program

Black Forest Writing Seminars: July 26 – August 6, 2010

Applications for the Summer Session 2010 are now being accepted on a rolling basis through May. Please check back with us periodically for new course listings, faculty, and program highlights.

course descriptions

“Strong Emotions in Short Fiction”

Prof. Dr. Sieglinde Lemke
Hauptseminar

This Block Seminar expands understandings of contemporary short fiction through analyzing the ways in which emotions are described and conveyed to the reader. With a focus on American short stories published in the 20th and 21st century, we shall examine the portrayal of grief, love, apathy, and euphoria. We will interrogate short stories from the inside–as writers–and out–as critics. The goal of this course is to better understand the dynamics and logic behind these emotional states as well as the narrative modes in which emotions are expressed in short fiction. The final grade will be based on the submission of either a revised short story or a book review and interpretation of an already published story.

There will be a retreat in the Black Forest near the Schluchsee (in Altglashütten) from July 29-31 (fee: 50 Euro).

“Narrative Design: Advanced Workshop in Short Fiction”

Emily Lundin
Proseminar II

This advanced writing workshop wrangles with the elements of fiction, starting with such usual suspects as setting, character, and plot, and moving toward time, style, point of view, and subtext. Analysis of published works leads the class into discussions and critiques of student stories. Frequent writing assignments and imitations will build toward the completion of two pieces of short fiction to be workshopped in class, with the longer of the two will be revised and submitted for the final grade. We will read contemporary short fiction and narrative theory from writers such as Charles Baxter, Lydia Davis, Junot Diaz, Richard Ford, Mary Gaitskill, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Lorrie Moore, Joyce Carol Oates, E.M. Forster, and James Wood, among others.

“Kreatives Schreiben”

Annika Reich
Proseminar II

Dieser Kurs richtet sich an deutschsprachige Studenten bzw. Autoren, die ihren eigenen kreativen Schreibprozess anstoßen oder professionalisieren wollen. Der Fokus liegt auf der Arbeit an Prosatexten, die mitgebracht oder während des BFWS-Seminars verfaßt werden. Theoretische Fragestellungen zu Dramaturgie, Dialogtechnik und Erzählperspektive werden für den jeweiligen Kontext zugespitzt und direkt angewendet. Praktische Fragen nach dem Umgang mit Recherchethemen, Schreibblockaden und Publikationsmöglichkeiten werden diskutiert, um konkrete Vorgehensweisen zu entwerfen. Ziel des Seminars ist es, in gemeinsamer Arbeit differenzierte Schreibpraktiken zu entwickeln, die danach alleine fruchtbar weitergeführt werden können.

“Vision and Revision: Modern and Contemporary American Poetry”

Kirk Nesset
Proseminar I

Writing a poem consists of two major acts: finding an approach or voice that makes something worth telling, and shaping that initial burst into distinct and memorable language. This workshop will help you learn to recognize what’s worth recording, and will help you to revise, shape, and re-think after that first act is complete. We will also study poems by recognized poets, recent and slightly less so—study them as literature as well as models for our own writing. Course text will be available as a xerox anthology. Coursework culminates in a portfolio of revised, polished poems, or in a critical essay illuminating a poem or poems by a chosen poet.

“From Short Story to Screen: Adaptation and Screenwriting”

Bastian Günther
Proseminar I

This seminar takes its cues from Robert Altman’s film, “Short Cuts,” whose script was based on a number of short stories by the late American author, Raymond Carver. Students will closely analyze both Carver’s stories and Altman’s adaptation of them on the screen, addressing questions such as: How was a story used in the film, and to what end? How was it changed or interpreted for the film? Why did Altman choose these stories in particular? The class will also study and compare the use of short fiction in narrative feature length films by looking closely at Kelly Reichardt’s adaptation of short stories by Jonathan Raymond. From this discussion and various screenwriting exercises, students will produce by the course’s end a short screenplay based on a Carver story not used in “Short Cuts.”

