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/lit/ - Literature

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18465917 No.18465917 [Reply] [Original]

I will be teaching a creative writing class to uni students this fall and I am expected to show them novels, short stories, creative non fiction and poetry. I might stick to novellas since the attention span of students is small. Also my background is poetry so I don't really read as much fiction as I should. Anyone have suggestions for books I should make my students read? I'd rather not RC Waldun them.

>> No.18465930

Mein Kampf, Derrida, Houellebecq, and the Mahabharata.

>> No.18465936

Borges short stories

>> No.18465943

Savitri Devi

>> No.18465951

>>18465917
Camus has fucking and murder in his books, the kids’ll love that. Plus he’s French so they’ll feel sophisticated.

>> No.18465954
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18465954

>77 days until L'Académie

>> No.18465958

What kind of creative writing will your students be doing

>> No.18465967

>>18465954
Comfiest comfy-pepe I've seen in a while

>> No.18465972

>>18465917
It's a bad idea to teach from texts you don't understand, just a heads up.
for short stories it depends if you want to stick to english only or if you'll allow translations. If engish only:
>The Swimmer by Cheever
>A Good Man is Hard to Find by O'Conner
>Bullet Through the Brain by Wolfe (I don't remember if this one is good, but it's in every creative writing class)
>Trilobites by Pancake
>Cathedral by Carver

>> No.18465984

>>18465954
>the movie poster
kek

>> No.18466022

>>18465936
this

>> No.18466052

Zola's four days is pretty good

>> No.18466195

>>18465972
>A Good Man is Hard to Find by O'Conner
Shit story. The Swimmer and Cathedral are fine though.

>> No.18466330

>>18465936
Based

>> No.18466357

>>18465972
This. Don’t teach a story unless you know it well enough to do so. Variety is important, of course, but so is confidence and understanding. With that said, I highly recommend you make them read My Twisted World.

t. Teacher who forces his students to read weird shit

>> No.18466373

>>18465917
borges, barth, nabokov, updike, calvino, any short story writers that seem like they are having fun while writing, probably kafka too. there are others but these come to mind. They all have novellas or short stories you could put to the class.

>> No.18466377

>>18465917
Chekhov’s short stories are masterful and can be used to teach students

>> No.18466414

>>18466357
don't forget great authors like Brevik and Tarrant

>> No.18467407

>>18465917
Im in a similar situation OP. Poetry background and teaching undergrad, heres my burner email is 666crowely@gmail if you want to exchange pedagogical approaches or suggested readings.

>> No.18467414
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18467414

>>18465917
I'd recommend this one. Pretty short and sweet, small cast of characters.

>> No.18467447

>>18465917
>Short Stories
Borges, Flannery O'Connor, and Chekhov are musts; Faulker's short stories are great too

>> No.18468517

>>18466195
That's a shithot take, it's a great short story. But my personal favorites are "Redemption," "The Life You Save...," and of course, "Good Country People."

>> No.18468654

all tomorrows - Nemo Ramjet

>> No.18468724

This is stuff I use in my creative writing class I teach, albeit for high schoolers
Short stories:
Donald Barthelme - The Balloon
Jorge Borges - Funes the Memorious
A.M. Homes - A Real Doll
Amy Hempel - The Harvest
Flannery O' Connor - A Good Man is Hard to Find
Benjamin Percy - Heart of a Bear
John Updike - A&P

Part of it is your intent. I'm very deliberate with my students. I have them map out structures, character beats, analyze why certain objects show up or certain moments occur, or how an action can be used to show the themes of the story rather than espousing them strictly through dialogue, etc.

creative non-fiction:
George Saunders - Braindead Megaphone
Joan Didion - Why I write
Stephen Elliott - Where I Slept
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Chuck Klosterman - Football from Eating the Dinosaur
and some stuff from the "This I believe" project, like "Being cool to the Pizza Dude" and "Returning to what's Natural"

Poetry I always try to show examples of all kinds of poetry, from slam to shape to sonnets to freeverse, minimalist, story-poems, etc.

>> No.18468744

>>18468724
also echoing the advice of a previous teacher ITT to teach what you know and are utterly familiar with.

Two pieces of advice that I don't see stressed often enough that I try to in my creative writing classes is:
-in order to be a good writer, you have to be a good reader, and being a good reader means being able to pick apart a piece and articulate what did and didn't work for you
- You should get a job, or pull from life experience. A different version of write what you know, but pieces will be more authentic if they can incorporate background such as job mechanics, family cultures, etc.

>> No.18468748

>>18465917
a squires trial by alexander slavros
The poisonous mushroom by Ernst Hiemer
The brigade by harold covington

>> No.18469197

a sallinger story is a must. nabokov, borges, kafka, poe but also something like pkd or even lovecraft. shirley jackson the lottery is another one.

>> No.18469263

>>18465917
The Ship of Fools play by Ted Kaczynski.

>> No.18469429

>>18465954
Based

>> No.18469599

>>18467414
Seconded. Great underrated example of modern lit