This Just In: an excellent new set of guidelines of Fair Use laws.

Nonfiction Narratives Syllabus: HUMS 620 Monday-Thursday 09:00 AM - 12:00 PM Non-fiction Narratives: Research, Field Work, and Writing Jarnot,Lisa Public Affairs Center 136 This course focuses on nonfiction narrative and research writing possibilities from the genre of true crime novels to case studies to memoirs to documentary projects to epic poetry with historical themes. Readings will include excerpts of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Michel Foucault's I, Pierre Riviere..., Kate Bornstein's Gender Outlaw, and shorter in-class hand-outs. In addition to classroom discussions and exercises regarding research tools (the internet, library sources, interviews, and various forms of field work), each class member will choose a topic of interest to research during the course. Specific attention will be given to methods of organizing research materials, the ethics of field work, transformations of raw materials into narrative structures, and multi-genre possibilities for the non-fiction narrative from hypertext to film to poetry. Your grade will be based on two factors: 25% classroom attendance and participation 75% a final project in the form of "nonfiction narrative" (on the topic of your choice) and in a form that you find useful and appropriate to the content (essay, memoir, documentary, critical article, historical poem, etc.) 10-15 pages. Calendar Week One: Nonfiction and the self: an entrance to research. Read Kate Bornstein’s Gender Outlaw M July 17 Introduction: Why research? Why history? Why narrative? An overview of the goals for the course. A few notes on the history of "nonfiction" in the Western tradition from Herodotus's history to Montaigne's essays to Truman Capote's true crime novel In Cold Blood. The parameters and possibilities of nonfiction narrative: creating a source list of types of texts that "qualify" as nonfiction. Writing topics for the day re: Bornstein, memoir, and nonfiction: Who I am. Who I want to be. Mini-research project: Weave a secondary "research" source into the "Who I Am" narrative. Small Group Work: reading revised version of narratives, discussion of possible research source materials. Closing Question: What is Nonfiction? What myths, mis-truths, exaggerations exist in your "Who I am" narrative? Homework: Read introductory excerpts from From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods. Link here: Howell and Prevenier Tues July 18 Continued discussion of research methods and information sources toward nonfiction narrative. Writing topic for the day: What I know. What I want to know. Make a top ten list of research/nonfiction narrative projects you'd like to conduct. (Hopefully from this list you'll be able to decide upon a preliminary paper topic.) Building a database of information and streamlining your knowledge gathering: methods of research (incorporating reading from Howell and Prevenier), filing systems, and the gathering and organization of data. Streamlining your data-gathering techniques and creating Q Lists. Coffee Break Field Work: Spend 30 minutes roaming the campus and develop a Q List (Question List) re: things you don't know and should/might want to know about Wesleyan and Middletown. Discussion of Bornstein: What's your gender? When did you decide that? How much say do you have in your gender? Is there anything about your gender or gender role that you don't like or that gets in your way? New topic: self and environment: field work: a look at the writings of Charles Olson and Ezra Pound. Homework: Read brief bios of Olson and Pound. Look at their histo-poems: Olson's "Maximus, From Dogtown—I" and A Hypervortext of Ezra Pound's Canto LXXXI and also, Juliana Spahr's Response. (A post-Olson/Pound female poet's perspective on data-gathering, society, and story telling. Also: find answers to three of the questions on your Wesleyan Coffee Break Q List. Wed July 19 A start into the research project: Check in re: Wesleyan poem projects and poetry as nonfiction history. Coming up with a topic, q-lists (one or many), and preliminary source material lists (ideas for possible print, internet, field-related, interview subjects that could be useful). How to get the most out of your online and print resources: continue discussion of research methods: field work, oral histories and interviews: in class exercise: interview techniques: write interview questions for your idol, a political figure you despise, and someone who intimidates you. Also, here are three websites re: transgender issues: kari edwards' blog and Gender.Org and Intersex Society of North America. Homework: Read Basic Copyright Laws of the United States, Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials, and Oral History Techniques: How to Organize and Conduct Oral History Interviews by Barbara Truesdell. Th July 20 View documentary film: The Brandon Teena Story. Discuss Bornstein in relation to the film. What did you learn from the book? What did you learn from the film? What was the difference between the two forms? Discussion of Bornstein: Believing and Doubting: "There are two genders" and "I am certain of my gender." Weekend assignment: write a full page of your nonfiction project, just to see how it feels. Reading assignments: Take a look at examples of interviews at the Smithsonian online collection of Oral Histories, and read an essay by nonfiction writer-essayist-activist Rebecca Solnit:The Uses of Disaster and an interview with Rebecca Solnit in Salon magazine. Week One Follow Up Reading: Some suggestions from kari edwards: McCloskey, Deirdre N. Crossing: a memoir. Richards, Renee with Ames, John. The Renee Richards Story: