Have you ever asked: Could my love of creative writing be more involved with my curiosity as a scholar? Is it possible to pursue creative writing and literary scholarship at the same time? This course is about what happens when you answer yes. We will explore the methodology of what has awkwardly been named “research-creation”: the pursuit of new ideas and questions through the practice of the creative arts—in such forms as poetry, fiction, comics, or other forms of verbal and written media. We will undertake traditional graduate seminar activities of shared scholarly readings and discussion about research-creation alongside creative writing activities in which you will workshop your own short creative writing/research assignments and a larger creative project developed in the latter part of the term. The course is very much individually driven as to content: you must be prepared to choose your own area of literary studies to research and get creative about. No previous experience in creative writing is required, only your curiosity and willingness to think outside the essay genre. Assessment is based on a few weekly sentences, three short assignments, one longer assignment, and contribution to peer reviewing and editing.
