. Everything else--story!--can be forgotten in that pursuit. If
you are already writing, we will hold up those features of your text for emulation,
inspiration and awe, discussion and praise. Other parts can be "workshopped,"
then, up to the same level, perhaps. But what I want to avoid is wholesale discussion of
elements of fiction--plot, dialogue, point of view--at the expense of the writing going
on, or not, on the page. If perhaps the question occurs to you, why are we talking about
basic writing if I have already gotten into the program? My answer is, Maybe we still need
to talk about writing at a deeper level. Maybe you can do better. Maybe you're just there.
Maybe you need a lot of work in a direction you haven't considered yet. Maybe school will
shake you up some for the good.
I want to emphasize writing over any other aspects of your work, the minute
particulars of it, as the thing to address, not any other aspect before that. As writing
is a slippery slope from one quality to another, wherein it is non-existent to burgeoning
to weak to strong--those mighty crags of great prose!--there can be an acknowledgment of
kind in discussion: this is good, this is okay, but is it anything more than adequate and
should we treat the whole piece on these terms of surrender and defeat? We can have fun.
We can talk about stories and novels and works by you, but should always keep in mind,
remember, that it is only the writing or lack of writing that is making or breaking it.
That is all.
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Course
Requirements:
Writing! We will do some writing, and talk about some that has been done,
and work some sentences on the board, and argue about the various merits and deficiencies
of whatever I think is great. Slay me! But leave your ego at the door.
Students should have ready two short stories to workshop, potentially, but
keep in mind that new work might be done, needed, asked for in the event that you need a
total overhaul, an illumination, a breakthrough. Any writing that is asked for will be
short, beyond what you have done. In the interim, send me, upon registration, one of the
short stories you want workshopped in class for my perusal and commentary, outlook,
feedback. These can be addressed to Stephen Gutierrez, English Department, Warren Hall,
25800 Carlos Bee Blvd., CSU Hayward, Hayward, CA 94542-3037.
Leave your ego at the door.
In addition to the reading, students will be asked to provide a
class-generated text. Each student will be asked to bring in a professional story found in
a magazine, on the internet, in a collection, etc., to present and discuss. Enough copies
will be made for everybody. In the past, I have found that it is more interesting to
eschew the famous magazines in favor of lesser known ones to bring to light unknown
talent. Thus, last quarter, my upper-division class compiled a much more impressive
anthology than either the O'Henry Awards or Best American Short Stories in
its diggings; these diggings took place in everything form zines to standard literary
magazines of varying quality, as denominated by the critics. One piece per student, have
it ready, novel excerpts okay.
Finally, each student will be asked to make a presentation on one of the
readings from the required texts. This will be a written critique to be handed in after
reading aloud, varying in degrees of formality as suits the student, critically rigorous
and substantial. Say two to three pages, more or less.
Leave your ego at the door.
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Course
Schedule:
Burning Down the House and Nine Stories will occupy
us the first two weeks, with Story of the Eye and The Writing
Life taking up the last. In addition, we will be doing our class-generated
anthology, probably from the second week on. Of course, factor in writing.
It has been brought to my attention, with good reason, that students should
be reminded that they are expected to have read all the materials before class. Your
reading during the session, then, should be a refamiliarizing, second reading. This will
make the ideas fresh and immediate to you. This will contribute to a great class.
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