Dear cris,

I think that there are genres and forms with in them that beginning writers would profit from by discerning. They can blur them later to their heart's content, but there's basic (historical ) information they ought to have before they start playing around, in my opinion. It's like artists who never learned to draw so have to content themselves with abstractions and ideas instead because they haven't mastered their medium. I regret the loss of traditional competence in the arts--they can build on these forms once they have them. To leap past the basics is to deny the needed grounding to fully play, I think. Picasso was rooted in traditions he mastered before he experimented with them (often showing his conceptual limitations, btw, to me).

My pre-holiday thoughts on this subject. I could go on, but that's the gist of what I think 226 ought to provide. They usually don't know what they don't know, It's up to us to give them a good grounding. And yes, habits of creative play are important to expose them to as well... But I wouldn't put the cart before the horse. Or is the horse creativity? They've been given that in the abstract, I think, before this course? Maybe not in a good directed way. I think 226 should do both: genres, forms. And how to think/feel like a writer.

David

________________________________________
From: Miami University Creative Writing Faculty [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cheek, Christopher F. Dr. [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2012 11:29 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ENG 226

thnx for the procedural info Keith. Perfect.

As to the question about forms versus genres . well, it's a decent question. I'll let others here get their pre-holiday teeth into it.

My two cents of thinking about it was that our wording could operate more like suggested models, and perhaps models would be the best term? In other words it's not that fiction or poetry were/are forms in themselves - that i agree is a silly assertion - but that forms of fiction and forms or poetry would be used as models for student practice et cetera . . I'm wary of fiction and poetry being used as genres, in themselves and as such. I'm wary because works often fit into multiple genres and the maintenance of such a discreet binary might inhibit our flexibility and student flexibility.


cris


On Dec 6, 2012, at 10:19 AM, Tuma, Keith W. wrote:

This is a minor or "additional" curriculum change. The form for it is at the Registrar page (http://www.units.muohio.edu/reg/faculty/courseapproval/index.php) and is sent to Becky Sander in that office, who sends it to me for approval. The chair will have to sign off.

Is it "forms" or "genres" you want to use in the new sentence?

From: "Cheek, Christopher F. Dr." <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: Miami University Creative Writing Faculty <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2012 08:29:36 -0500
To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: ENG 226

Thanks so much. I also agree with the reservations about explicitly adding anything that could prove too meddlesome. I like Brian's elegant solution and Cathy's comma extraction.

So, here's the rewording. I'll run it by Patrick Murphy this morning and see what we actually need to do (maybe not so much) to make it fly and get it entered in the various course descriptor trails.

ENG 226. Exploring techniques and principles of writing and creativity through forms such as shorter fiction and poetry. This class is rooted in student practice.


onwards,


cris