Creative Process 224 2009

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY ENGL 224 BB THE CREATIVE PROCESS Room: H-507 Day : Tuesdays, 2030 - 2245 Instructor: Jon Paul Fiorentino Office: LB 658 Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1830-2030 Telephone: 848-2424 ext. 2357 Email: [email protected] Description The purpose of ENGL 224 is to introduce students to the writing life and the process of creating literary texts. Students will be asked to read and respond to selected literary texts as well as create their own poetry and/or prose. An emphasis will be placed on genre literacy. Students will discover the specific requirements of effective fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry. Students will be asked to keep a writing journal, in order to document their own creative process and their personal responses to selected texts. A final creative project consisting of poetry, prose, or both will be due on the last day of class. Requirements Attendance and Participation In-Class Work / Group Work Mid-Term Genre Assignment Final Assignment

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Note: Good attendance is very important. Late assignments will be penalized. Assignments will not be accepted through email submission. Required Texts *IMPORTANT NOTE: Eunoia, The Show that Smells, and Tender Buttons are to be purchased at the Concordia Co-op Bookstore. 2150 Bishop. Bök, Christian. Eunoia. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2001. McCormack, Derek, The Show that Smells. Toronto; ECW Press, 2008. Stein, Gertrude. Tender Buttons. Toronto: BookThug, 2008. Fiorentino, Jon Paul. ENGL 224: The Creative Process Coursepack.

Reading Schedule Week One: Introduction and Expectations. Assignment: “Dear Jon Letter” Week Two: “Remembrance” by Timothy Findlay. CP. Group Work: Memory. Week Three: Poetry. “The Motive for Metaphor” (poem and essay). Poems by Carroll, Smith, Moore, Rich. CP. Week Four: Poetry (cont’d). Poems by Clarke, Dickinson, R. Allen, Cohen, Ginsberg. CP. “The Colonel” by Carolyn Forche (Handout). Week Five: Poetry (cont’d). Poems by Plath, Rich. CP. Christian Bök’s Eunoia. Week Six: Humour. Texts by W. Allen, Twain. CP. Week Seven: Humour (cont’d). Texts by Ross, McGimpsey, Sedaris, Cain. CP. MID TERM. Week Eight: Experimentation. “from The Pleasure of the Text” by Roland Barthes. Bök, Goldsmith. CP. Week Nine: Experimentation (cont’d). Stein’s Tender Buttons. Week Ten: Prose Fiction. Joyce. On Reserve. Week Eleven: Prose Fiction (cont’d). McCormack, Steinberg, Frost. CP. GENRE ASSIGNMENT DUE. Week Twelve: Prose Fiction (cont’d). Derek McCormack’s The Show that Smells. Week Thirteen: Graphic Narrative. Boyle, Mavreas, Ollmann, CP. Prep for Final Portfolios Week Fourteen: Implications. Munroe, Carroll, Findley. CP. PORTFOLIOS DUE. Notes: This schedule is a rough approximation of how this course will proceed. I will, no doubt, change the schedule as needed. There will be group work and intensive creative sessions in class. At the beginning of most classes, there will be an “Open Mic” where students will be encouraged to share their creative work.

Recommended Reading Poetry Allen, Rob. Standing Wave. Montreal: Signal Editions, 2005. Bök, Christian. Eunoia. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2001. Bolster, Stephanie. White Stone. Montreal, Signal Editions, 1999. Cain, Stephen. American Standard, Canada Dry. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2005. Camlot, Jason. The Animal Library. Montreal: DC Books, 2001. Cooley, Dennis. Fielding. Saskatoon: Thistledown, 1980. Creeley, Robert. Selected Poems. Berkley: University of California Press, 1991. Christakos, Margaret. Excessive Love Prostheses. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2003. Dickinson, Emily. Complete Poems. Boston: Little, Brown, 1960. Di Michele, Mary. Luminous Emergencies. Toronto: M&S, 1990. Ginsberg, Allen. Kaddish. San Francisco: City Lights, 1961. Kroetsch, Robert. Seed Catalogue. Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1980. McGimpsey, David. Lardcake. Toronto: ECW Press, 1998. Mouré, Erin. Furious. Toronto: Anansi, 1988. Nichol, bp. An H in the Heart. Toronto: M&S, 1994. Rich, Adrienne. The Dream of a Common Language. New York; Norton, 1978. Ross, Stuart. Hey, Crumbling Balcony. Toronto: ECW Press, 2003. Plath, Sylvia. Collected Poems. New York: Harper Perennial, 1994. Smith, Stevie. Collected Poems. London: New Directions, 1983. Wah, Fred. Waiting for Saskatchewan. Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1984. Wershler-Henry, Darren. The Tapeworm Foundry. Toronto: Anansi, 1999. Fiction Ames, Jonathan. My Less Than Secret Life. New York: Thunder’s Mouth. 2002. Eaton, Chris. The Inactivist. Toronto: Insomniac Press, 2004. Fried, Golda. Nelcott Is My Darling, Toronto: Coach House Books, 2005. Kaufman, Andrew. All My Friends Are Superheroes. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2003. Laurence, Margaret. The Diviners. Toronto: M&S, 1974. Maddin, Guy. From the Atelier Tovar. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2003. Mayor, Chandra. Cherry. Montreal: conundrum press, 2004. McCormack, Derek. The Haunted Hillbilly. Toronto: ECW Press, 2003. Millet, Lydia. Oh Pure and Radiant Heart. New York: Soft Skull, 2005. Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York: Bantam Books, 1971. Ross, Stuart. Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer. Vancouver: Anvil, 2005. Sedaris, David. Barrel Fever. Boston: Little, Brown. 1994. Wilcox, Alana. A Grammar of Endings. Toronto: Mercury, 2000. Theory Adorno, Theodor. Prisms. London: Neville Spearman, 1967. Barthes, Roland. The Pleasure of the Text. London: Hill and Wang, 1975. Brossard, Nicole. The Aerial Letter. Toronto: Women's Press, 1988. Cooley, Dennis. The Vernacular Muse. Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1985. Cixous, Helene. Coming to Writing and Other Essays. Cambridge: Harvard Univiversity Press, 1991. Derrida, Jacques. Acts of Literature. New York: Routledge, 1992. Dubrow, Heather. Genre. New York: Metheun, 1982. Kroetsch, Robert. The Lovely Treachery of Words. Toronto: Oxford, 1989. Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Penguin, 1979.