Reading and Writing the First Novel

Course Description

Summary

Some writers are born gradually over a body of early work that allows them to develop a signature style and a series of concerns that will flower over time, while other writers are seemingly born complete--like Athena emerging whole from Zeus's head--with their first novels. We will read a wide selection of remarkable first novels over the term (examples include The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector, Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates), and students will write--and workshop--frequent creative exercises designed to help them launch their own first novels. Corequisite: All students in Reading and Writing classes are required to attend Wednesday night literature events.