WR 507, Spring 2016
Tin House Seminar: Dave Eggers
MW 14:00 - 15:50 @ CH 359
Instructor: Paul Collins; pcollins@pdx.edu
Office Hours: M 11:30 - 1:30 @ Neuberger 405
daveeggersseminar.blogspot.com
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This seminar, as part of our continuing series of Tin House Visiting Writer spring seminars, will discuss the works of Dave Eggers as a starting point for developing your own critical and creative writing. After an initial week of contextual readings, we
Our seminar discussions will examine the concerns that run throughout Eggers' contemporary work, and that also form an ongoing cultural conversation from the earliest days of narrative prose: the play with boundaries of form and aesthetic, the relation between writer and reader, the relation of both with text as a printed artifact, and the writer's role in addressing the social and moral issues of their time.
McSweeney's #4 --ed by
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius -- Dave Eggers (2000) (9780375725784)
How We Are Hungry -- Dave Eggers (2003) (9781400095568)
Surviving Justice -- Lola Wollen & Dave Eggers (2005) (9781932416237)
What is the What -- Dave Eggers (2006) (978030738590)
The Art of McSweeney's --eds of
A Hologram for the King -- Dave Eggers (2012) (9780307947512)
(Additional readings will be via online excerpts.)
• Discussion. You will be asked to facilitate one class discussion on a reading.
• Reading. See the attached reading schedule.
• Writing. Two draft prose assignments (1500+w and 250+w artist statement) and one final project (open length) and accompany artist statement (1000+w). The drafts will be discussed in small groups in class; on due dates, bring 5 double-spaced copies.
• Final Conference. Our last class meeting will be one-on-one conferences to discuss your final project. While we'll be discussing and developing your shorter writing exercises in class, and you'll also be receiving my feedback on them, please do email me or avail yourself of my office hours to also further discuss your writing exercises.
Theworkshopping timeliness
TEXTS
Tristram Shandy -- Laurence Sterne (1760) (9780141439778) McSweeney's #4 --
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius -- Dave Eggers (2000) (9780375725784)
How We Are Hungry -- Dave Eggers (2003) (9781400095568)
Surviving Justice -- Lola Wollen & Dave Eggers (2005) (9781932416237)
What is the What -- Dave Eggers (2006) (978030738590)
The Art of McSweeney's --
A Hologram for the King -- Dave Eggers (2012) (9780307947512)
(Additional readings will be via online excerpts.)
REQUIREMENTS
• Blog. Consult this blog before class for announcements and links. • Discussion. You will be asked to facilitate one class discussion on a reading.
• Reading. See the attached reading schedule.
• Writing. Two draft prose assignments (1500+w and 250+w artist statement) and one final project (open length) and accompany artist statement (1000+w). The drafts will be discussed in small groups in class; on due dates, bring 5 double-spaced copies.
• Final Conference. Our last class meeting will be one-on-one conferences to discuss your final project. While we'll be discussing and developing your shorter writing exercises in class, and you'll also be receiving my feedback on them, please do email me or avail yourself of my office hours to also further discuss your writing exercises.
GRADING
Your grade is based entirely on the final project due at the end of the course. Because it will evolve from your previous work, this course first requires the satisfactory completion of the above Requirements. Skipping steps will result in an unsatisfactory or non-credit grade, including and up to an F, I, W, or X. The
DRC NOTICE
"If you have, or think you may have, a disability that may affect your work in this class and feel you need accommodations, contact the Disability Resource Center to schedule an appointment and initiate a conversation about reasonable accommodations. The DRC is located in
