L204 7632 INTRODUCTION TO FICTION
Romayne Rubinas Dorsey

9:30a-10:20a D (25 students) 3 cr.

COLLEGE INTENSIVE WRITING SECTION

In this Intensive Writing course, we will also do a good deal of intensive reading: of fiction old and new, serious and funny, “popular” and “difficult,” written for a wide range of audiences. Many consider reading for pleasure and reading analytically to be two different activities, but through investigations of plot, character, point of view, symbolism and other narrative elements, we will challenge this opposition, exploring the pleasures of literary interpretation. Students will typically read one novel a week, or one or two short stories each day as well as occasional supplemental critical material; write four essays over the course of the semester, three of which will go through drafting processes where you will give and receive detailed peer critiques of paper drafts; and take two in-class essay exams. I reserve the right to institute regular reading quizzes should discussion reflect a need. All written assignments will be evaluated with close attention to organization and expression as well as to substance and argument. Graded revisions of three of the four course papers is a requirement of the course.

Possible Course Texts:
Sedaris, ed., Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules
Fox, Desperate Characters
Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Maxwell, So Long, See You Tomorrow
Robinson, Gilead
Yates, Revolutionary Road