Interdisciplinary Arts 0260 - Theory & Play: Poetry

In 1933, Federico Garcia Lorca gave a lecture in Buenos Aires entitled "Juego y teoria del duende." Our course borrows its title from this lecture, from this investigation of theory and play/play and theory in relation to the indefinable concept of duende. In this course, we will explore the works of six poets (among them, Nathaniel Mackay, Garcia Lorca, Fanny Howe) whose prose and poetry live, necessarily, at the crossroads of theory, discovery, and play. This class will be a kind of centaur--half laboratory, half workshop. Students will develop and participate in writing experiments in and out of class, and will also be expected to contribute poems for class workshop/provide critical feedback in response to the work of their peers. Over the course of the semester, students will generate and revise new work, while developing a portfolio of original poems and an essay on poetic theory. Eligible students should be committed to deepening their practice as creative (live!) readers and writers. Prerequisite: Eligible students will have completed one college-level poetry writing workshop.

Independent Work All interested students must come to the first class session. In this course, students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time. This time includes reading course materials, writing analysis and original works, and preparing for workshops/peer critiques.