Reading and Writing: the First Novel
LIT4282.01
Course Description
Summary
Some writers are born gradually over a body of 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 Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, Edinburgh by Alexander Chee, Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector, Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin, The Comforters by Muriel Spark, The Street by Ann Petry, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates), and students will write–and workshop–frequent creative exercises designed to help them launch their own first novels.Prerequisites
Students interested in this class should submit a writing sample (preferably a piece of fiction over 5 pp.) using this form by November 24. You will be notified of acceptance by November 29, 2023.
Please contact the faculty member : banastas@bennington.edu
Corequisites
All students in 4000-level literature classes are required to attend Wednesday evening literature events.