Sound and Fury: Noise in Literature & Creative Writing

Catalog description

This literature and creative writing course explores the relationship between sound and text. How do writers translate their acoustic environments into their writing? How does noise - both literally and as a figurative construct - infiltrate and affect the content and form of their work? And how can we learn from these writers as mentors in doing our own fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction writing? To begin to approach these questions, students will consider the creative value of noise in a diversity of contemporary literature, including texts that feature depictions of bustling cityscapes, the din of warfare, grinding machinery, and the chatter of family life. As we consider how sonic cues are gendered, racialized, and class-coded, we will ponder the place of auditory imagery and the thematics of noise in the writing that we do ourselves across genres. According to their interests, students will be invited to produce their own sonically rich poems, short stories, and creative nonfiction, or to work in hybrid forms if desired. Prior experience in creative writing is not required for this course; all are welcome.