With the practice of journalism undergoing its most profound changes since the invention of the television, this course will steep students in the traditions of criticism, literary non-fiction, reporting and cultural journalism that thrived during the golden age of print and have persisted in the Internet era. We’ll work our way through literary criticism from Robert Boswell to Virginia Woolf and from Lionel Trilling to Zadie Smith; we’ll trace how notions of authority in cultural journalism changed from the objective to the subjective and how the New Journalism of the 1960s and 1970s combined facts and research with creative sensibility and author’s voice. Students will discover for themselves through frequent writing assignments and workshops just how porous the boundaries are between traditional reporting, reviewing, profile writing, and more experimental forms like lyric essay. We’ll also listen closely to some of the most influential and innovative podcasts to create an anatomy of their appeal. Expect to read a whole host of literary journalists past and present including George Orwell, Rebecca West, Pauline Kael, Tete-Michel Kpomassie, Janet Malcolm, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jia Tolentino.
Learning Outcomes:
Students in this course will develop their own capacities to do the following:
--Perform close readings of both primary and scholarly texts and subject them to a sophisticated analysis.
-- Write clearly and persuasively about the texts they encounter and the ideas that animate them.
--Develop and communicate their own ideas as literary citizens in class discussion, in both critical and creative writing assignments, and in oral presentations.
--Conduct independent and collaborative research projects using library materials, online databases, and other sources.
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Prerequisites: Interested students should submit either a critical or creative writing sample (5 pp.) submitted via this form by November 12.. Admitted students will be notified by email on November 16. All students may apply for multiple 4000-level Reading and Writing Courses in the same term, but, once accepted, may only enroll in one 4000-level Reading and Writing course per term.
Corequisites: Students in this class are required to attend Literature evenings on Wednesday nights, including Poetry at Bennington events. All students may apply for multiple 4000-level Reading and Writing Courses in the same term, but, once accepted, may only enroll in one 4000-level Reading and Writing course per term.
Course Level: 4000-level
Credits: 4
W 10:00AM - 11:50AM & W 2:10PM - 4:00PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 15
Course Frequency: Every 2-3 years
Categories: All courses , Fully In-Person , Literature
Tags: 20th century literature , journalism , literary criticism , literary journalism , podcasts