Home

= =

=**Rhetoric and Discourse: Writing in Place**=

UHON 201-002 CRN: 52316 TTH 11:00am-12:15pm Room #9 Honors College Instructor: Michael Thomas PhD. Office: SHC #2-E Office hours: MW: 1:30-2:45pm, TTh: 12:30-1:45pm, and arranged Phone: 277-3662, 573-1656 (Cell) e-mail: mthomas@unm.edu

== NOTE: STUDENTS HAVE SELECTED STORIES THAT THEY WROTE DURING THE COURSE OF THE SEMINAR. THESE STORIES ARE INCREDIBLY VARIED YET UNIFORMLY ENTERTAINING. THEY ARE POSTED ON PAGES HERE. ==


 * CATALOG DESCRIPTION:**

This seminar is an interdisciplinary study of writing. People read to engage ideas. They read to inform decisions. Effective writers make ideas and information accessible. Students in this seminar learn the elements of effective writing.

(Note: this course counts three credits towards the UNM core requirement in writing and speaking)


 * COURSE DESCRIPTION****:**

This seminar will undertake the advanced study of reading and writing. People read to engage ideas and information. They read to inform their decisions. And they decide what to read. Writers write to inform, persuade, and entertain. Writers seek to connect with readers, to engage an audience. Writers succeed when readers choose to read their works and complete those readings. This seminar examines the elements of effective writing and challenges students to build the skills that are fundamental to success in their written work.

New Mexico has an impressive literary legacy. The state has nurtured native-born authors and inspired literary nomads. D.H. Lawrence, Denise Chavez, Tony Hillerman, Leslie Silko, Larry McMurtry, Ed Abbey, and Rudolfo Anaya, and many others have practiced the craft of writing both in and on New Mexico. The product of that craft is literature (fiction and nonfiction) with a strong sense of the New Mexican landscape and New Mexican people, a literature of engagement rather than retreat. This seminar will feature a series of mainly afternoon/evening field trips that will challenge student writers to engage the diverse physical and human landscape that surrounds us. On these field trips writers will engage different places and different cultural realities. Students will also attend a Saturday writing retreat that the instructor will structure as an intensive skills based workshop tailored to the particular strengths and weaknesses students have shown in their work to that point.

This seminar will feature the reading scrutiny of celebrated, mainly New Mexican, stories. Students will explore the techniques the authors use to make their stories credible and resonant. Course activities, exercises, assignments, and prompts will challenge students to apply those techniques in their own writing. Stories are powerful in that they can infuse information with drama, emphasis, and credibility. The goal of this seminar is to provide inspiration while increasing competence.


 * BOOKS:**

The books required for this seminar are: 1) King, Stephan, __On Writing__ 2) Flaherty, Francis, __The Elements of Story__ 3) William Strunk and E. B. White, __The Elements of Style__ 4) Lombardo, Stanley, translator, Homer, __The Odyssey__

These books are, each in its own way, reference books. Focusing on fiction, Stephan King’s book shows the reader how to apply the principles of good narrative writing. Students should read this book for guidance and inspiration. Similarly, Francis Flaherty’s book shows the principles that apply to non-fictional writing. Students should likewise read this book, for guidance and inspiration. __The Elements of Style__ is the slender classic that has helped generations of writers produce lucid and precise prose. Students should read it for pleasure and keep it close at hand for guidance. In the Lombardo __Odyssey__ students will find a clearly rendered translation of the ancient Greek poem. The poem, like the //Bhagvad Gita// and the //Popul Vuh// shows the ancient nature of the essential elements of narrative. Students should read it to better understand the enduring power of stories in human endeavor.


 * READINGS**:

The reading emphasis will be on fiction and nonfiction with a strong narrative component, touching lightly on other forms such as poetry, drama, and film scripts. There will be downloadable selections on a blog or wiki from works by the instructor, selections from Edward Abbey, leslie Silko, Rudolfo Anaya, Tony Hillerman, Larry McMurtry, Denise Chavez, Ana Castillo, Mary Austin, Joy Harjo, E.A. Mares, Aldo Leopold, John Nichols, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, Jane Smiley, Norman McLean, and others. The instructor will e-mail assignments week by week and may suggest particular readings to individual students based on the instructor’s assessment.


 * EMPHASIS:**

The course is a reading/discussion/writing/editing seminar. The course will utilize the writers’ workshop approach with all participants using the class to craft and mold works-in-progress into refined, literary products. The premises of the class are these: 1) that narrative is a fundamental and very effective way for people to share ideas, information, observations, reflections, and conclusions with one another. 2) That place, physical and/or social location, provides the author with powerful means of integrating his/her work, and an effective dimension of connection with the audience. Students will also learn about the writer’s role in society during different historical eras and in different cultures.

