Deb Olin Unferth

Novel Novels: Modern and Contemporary Novel Forms

In this course we read and discuss novels, those chameleons of form and style that remain at the forefront of literary innovation. Focusing on modern and contemporary work, we will run a sort of book club. We will consider the singular ways novelists craft and construct their books, how they develop their characters, what are the effects of fresh approaches to structure, point of view, graphic elements, sentences, and more. We will talk about novels that reinvent the form, that respond to history, art, politics, philosophy in electrifying ways.

Possible readings may include work by (subject to change): Horacio Castellanos Moya, Sayaka Murata, Juan Pablo Villalobos, Chris Ware, Quntos KunQuest, Jessica Anthony, Mohsin Hamid, Tayari Jones, Julie Otsuka, Danielle Dutton, Sara Levine, Toni Morrison, Leslie Marmon Silko, Richard Powers

CRW 325F  l  Fiction Writing 

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique:  35650

Semester:  Fall 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  One of the following: C L 315, E 303D (or 603B), (316K,) 316L, 316M, 316N, 316P, or T C 303D (or 603B).

Description:  Our ambition is to create a literary community where we write fiction and explore together the mechanics of its craft.  We will focus on techniques, everything from intriguing first sentences to breathless endings.  We will spend time on description, setting, dialogue, character, and conflict.  We will open the semester with short exercises, some of which we will discuss in class.  Then students will write two complete short stories for workshop.  Throughout the semester we will read stories by 20^th and 21^st century writers and focus on how these writers make use of plot, form, voice, and style.

Through story workshops, generative exercises, discussion of published work, and individual conferences, students write new work and read the work of others always with an eye toward inciting fresh ways of thinking about fiction.  Students should emerge from the class with a solid grounding in narrative.

Texts:  reading packet.

Requirements and Grading:  Short story 1: 30%; Short story 2: 30%; Exercises: 10%; Attendance and participation (includes responses to student work): 30%.

CRW 355F  l  Advanced Fiction Workshop

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique #:  35695

Semester:  Fall 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  CRW 340F (or E 341).

Description:  This is an advanced course in fiction writing for students working toward the creative writing certificate.  Students will write two original stories of 12-25 pages each and one revision.  They will also write extensive comments (1-2 pages) on their classmates’ stories.  We will read published stories with an eye to study craft.  All work must be original, written for this class, not for another class taken earlier or concurrently.

Policies:  You may miss two classes without penalty.  After that your grade will begin to drop.  

Readings:  Published stories will be uploaded onto Canvas or handed out in class.

Requirements & Grading:  First story 25%; second story 25%; revision 10%; comments on classmates’ work 25%; participation and attendance 15%.

CRW 340F  l  Short Story Workshop-WB

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique #:  35365

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  CRW 325F (or E 325F), or 325M.

Description:  This is an intermediate course in fiction writing for students working toward the creative writing certificate.  Students will write three original stories of 7-12 pages each and write extensive comments (1-2 pages) on their classmates’ stories.  All work must be original, written for this class, not for another class taken earlier or concurrently.

Texts:  This course is primarily a workshop, but we will also read some published stories for discussion of craft.  These stories will be posted on Canvas.

Requirements & Grading:  Three stories (7-12 pages each) and writing critiques.

Story 1: 20%; Story 2: 20%; Story 3: 20%; Writing critiques of classmates’ stories: 20%; Class participation: 20%.

CRW 355F  l  Advanced Fiction Workshop

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique #: 34170

Semester:  Fall 2020

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  CRW 340F (or E 341).

Description:  This is an advanced course in fiction writing for students working toward the creative writing certificate. Students will write either three original stories of at least 10 pages each or two original stories and one revision.  They will also write extensive comments (1-2 pages) on their classmates’ stories.  We will also read published stories with an eye to study craft.  All work must be original, written for this class, not for another class taken earlier or concurrently.

