Novel Salon Spring 2014

Instructor: Scott Hutchins

T Class 6:15-9:05/80-115 Phone 725-5242

Office Hours: T 3-5 and by appt in 460-221,

Course Objectives:

If you’ve ever visited a gallery with painters, or a concert with musicians, or a movie with a bunch of directors (or if you are a painter, musician, director, or any other kind of artist), you know that they assess, observe, and experience these arts differently than do other mere mortals. They look as artists, listen as musicians, watch as visual creators, and—in our literary case—read as writers. This process of gaining artistic expertise and perspective through the close observation of excellent books (“monuments of our own magnificence,” as Yeats put it) is the surest way to become a better, broader, more complete writer.

In this class, we will focus on the long-form fiction known as the novel. The reading load is relatively heavy: we’ll average a novel a week. We’ll focus on a set of key choices available to novel writers, including point of view, voice, opinions (of characters and narrators), beauty v. plainness v. ugliness, exposition v. scene, character v. plot, and manners v. ideas.Additionally, we’ll approach issues of dialogue, characterization, and style through close reading.

Each week, you will complete a short writing assignment designed to concentrate our efforts on a particular questions of approach or craft. You will also develop materials for your “imaginary” novel, which in the future might not be imaginary at all.

Two final notes: 1.) this course seeks to be practical from an artistic point of view, and won’t concern itself with particular critical schools (e.g. bio-criticism or deconstructionism). 2.) This course is primarily a reading course. You won’t be writing a novel as part of you homework.

Our goal will be to read the novels before us with such depth and precision that they can serve as touchstones for us in our own writing. Additionally, the skills we develop in our reading and discussion will enable us to pry open the novels we read from here on out. A bold task! But one that will pay artistic dividends far into the future.

Texts:

The Bookshop, Penelope Fitzgerald

Skylark, Kostolanyi

Tai Pei, Tao Lin

Emigrants, Sebald

Coursepack available from CopyAmerica

Other texts TBD

You can order these books in whatever manner you prefer, but you MUST use hard copies and the editions indicated above. No Kindles, Nooks, etc. All texts, naturally, will be available at the Stanford Bookstore.

Grade:

Your grade will be composed of the following assessments:

Reading and reading quality/course participation: The depth and attention of your reading will be assessed through your comments in class. Quality, not quantity counts here. Additionally, your contributions to the intellectual and overall quality of the course will figure into this part of your grade. 40%

Presentations: You will be responsible on your own or with classmates to begin a discussion on one of our published books. I’ll model this for you. You’ll develop a handout, an approach, several fruitful questions, and perhaps a short illustrative writing assignment. 10%

Writing assignments and imitations: Each week we’ll have a writing assignment targeting some issue of craft or writing. Many will attempt to imitate some aspect of the author’s style. These will be submitted on the blog. 30%

Imaginary book: We’ll be assembling our imaginary book over the term, including the jacket copy, the cover, the title, the author bio, and any blurbs or reviews. See Final portfolio and reflections for %.

Final portfolio and reflections: At the end of the term, you’ll submit carefully revised writing assignments, your imaginary book, and an artistic reflection on one of the books we read for class. 20%

Attendance Policy

Due to the collaborative nature of this course, you are limited to one absence for the term. Any additional absences will lower your grade by a full letter unless accompanied by a note from a dean. Advance notice of absences is appreciated.

Tardiness Policy

Late arrivals will lower your grade. If you have a preceding commitment (e.g. a job at SLAC) that will make it hard for you to show up consistently on time, please come and see me, so that we can discuss the possibility of an additional arrangement.

Late Assignments

Anything turned in late will receive no better than C credit.

Attending Readings

You will be required to attend at least three fiction, nonfiction, or poetry readings on campus over the course of the quarter. A full list of qualifying readings can be found at and

Students with Documented Disabilities

Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability must initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact theOAEas soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. TheOAEis located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-1066, URL:

The Honor Code

The Honor Code is the University's statement on academic integrity written by students in 1921. It articulates University expectations of students and faculty in establishing and maintaining the highest standards in academic work:

The Honor Code is an undertaking of the students, individually and collectively:

  1. that they will not give or receive aid in examinations; that they will not give or receive unpermitted aid in class work, in the preparation of reports, or in any other work that is to be used by the instructor as the basis of grading;
  2. that they will do their share and take an active part in seeing to it that others as well as themselves uphold the spirit and letter of the Honor Code.
  3. The faculty on its part manifests its confidence in the honor of its students by refraining from proctoring examinations and from taking unusual and unreasonable precautions to prevent the forms of dishonesty mentioned above. The faculty will also avoid, as far as practicable, academic procedures that create temptations to violate the Honor Code.
  4. While the faculty alone has the right and obligation to set academic requirements, the students and faculty will work together to establish optimal conditions for honorable academic work.

Final thoughts...

This course is called a salon for good reason. While I’ll certainly be teaching the course and evaluating your performance in it, the idea is for us to gather in a sparkling, surprising literary conversation. I understand the demands on your time as a Stanford student are great, but remember that for our purposes reading this week’s book is the beginning, not the end. Reflection, energy, creativity, intellect, feeling, and a sense of play—these are the qualities we want to bring to our conversation. Expert reading, after all, is ultimately very high-level fun.

Schedule

N.B. This schedule is subject to change.

Week 1: Intros, what is a novel?, your imaginary/potential novel, etc.

Week 2: The Bookshop, imitations on blog.

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