Document Type
Syllabi
School
CLA
Department
CWP-UG
Course Subject
WRIT
Course Number
3980
Course Section
01
Course Title
Topics: Truth or Fiction
Academic Term and Year
Winter 2017
Credits
4.00
Hamline Plan Letter
F, W
Area of Study
WRIT
Course Description
Everyone leads a life that is important enough to write about. Everyone is an authority on something personal or something of importance in the larger scheme of things. Toni Morrison said, “I write the books I’ve always wanted to read.” Pablo Neruda wrote an ode to his sox and Tillie Olsen wrote “I stand here ironing.” Conversely, Ernest Hemingway wrote about bullfighting but never about his alcoholism, which probably would have been a more interesting topic. There’s no doubt that your life has been full of interesting, fun or painful events that you have wanted to write about. Maybe you want to reveal names, dates or places — but you fear that you may hurt someone or worse, that you may be sued. Should our stories be written as truthful essays or memoirs, or as fiction? In this course, we will consider our stories in both creative nonfiction and fiction. Each student will attempt to discover which genre(s) you are most comfortable telling your truths in. Prerequisite: WRIT 3000 or permission of instructor
Recommended Citation
Holbrook, Carolyn, "WRIT3980-01.Topics: Truth or Fiction.J17.Holbrook,Carolyn" (2017). Historic Syllabi -- full text access limited to internal Hamline administrative staff only. 12032.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/syllabi/12032