Literature & Creative Writing   

Jim Morrison was most famously known for his contributions to his band, The Doors. However, as an academic, his poetry and written works transcend space and time. Through the biographical, historical, psychoanalytical, and reader-response literary criticism theory lenses, members will experience an in-depth analysis into Morrison's poetry and other written works, including lyric investigation throughout his albums with The Doors. Members will also be immersed into the culture of the era and witness the influences it had on the artist, as well as the listeners.

This course aims to engage participants in an in-depth exploration of Jennifer Egan's innovative narrative techniques, complex character development, and thematic explorations in A Visit from the Goon Squad and The Candy House. Through the lens of these two interconnected novels, particpants will examine how Egan uses non-linear storytelling, multiple perspectives, and experimental forms to capture the complexities of human experience in the digital age. The course will focus on key themes such as memory, identity, technology, and the search for meaning in a rapidly changing world.

If you have been writing or always wanted to write, this course will help you with certain basics: how to craft exciting dialogue, how to describe a place or a person, how to engage in a summary of action that you do not need to detail, how to use place and setting, and how to conceive of a plot. The basic goal will be to write a short story. Many stories take years to write, so this might be a first and second draft, or if you are lucky, it might be very advanced. The same skills are useful in longer works.

Some of the finest lyrics in English poetry came out of the 17th century. We will read a wide variety of poems, taking a fresh look at some old favorites. The list will include a generous sampling of Donne's verse, but we will also look at a some lesser known poets, and styles.

Members will read and discuss two to three poems each week, taken from the anthology You are Here: Poetry in the Natural World edited by Ada Limon, U.S. Poet Laureate. Poems will be provided for students. We will look at the myriad ways poets write about nature, how language evokes imagery and mood, as well as the craft of writing, i.e., line breaks, rhyme, and form. The instructor will provide optional writing prompts each week for members. Members will also be given a list of books written by the poets read in class.

This creative writing course will help members refocus, reimagine, and reinvigorate their lives through writing from prompts and discussion designed to employ imagination and insight. Participants can write in any genre they wish, and no writing experience is necessary. The course will give members the space and encouragement they need to enhance creativity. Writing tools and ideas to continue work in class and inspire further discovery will be offered.

 

Romanticism emerged in the late 1700s in England and Europe in defiance of the dominance of reason, objectivity, and industrialism in the 18th century. Its main themes have become intrinsic to our culture and literary traditions and include individualism, human rights, and the power of the imagination. In this course, we will first explore the philosophical roots of Romanticism and its themes presented in poems by significant English poets. We will then read and discuss selected chapters of Mary Shelley's legendary novel Frankenstein (1818) as it reflects Romantic ideas and cautions readers of its time and our own about the perils of the unbounded scientific imagination.

Everyone has read a quote by Oscar Wilde, whether in a book, on a mug, or across the internet. But behind his witty one-liners, Oscar Wilde was a sharp social critic, an Irish nationalist, a husband, a father, and a queer pioneer. This class will sample Wilde's life works, including his only novel, his plays, poetry, and essays, so that we come to understand the man himself and his enduring impact on our culture, art, and humor.