Policies:  You may miss two classes without penalty.  After that your grade will begin to drop.  This is a no-screens class.  All materials will be used in class in hardcopy.

Readings:  Published stories will be uploaded onto Canvas or handed out in class.

Requirements and Grading:  First story 20%; second story 20%; third story/revision 10%; comments on classmates’ work 25%; participation and attendance 25%.

CRW 325F l Fiction Writing

Instructor: Unferth, D

Unique: 34725

Semester:  Spring 2020

Cross-lists: n/a

Prerequisites: One of the following:  C L 315, E 603B, (316K,) 316L, 316M, 316N, 316P, 316K, or T C 603B.

Description:  Our ambition is to create a literary community where we write fiction and explore together its beauty, importance, and the mechanics of its craft. We will focus on techniques, everything from intriguing first sentences to breathless endings.  We will spend time on description, setting, dialogue, character, and conflict. We will open the semester with short exercises, some of which we will discuss in class.  Then students will write two complete short stories for workshop, and revise one. Throughout the semester we will read stories by 20^thand 21^stcentury writers and focus on how these writers make use of plot, form, voice, and style.  

Through story workshops, generative exercises, discussion of published work, and individual conferences, students write new work and read the work of others always with an eye toward inciting fresh ways of thinking about fiction.  Students should emerge from the class with a solid grounding in narrative.

Texts:  reading packet.

Requirements and Grading:  Short story 1: 30%; Short story 2: 30%; Revision: 10%; Attendance and participation (includes responses to student work): 30%.

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique:  34839

Semester:  Fall 2018

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  CRW Certificate students

Computer instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  One of the following:  C L 315, E 603B, (316K,) 316L, 316M, 316N, 316P, 316K, or T C 603B.

Description:  Each week for the first half of the semester, we will focus on a different element of craft—everything from intriguing first sentences to breathless endings.  We will spend time on description, setting, dialogue, conflict, and more. I will assign in-class exercises and short take-home assignments, some of which we will discuss in class.  We will read stories by 20^th and 21^st century writers and focus on how these writers make use of plot, form, voice, and style.  In the second half of the semester, students will each write a complete short story, which we will workshop.  On the last day of class students will hand in short reading responses to individually selected books, identifying an element of craft that particularly interests them.

Through story workshops, generative exercises, discussion of published work, and individual suggested reading, students write new work and read the work of others always with an eye toward inciting fresh ways of thinking about fiction.  Students should emerge from the class with a solid grounding in narrative and with a collection of work in various stages of completion.

Texts:  reading packet.

Requirements and Grading:  Short writing assignments: 40%; Longer Short Story: 30%; Attendance and participation: 20%; Short responses: 10%.

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique #:  34905

Semester:  Fall 2018

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  CRW Certificate students

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  CRW 340F (or E 341).

Description:  This is an advanced course in fiction writing for students working toward the creative writing certificate. Students will write either three original stories of at least 10 pages each or two original stories and one revision.  They will also write extensive comments (1-2 pages) on their classmates’ stories.  We will also read published stories with an eye to study craft.  Students will trade stories with the Pen-City Writers, the University of Texas Prison Creative Writing Program.  All work must be original, written for this class, not for another class taken earlier or concurrently.

Policies:  You may miss two classes without penalty.  After that your grade will begin to drop.  This is a no-screens class.  All materials will be used in class in hardcopy.

Readings:  Students will purchase a course packet of selected published stories.

Requirements and Grading:  First story 20%; second story 20%; third story/revision 20%; comments on classmates’ work 20%; participation and attendance 20%.

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique #:  34765

Semester:  Fall 2017

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  CRW Certificate students

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  CRW 340F (or E 341).