“Creative Nonfiction: the Writing of Place and the Place of Writing”

Ann Hostetler
Proseminar I

This course will explore the ways in which place–the one that surrounds us, the ones we carry with us in memory–shape our perceptions of self and the world. We will also play with ideas of time in space, the layers of space, and the way in which place can offer a dominant metaphor in creative nonfiction. We will use our responses to the black Forest environment, both rural and urban, to stimulate our thinking about the familiar places in our minds in order to discover and develop a subject for a longer essay to be polished throughout the seminar. Course requirements include readings from a purchased anthology of creative nonfiction and memoir, brief reports on readings, participation in writing exercises and group workshops, and the completion of a polished piece of creative nonfiction.

“Writing Linked Short Stories”

Courtney Zoffness
Proseminar II

The stories of linked collections are supposed to be both self-sufficient and inter-related; according to the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Michael Chabon, the interest in linked narratives lies “in the interstices.” How do we understand threads of character or setting or theme? How do promises of interconnection shape our expectations as readers? What challenges do they pose for writers? In this writing workshop, students will create their own interrelated stories, focusing as much on making them work independently as making them work together.

“Open Secrets: Alice Munro and the Craft of Storytelling”

Megan O’Grady
Proseminar I

Alice Munro has been called “our Chekhov” for her subtle realism and her use of precise, revelatory detail. In this course, we’ll examine her work from a writer’s perspective, investigating how her best stories achieve their effects. Through this lens we’ll discuss larger issues of craft, including structure, tone, temporality, and point of view. Participation in class discussion is mandatory, as is the final project: an analysis, review, or a creative response to the work presented in class.

“Thompson, Baldwin, and Didion: Finding Voice in Creative Nonfiction”

Steve Kettmann
Proseminar II

What role does voice play in bringing creative nonfiction writing closer to “the truth”? At the heart of this course is a close study of three master works of the genre: Hunter S. Thompson’s Hell’s Angels, Joan Didion’s The White Album, and James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. The strong and distinctive voices of these three authors, who heralded a new era of American writing in the nineteen-sixties, have much to say to us now. An engaged analysis of each of these texts will lead into exercises eventuating in writing a personal essay. Final grade based on workshop participation and submission of thoroughly revised personal essay.

“From Words to a Cube: Moving from Script to Modular Performance”

Graham Smith

This course moves between word and movement, from the page to the stage. Through movement exercises, channels of creative expression are opened, leading to destinations in text and motion, from writing to performance. The “cube” is a 3×3 meter performance space that sets the only limits for discovery and that provides a unique creative repository. No specific dance/movement experience necessary. The course culminates in performing students’ scripts in the cube.

“Beginning Filmmaking”

Übung

In this Block Seminar students will have the opportunity to develop skills with filmmaking via first-hand experience with equipment – under the guidance of experienced filmmakers. A series of exercises frame the work of this course, leading students through some basic elements of visual storytelling through shooting, lighting, editing, producing, and directing. Students will work together on teams, and by rotating out of positions, will gain a broad introduction to this complex art form. The course culminates in a small-scale production (and editing) of a short scene.
*This course will be taught in German.

Students receive a selection of readings for each course.

NOTE: The daily schedule is being organized. Check back with us soon for more details. All courses are held between July 26 – August 6, 2010. Two days of seminars will be held at the mountain retreat (July 29 – 31, 2010).

Please select your classes from list above.

Black Forest Writing Seminars
July 26 – August 6, 2010 University of Freiburg

26.07.10

Monday

27.07.10

Tuesday

28.07.10

Wednesday

29.07.10

Thursday

30.07.10

Friday

31.07.10

Saturday

01.08.10

Sunday

02.08.10

Monday

03.08.10

Tuesday

04.08.10

Wednesday

05.08.10

Thursday

06.08.10

Friday

9:00-12

Workshop

Feldberg

Altglashütten

10:00-12:00

Lundin

10-12:00

Nesset

12:00-14:00

Zoffness

14-16:00

Lemke

14-16:00

O’Grady

14-17

Günther

13-17

Reich

16-18

Official
Welcome

Kettmann

retreat

Classes will be held for two nights/three days (July 29 – 31, 2010) in the Black Forest at a mountain retreat.

Cost: 50 Euro per student.

schedule

All classes will be held between July 26 – August 6, 2010. Two days of seminars take place at a mountain retreat (July 29 – 31, 2010). Some courses hold an additional workshop hour (please see course syllabus).

BFWS participants arrive the day before the start of their course(s). This allows time to settle into the residence and become oriented in Freiburg.