HCRW-200: Narrative Strategies

Almost all writing involves some sort of narrative. So does film, illustration, advertising, photography, and fine art (among other disciplines). This course will look at narrative as a group of strategies that can be applied to various literary genres (i.e. fiction, poetry, screenwriting, etc.) or to work outside of traditional genres in the formation of new or alternative modes of story telling or message-bringing. We will look at "traditional" and "experimental" uses of narrative as used in language, and then try our own hands at writing through and with the strategies we examine (and, possibly move beyond them). We will also look at examples of work within the categories of Art Center's various disciplines to see how narrative is used in them, and consider what kind of recombinant possibilities might be explored. In both what we read and what we write, we will focus on four main narrative types: linear narrative, nonlinear narrative, lyrical narrative and fragmented narrative.