Students completing this class should be able to:
 * STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES:**

1) Identify features of narrative that render a story effective. (Examples: narrative voice, plot or situation, point of view, character, dialogue, setting, dramatic timing, emphatic rhythm, connection/transition, climax resolution, etc).

2) Demonstrate mastery of several features of effective narrative in their own writing.

3) Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the utility of research in multiple disciplines to assess the role and power of narrative, (oral and/or written) in different societies.

4) Assess their skills as writers and storytellers and articulate ways that they could enhance those skills.


 * REQUIREMENTS**:


 * **Final Project:** Each student will produce two 3000 – 8000 word writing projects of publishable or near publishable quality. Students will produce their projects in three stages. A rough draft followed by a refined first draft and the subsequent final draft. (25 + 25 = 50 points possible)
 * **Portfolio:** Each student will document their day to day work in the class by creating a portfolio folder.The folder can be a physical folder or use a digital format such as a wiki or blog . The folder should preserve writings connected to the class such as in-class writing exercises, notes and short reaction essays on assigned readings, story ideas, draft notes or outlines, etc. In the final weeks of the semester, students should refine and organize their portfolio into a coherent set of documents that demonstrate content mastery and skill improvement. (30 points possible)
 * **Participation**: Students are expected to attend all sessions and to participate in the retreat, field sessions, discussions and other group activities. Students should be attentive and courteous during all discussions and presentations. The instructor will make an assessment of participation in seminar activities. (20 points possible) Note: Since this is a discussion class and since there are but a limited number of meetings, attendance and timely arrival are crucial.


 * A** - 85-100, **Cr** - 55-84, **Ncr** - 54 points or less.


 * TOPICS SCHEDULE (May be revised):**

7 sessions a) Narrative (fiction) reading: Stephan King, __On Writing__: 2 sessions b) Narrative (non-fiction) reading: Flaherty, __Elements of Story__: 2 sessions c) The mythic dimension of Narrative, __The Odyssey____: 3 sessions__
 * Introduction:** The power of narrative in communication. (Entertainment, enlightenment, and persuasion):


 * Assigned readings showcase particular features of effective narratives. Discussion, writing assignments, and in class exercises and prompts will address these focal features.** All reading assignments listed below are provisional. **Dr. Thomas tailors the assignment to the particular capacities and needs of the students who take the class. The listed readings have proved useful in other classes.**

Readings: a) Aldo Leopold, b) Michael Thomas, c) Jane Smiley,
 * Narrative Voice/Point of View:** 2 sessions
 * exerpts from __ Horse Heaven: __
 * [[file:Jane Smiley - exerpt - Horse Heaven.pdf|"Jack Russell”]]
 * [[file:Smiley, Jane - Eileen Takes Note.pdf|"Eileen Takes Note"]] (To read, right click and choose "rotate counterclockwise")

Readings: a) William DeBuys, (non fiction) “Red Horse” b) Annie Proulx, “Brokeback Mountain” c) Edgar Allen Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” d) Susan Glaspell, “A Jury of Her Peers”
 * Plot, Situation, and Structuring Devices:** 2 sessions

Readings: a) Steve Bodio, excerpt from __Querencia__ b) Ed Abbey, “The Snakes of Paradise” c) Denise Chavez, excerpts from __Face of an Angel__ d) Sherman Alexie, excerpts from the __Absolutely True Dairy of a Part-Time Indian__
 * Setting Elements:** 2 sessions

Readings: a) Larry McMurtry, exerpt from __The Last Picture Show__ b) Ellen Gilchrist, “Victory Over Japan” c) Diana Nyad – “Fidrych” d) Leslie Silko – exerpts from __Ceremony__
 * Characters and Character Development:** 2 sessions

Readings: a) H. G. Bissinger, exerpts from __Friday Night Lights__ b) Larry McMurtry, Chapter 1, __Lonesome Dove__ c) Michael Thomas, “Dead Puppy on a Hot Day”
 * Dialogue/Quotation:** 2 sessions

Readings: a) J.L. Borges, “The South” b) Tony Hillerman, “The Witch, Yazzie, and the Nine of Clubs” c) Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery” d) Eminem, “My Fault”
 * Timing, Rhythm, Sequencing, Continuity, and Climax:** 2 sessions

Readings: a) From Stephan King, __On Writing__ b) From Francis Flaherty, __Elements of Story__
 * Ensemble, Working with Drafts:** 2 sessions

Readings: a) From Stephan King, __On Writing__ b) From Francis Flaherty, __Elements of Story__
 * Presentation and Editorial Conventions** 1 session

Readings: Individualized assignments
 * Writing Retreat:** 5 hours (equivalent to 4 sessions)

media type="custom" key="9672690" align="right"