Description:  This is an advanced course in fiction writing for students working toward the creative writing certificate. Students will write either three original stories of at least 8 pages each or two original stories and one revision.  They will also write extensive comments (1-2 pages) on their classmates’ stories.  In addition, students will have the opportunity to trade stories and exchange comments with the Pen-City Writers, the Texas Prison Creative Writing Certificate Program sponsored by the English Department.  All work must be original, written for this class, not for another class taken earlier or concurrently.

Policies:  You may miss two classes without penalty.  After that your grade will begin to drop.  This is a no-screens class.  All materials will be used in class in hardcopy.

Readings:  Students will purchase a course packet of selected published stories.

Requirements and Grading:  First story 20%; second story 20%; third story/revision 20%; comments on classmates’ work 20%; participation and attendance 20%.

The Art of Memoir and the Personal Essay

This genre is often marked by the urgency the author has to tell the story, a need that translates into fresh methods, new forms, and a struggle to decide what it means to say something is true. In this class we will discuss many approaches to (attempts at?) writing about one’s own life, time, generation, or place. These will include everything from first-person war essays to coming-of-age narratives, from comics to meditations. We’ll read collage and cross-genre texts, along with narrative self-portraits and aphorisms. We’ll talk about how these books are shaped, from where they draw tension, how they assemble and disassemble a self, how they use historical or political setting, what they leave in and cut out, and ultimately why these books move us.

Possible readings will include some combination of books or excerpts by these authors (subject to change):

Patti Smith, Renee Gladman, Sarah Manguso, Frank McCourt, Maxine Hong Kingston, Maggie Nelson, James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein, Steve Martin, Leanne Shapton, Sei Shonagon, Malcolm X, Sarah Ruhl, Franz Kafka, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Eula Biss, Michael Herr, Claudia Rankine, Carrie Brownstein, Ishmael Reed, Julie Doucet, Frederick Douglass, David Foster Wallace, Alison Bechdel, Marjane Satrapi, Art Spiegelman.

In addition we will read memoir pieces written by my current students in a maximum-security prison in southern Texas.

Students will do a final project of their own writing in the genre.

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique #:  34620

Semester:  Spring 2017

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  CRW Certificate students

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  One of the following: CRW 325 (or E 325), 325F (or E 325F), 325M, 325P (or E 325P).

Description:  Short Stories --

This is a new course.  Originally created for graduate creative writers, this course is now offered at the undergraduate level.  This class will focus on creative nonfiction, which has exploded in the past thirty years and continues to expand its reach with its many unique approaches to form, style, and narrative.  We will read selections of memoirs, biographies, comics, meditations, cross-genre texts, essays, reportage, aphorisms, and more.  We’ll talk about how the work is shaped, from where it draws tension, how historical and political contexts interact with subject and style, and ultimately why the work moves us.

Texts:  We will read full books or selections by some of the following writers (tentative and subject to change):  Eula Biss, Patti Smith, James Baldwin, Maggie Nelson, Zadie Smith, Geoff Dyer, Siddhartha Deb, John D’Agata, Bernard Cooper, Avi Steinberg, Sarah Ruhl, Claudia Rankine, Sei Shonagon.

Requirements and Grading:  We will do in-class and take-home creative writing exercises as responses to the readings.  Some of these will be handed in for short workshops.  Students will do presentations and hand in an end-of-semester original work of creative nonfiction.

Creative Writing: Workshop in Fiction

In this class we will workshop student fiction projects and talk in conference, always with an eye toward inciting fresh ways of thinking about fiction. Edward P. Jones once said about writing The Unknown World, “I did things in the novel that I never learned you’re not supposed to do.” The genius and strength of the story and novel are how they are endlessly remaking themselves by doing what they’re “not supposed to do.” In this way they continue to speak through time, express the world, individuals, and generations. The question we will frequently consider as we workshop is: how do we do what we’re not supposed to do—with control, craft, beauty, humor, momentum, and revelation? The ambition is to help one another create and hone a body of such work.

