Dream Logic

Catalog description

Stories are immensely complex mechanisms. When talking about how they work, we often confine our discussion to their most straightforward elements: the relationship between conflict and suspense, for example, or between verisimilitude and believability. But stories also derive a substantial proportion of their meaning and force from elements not so easily pinned down: from the potency of their images, from their surprising and suggestive juxtapositions, or from other qualities more easily apprehended by the unconscious than by the conscious mind. During the first half of the semester, students will read and discuss dreamlike narratives with the goal of understanding how the patently impossible can be made to feel as if it is actually happening, what sort of truths are rendered through unreality, and how authors can open themselves to the promptings of the unconscious and become alert to the complex interactions of images and narrative gestures. As part of the process, students will write two- to three-page imitations of the works discussed in class. The second half of the semester will be devoted to workshopping students’ own stories. 193 Writing Fiction Workshop: The Best American Short Stories WRIT 3344 Carolyn Ferrell Sophomore and Above, Seminar—Spring | 5 credits In her introduction to The Best American Short Stories 2024, editor Lauren Groff wrote: “Nearly every prose writer I adore got their start in small scrappy journals; only when readers support said journals can the next wave of brilliant prose writers work their way into the world.” In this generative workshop, we will read from three collections of The Best American Short Stories (1996, edited by John Edgar Wideman; 2021, edited by Jesmyn Ward; and 2024, edited by Lauren Groff). We will bring to the table questions about craft, editorial selection, and the process of canon formation. The Best American…