Interdisciplinary Arts 0160 - Unreliable Narrators: Perspective as Structure in the Short Story

In this course, we will examine how narrators and narration drive and impose structure onto short stories. By doing so, we will begin to consider the role of the narrator in our own creative work. We will study the role narrators play in the function of the stories they tell, whether they feature in those stories or not. Thinking about the veracity of our narrators, we will approach storytelling by thinking about what these narrators add to our stories, and of course what they know and what they think they know, with respect to the story they are telling, and how all of that affects the reader's understanding of the piece. You will submit two original stories for workshop, and write a short analytical essay (2-3 pgs) on one of the published works we read. Keywords: creative writing, writing program, fiction.

Media and Technology Students in this course should expect to spend 8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time.