CRW 325F  l  Fiction Writing

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique:  34380

Semester:  Fall 2016

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  CRW Certificate students

Computer instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  One of the following:  C L 315, E 603B, (316K,) 316L, 316M, 316N, 316P, 316K, or T C 603B.

Description:  Each week for the first half of the semester, we will focus on a different element of craft—everything from intriguing first sentences to breathless endings.  We will spend time on description, setting, dialogue, conflict, and more. I will assign in-class exercises and short take-home assignments, some of which we will discuss in class.  We will read stories by 20th and 21st century writers and focus on how these writers make use of plot, form, voice, and style.  In the second half of the semester, students will each write a complete short story, which we will workshop.  On the last day of class students will hand in short reading responses to individually selected books, identifying an element of craft that particularly interests them.

Through story workshops, generative exercises, discussion of published work, and individual suggested reading, students write new work and read the work of others always with an eye toward inciting fresh ways of thinking about fiction.  Students should emerge from the class with a solid grounding in narrative and with a collection of work in various stages of completion.

Texts:  reading packet.

Requirements and Grading:  Short writing assignments: 40%; Longer Short Story: 30%; Attendance and participation: 20%; Short responses: 10%.

CRW 355F  l  Advanced Fiction Workshop

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique #:  34435

Semester:  Fall 2016

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  CRW Certificate students

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  CRW 340F (or E 341).

Description:  This is an advanced course in fiction writing for students working toward the creative writing certificate. Students will write either three original stories of at least 8 pages each or two original stories and one revision.  They will also write extensive comments (1-2 pages) on their classmates’ stories.  All work must be original, written for this class, not for another class taken earlier or concurrently.

Policies:  You may miss two classes without penalty. After that your grade will begin to drop.  This is a no-screens class.  All materials will be used in class in hardcopy.

Readings:  Students will purchase a course packet of selected stories.

Requirements and Grading:  First story 20%; second story 20%; third story/revision 20%; comments on classmates’ work 20%; participation and attendance 20%.

CRW 330  l  Literature for Writers [Certificate]

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique #:  33690

Semester:  Spring 2016

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  CRW Certificate students

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: One of the following: CRW 325 (or E 325), 325F (or E 325F), 325M, 325P (or E 325P).

Description: Short Stories --

This is a new course. Originally created for graduate creative writers, this course is now offered at the undergraduate level. This class will introduce creative writers to “short shorts” or very short stories: stories under 1,000 words or so. It’s a playful, provocative form that came into its own in the 20th century and continues to surprise with its many unique approaches to form, style, and narrative. We will read and discuss them all semester.

Texts: We will read full books or selections from the following (tentative and subject to change): • Collected Stories, Franz Kafka • Collected Stories, Lydia Davis • Trout-Fishing in America, Richard Brautigan • Grapefruit, Yoko Ono • Two Kinds of Decay, Sarah Manguso • Atlas of Remote Islands, Judith Schalansky • The Voice Imitator, Thomas Bernhard.

Requirements and Grading: We will do in-class and take-home creative writing exercises as responses to the readings. Students will do presentations and hand in an end-of-semester original set of short shorts of their own creation.

CRW 340F  l  Short Story Workshop [Certificate]

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique #:  33710

Semester:  Spring 2016

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  CRW Certificate students

Computer Instruction:  No

CRW 340F and E 341 may not both be counted.

Prerequisites: CRW 325F (or E 325F), or 325M.

Description: This is an intermediate course in fiction writing for students working toward the creative writing certificate. Students will write three original stories of 7-12 pages each and write extensive comments (1-2 pages) on their classmates’ stories. All work must be original, written for this class, not for another class taken earlier or concurrently.

Texts: This course is primarily a workshop, but we will also read some published stories for discussion of craft. These stories will be posted on Canvas.

Requirements & Grading: Three stories (7-12 pages each) and writing critiques.

Story 1: 20%; Story 2: 20%; Story 3: 20%; writing critiques of classmates’ stories: 20%; class participation: 20%.