Second Serve. Stone, Alluquere Rosanne. The War of Desire and Technology at the close of the Mechanical Age. Wilchins, Riki Anne Wilchins. Read My Lips: Sexual subversion and the End of Gender. Week Two: Nonfiction narratives: sociological studies, histories, and ethnographies. Read Michel Foucault’s I, Pierre Riviere… M July 24 Gender discussion follow-up: reflections on the enforcement of gender in [American] culture. Discussion of weekend reading of Solnit, Oral Histories, and reports re: your progress in your own interviews. Working with sources and biases in reporting: using pages 3-12 of the Foucault book, write a newspaper account of the Pierre Riviere story. Working with alternative perspectives in your own narrative: using the page of text you created this weekend, re-write it from two of the following perspectives: that of a Republican a Democrat a CNN News reporter a cultural historian Homework: consider potential biases in your writing and in the writing of others. Look at the following sites and think about "point-of-view" The UK Guardian The UK Guardian Online: one of the most respected liberal newspapers in Europe. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization A database of field reports regarding Bigfoot sightings. The New York Post one of the New York City area's daily tabloids. AlJazeera English Language Website one of the most respected news sources in the Arab world. Tues July 25 Free-writing: Things I want to know about the library, library research, and other potential sources of information. Library Visit @ 9:30. Discussion of Foucault: dialogical notebooks: picking out something you agree with/understand/identify with in Foucault and something you don't understand in Foucault. Homework: Read excerpt of Freud, from Civilization and Its Discontents and view PBS documentary website: Kip Kinkel: The Killer at Thurston High. Also, you might want to check out Rob's narrative (the Wesleyan/Middletown area research piece Click Here and Amnesty International's list of countries that have abolished the Death Penalty. W July 26 Writing day: creating a text quickly and with accuracy: Part One: flash non-fiction: a five minute narrative w/chance operation topics. Part Two: a one hour narrative w/time for a library visit and quick researching. Foucault, Freud, Kinkel: What biases, pre-suppositions, and resistances do we bring to these texts? By what forces were our biases, pre-suppositions and resistances formed? Homework: Read Mike B's pick re: tellings of history: Jeff Rider on History and basic facts about MLA style and the Modern Language Association and the Chicago Manual of Style. Also try to arrive at an outline of your project. Th July 27 View film: bell hooks: Cultural Criticism and Transformation Outline of nonfiction narrative project due. Discussion: documenting sources: MLA, APA, Chicago Manual of Style and beyond. Here's a better link to MLA Style. Weekend Homework: Read Interview in the New Yorker with W.G. Sebald and W.G. Sebald Austerlitz Chapter One. Also a follow-up on our discussion of memory: a website with notes on Frances Yates's The Art of Memory. And check out an interview with bell hooks at Z Magazine and Hilary's find of River Teeth: A Jornal of Nonfiction Narrative. You may want to send them some work. (They ask for MLA formatted pieces.) And finally, a classic by Peggy McIntosh,White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Week Three: Nonfiction, fiction, and records of history: Read Capote’s In Cold Blood M July 31 Discussion of weekend reading: W.G. Sebald's work, bell hooks interview. Capote's In Cold Blood: techniques toward good non-fiction writing: visual description. In class writing experiments in capturing the particulars of a scene. Rough draft of your project. Group work: looking at rough drafts and workshopping them in teams and in the larger group. Cross-genre forms: performing your project in another genre: turning your narrative into a play. Homework: a look into Eastern culture: Read Matsuo Basho's Narrow Road to the Deep North here and Male Dan: the Paradox of Sex, Acting, and Perception of Female Impersonation in Traditional Chinese Theatre by Min Tian . (You need to be logged into the Wesleyan system to access this article.) Tues Aug 1 Cross-cultural forms: the walking journey and a discussion of gender in Chinese theater. Workshopping of projects and Capote's In Cold Blood: techniques toward good non-fiction writing part two: dialogue and character description. In class writing experiments in capturing the particulars of a scene. Homework: Public records: research sources outside of academia: government documents available to you: please check out the basement level stacks of Olin Library and try to make use of some kind of government document in your project. Note for the day: Truman Capote's papers, including his notebooks and correspondence regarding In Cold Blood are available in the Archives Collection of the New York Public Library (42nd Street and 5th Avenue). Also, some photo sites: from the Lawrence Journal Worldand photo of Dick and Photo of Perry Wed Aug 2 Check in regarding use of government documents. More practice with descriptive writing: describe a painting. Fine-tuning. Bringing other information into the weave: the cultural, political, historical. How does your research fit into a larger pattern of research? Workshopping of papers. In-depth discussion of Capote. Thurs Aug 3 Final projects due, recap of class, notes on further resources, venues for publishing your work. Contact Information: Lisa Jarnot ljarnot@gmail.com Links: Google Search Smithsonian Collection Art History Oral Histories U.S. National Archives and Records Administration