Class, Wed, 4/11

e2: Schedule (one last time)

e2: Working drafts: Getting beyond, “It’s clear and you seem like a nice person.” (C+)

Trade pages with the person next you. Read through the page you’ve been given with the aim of describing the other person’s style as a writer. As you do, keep in mind some of the terms we’ve used so far in talking about style:

  • Hypotactic and paratactic
  • Writerly and conversational
  • Strunk and White/Orwell/Fish/Woolf/Weathers

Jot down some notes about your impression of the other person’s style. Chat with them about what you see and hear on the page.

x9: Positioning yourself as a writer in relation to Woolf

  • Rebecca, “Virginia Woolf and the Off Beaten Path”
  • Lia, “A Man and a Woman Walk into a Bar: _________ Fill in the Blank”
  • Shannon, “Crossroads: Looking Forward, Behind, and Around”

As theorists of style, how do the authors describe Woolf’s approach to writing?

As fellow writers, how do the authors position themselves in relation to Woolf? What aspects of her style do they adopt, tweak, or resist?

If terms of gender seem problematic to use in discussing style, what other terms might we use to describe the distinctive qualities of Woolf’s approach?

To Do

  1. Thurs, 4/12, 9:00 am: Post e2.d1 <lastname e2.d1.docx> to group folder on Dropbox.
  2. Mon, 4/16, class: Workshop e2.d1. Post responses (x10) to group folder and bring print copies with you to class.
  3. Tues, 4/17, 1:00 pm: Email x11, revision plan, to me.
  4. Wed, 4/18, class: Working session; discuss x11, revise e2

 

Class, Mon, 3/19

Changes to schedule

Some responses to x7: Strunk and Not-Strunk

  • Lia, untitled (Joseph Nye and Levitt & Dubner)
  • Alex, “Offbeat Tweets” (John Mayer and Kanye West)
  • Kate, “Function and Form” (Christopher Hitchens and David Foster Wallace)
  1. How does the writer define an alternative style to Strunk & White?
  2. How is the alternative exemplified in the passages cited?
  3. How is the alternative enacted in the writer’s own prose?

Link of Zen

Springsteen at SXSW 2012

Springsteen talks about his influences at SXSW 2012

To Do

  1. Wed, 3/21, class: Read Fish, pp.1-88.
  2. Mon. 3/26, class: Find examples of subordinating and additive styles. Read Winston Weathers (in Class Readings).
  3. Tues, 3/27, 9:00 am: Post x8 to Dropbox.
  4. Wed, 3/28, class: Identify texts for e2.