CRW 325F  l  Fiction Writing [CERTIFICATE]

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique:  33625

Semester:  Fall 2015

Cross-lists:  n/a

Flags:  Writing

Restrictions:  CRW Certificate students

Computer instruction:  No

Prerequisites: One of the following: C L 315, E 603B, (316K,) 316L, 316M, 316N, 316P, 316K, or T C 603B.

Description: Each week for the first half of the semester, we will focus on a different element of craft—everything from intriguing first sentences to breathless endings. We will spend time on description, setting, dialogue, conflict, and more. I will assign in-class exercises and short take-home assignments, some of which we will discuss in class. We will read stories by 20th and 21st century writers and focus on how these writers make use of plot, form, voice, and style. In the second half of the semester, students will each write a complete short story, which we will workshop. On the last day of class students will hand in short reading responses to individually selected books, identifying an element of craft that particularly interests them.

Through story workshops, generative exercises, discussion of published work, and individual suggested reading, students write new work and read the work of others always with an eye toward inciting fresh ways of thinking about fiction. Students should emerge from the class with a solid grounding in narrative and with a collection of work in various stages of completion.

Texts: reading packet.

Requirements and Grading: Short writing assignments: 40%; Longer Short Story: 30%; Attendance and participation: 20%; Short responses: 10%.

Novel Novels: Modern and Contemporary Novel Forms

Every generation produces an apocalyptic essay declaring the end of the novel, and yet the novel continues on unabated, reinventing itself with verve as it responds to its own history and the history around it. In this course we examine the novel, a bedrock of fiction tradition and also a chameleon of form and style that remains at the forefront of literary innovation. Focusing on modern and contemporary work, we will consider the singular ways novelists craft and construct their books, build narrative arcs, and develop sympathy and suspension through fresh approaches to time, structure, points of view, visual and graphic elements, and much more.

Selected list of readings may include work by (subject to change): Edward P. Jones, Junot Díaz, Lydia Davis, Nicholson Baker, Jennifer Egan, Horacio Castellanos Moya, Leanne Shapton, Michael Ondaatje, David Ohle, Ben Lerner, Renee Gladman, Flannery O’Connor, Chris Ware, and others.

The Poetics of the Short ShortThis course investigates the genre of the modern short-short story, stories less than 1,000 words, a playful, provocative form that exploded during the 20th century and continues to be a vehicle for unique approaches to form, style, and narrative. Readings may include work by: Robert Walser, Franz Kafka, Lydia Davis, Etgar Keret, Anne Carson, Harryette Mullen, Richard Brautigan, Yoko Ono, Thomas Bernhard, the Bible

Instructor: Unferth, D

Unique: 34845

Semester: Fall 2014

Cross-lists: n/a

Restrictions: CRW Certificate students

Prerequisites: One of the following: C L 315, E 603B, 316L (or 316K), 316M (or 316K), 316N (or 316K), 316P (or 316K), or T C 603B.

Description: Each week for the first half of the semester, we will focus on a different element of craft—everything from intriguing first sentences to breathless endings. We will spend time on description, setting, dialogue, conflict, and more. I will assign in-class exercises and short take-home assignments, some of which we will discuss in class. We will read stories by 20th and 21st century writers and focus on how these writers make use of plot, form, voice, and style. In the second half of the semester, students will each write a complete short story, which we will workshop. On the last day of class students will hand in short reading responses to individually selected books, identifying an element of craft that particularly interests them.

Through story workshops, generative exercises, discussion of published work, and individual suggested reading, students write new work and read the work of others always with an eye toward inciting fresh ways of thinking about fiction. Students should emerge from the class with a solid grounding in narrative and with a collection of work in various stages of completion.

Texts: reading packet

Requirements and Grading:

Short writing assignments: 40%

Longer Short Story: 30%

Attendance and participation: 20%

Short responses: 10%