Trans Narrative as Method

Catalog description

In this course, we will study and compose autofictions, making use of three lenses or methodologies. We will ask what it may mean—and what use it may be—to write fiction that discusses the very nature of fiction-writing and authorship (metapraxis). We will explore the ways in which autofiction may allow the writer to experience vulnerability or discuss their own life and identity, perhaps under the sheltering pretext of fiction (vulnerability). And we will investigate the stylishness of autofiction, its relevance to the present moment and contemporary media, as well as its (frequently innate) wit and aplomb. We will read such authors as Roland Barthes, Percival Everett, Renee Gladman, Chris Kraus, and Tan Lin, among others, and we will devise and workshop our own autofictions. Participants will conclude the course with an expanded knowledge of contemporary and historical trends in experimental fiction, as well as a polished short story or excerpt from a longer work of prose.