Course Offerings
The graduate program is divided into the poetry workshop and the fiction workshop, and
it offers two kinds of courses: writing workshops and seminars. Probably the
most well-known of our courses are the Graduate Poetry Workshop (8C:252) and
the Graduate Fiction Workshop (8C:251), in which groups of 10 to 15 students
critique each others' work. These courses are open only to those students who
have been admitted for the M.F.A. degree program or for course work. Currently
there are five sections in fiction and four in poetry, with each section taught
by one of the faculty members. During each
of the four semesters of residence, students are required to take a Graduate
Fiction or Poetry Workshop.
The seminars offered by the program are designed to provide the student with
a thorough knowledge of the form in which he or she works and the related aspects
of craft. Form of Fiction (8C:270), Form of Poetry (8C:275), and seminars in
modern fiction and poetry (8C:490 and 8C:495) are 3-semester-hour courses offered
each semester. These seminars focus upon a single aspect of modern poetry or
fiction, perhaps upon a single writer's work or a body of work with a common
theme or purpose.
The Translation Workshop (8C:260) is offered in conjunction with the Program
in Comparative Literature. One section requires competency in the language
to be translated, and one does not. During fall semesters, participation by
visiting writers in the International Writing Program may be expected. Recent
work in the course has produced translations from French, Spanish, Dutch, German,
Italian, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, Ethiopian, Pashto, Turkish,
Swahili, and Urdu. Further information on the Translation Workshop is available
from the Department of Cinema and Comparative
Literature.
Students
in the Writers' Workshop may take graduate classes in other departments
and count those credits toward the M.F.A degree. Many Workshop students
also pursue course work in the interdisciplinary Center
for the Book.
During the fall semester, the International
Writing Program offers weekly seminars and panel discussions on the literary
scene in other countries. Panelists include visiting writers in the
International Writing Program as well as visitors to the Writers'
Workshop.
The Department of Theatre Arts offers playwriting courses. Basic Playwriting
(36T:161) has open enrollment. Admission to the Playwrights
Workshop (36T:163) is competitive, that is, based on acceptance of manuscripts
submitted for approval. The Cinema and
Comparative Literature department usually offers screenwriting courses.