Faculty Name

Carolyn Holbrook

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

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