Ben Bush's Blog - Posts Tagged "david-foster-wallace"
CW 4745: The Sentence - Reading List
This is the totally over-the-top ambitious reading list for the creative writing class I'm teaching at University of Iowa this semester -
Getting Started:
Antonya Nelson “Short Story: A Process of Revision”
Steven Polansky “Legs”
Danielle Evans “Virgins”
Character:
Robert Boswell “How I Met My Wife”
Junot Diaz “Pura Principle”
The Onion “Ask an Elderly Black Woman as Depicted by a Sophomore Creative Writing Major”
Close 3rd-person narration:
James Wood, excerpt from How Fiction Works “Narrating”
Tobias Wolff “Bullet in the Brain”
William Trevor “Access to the Children”
Dialogue:
Charles D’Ambrosio “Open House”
Denis Johnson “Emergency”
Sonics:
Gary Lutz “The Sentence is a Lonely Place” (essay)
Christine Schutt “What Have You Been Doing?”
Barry Hannah “Water Liars”
George Saunders “My Chivalric Fiasco”
Ethics of Diction:
George Orwell “Politics and the English Language”
David Foster Wallace, “Consider the Lobster”
Excerpt from Infinite Jest “Why—Though in the Early Days of Interlace’s Internetted Teleputers…”
Flash fiction:
Grace Paley “Mother”
Excerpt from Claudia Rankine Citizen
Julio Cortazar “How to Climb a Staircase”
Lydia Davis “New Years’ Resolution”, “Head, Heart.”
Time, Pacing, Clocks:
Nicholson Baker, excerpt from Box of Matches
Aimee Bender “Marzipan”
Robert Coover “Going for a Beer”
Mimickry & “Authentic” texts:
Alejandro Zambra, excerpt from Multiple Choice.
Daniel Orozco “Officers Weep”
Excerpt from Julie Schumacher Dear Committee Members
George Saunders “Exhortation”
George Saunders, excerpt from “Semplica Girls Diary”
Erasures, Cut-Ups, Language Limitations
Matthea Harvey, Of Lamb
J. Robert Lennon, excerpt from “The Cat Text”
Joanna Ruocco, excerpt from Another Governess
Grab Bag: Long Sentences, Flagging, POV
Mathias Enard, excerpt from ZONE
Ray Bradbury, “A Sound of Thunder”
Z. Z. Packer, “Brownies”
Grab Bag: Use of Errors, Distinct Voices, Authentic Texts
Joshua Cohen, excerpt from Book of Numbers
T. Geronimo Johnson, excerpt from Welcome to Braggsville
Thomas Pynchon, excerpt from Crying of Lot 49
Getting Started:
Antonya Nelson “Short Story: A Process of Revision”
Steven Polansky “Legs”
Danielle Evans “Virgins”
Character:
Robert Boswell “How I Met My Wife”
Junot Diaz “Pura Principle”
The Onion “Ask an Elderly Black Woman as Depicted by a Sophomore Creative Writing Major”
Close 3rd-person narration:
James Wood, excerpt from How Fiction Works “Narrating”
Tobias Wolff “Bullet in the Brain”
William Trevor “Access to the Children”
Dialogue:
Charles D’Ambrosio “Open House”
Denis Johnson “Emergency”
Sonics:
Gary Lutz “The Sentence is a Lonely Place” (essay)
Christine Schutt “What Have You Been Doing?”
Barry Hannah “Water Liars”
George Saunders “My Chivalric Fiasco”
Ethics of Diction:
George Orwell “Politics and the English Language”
David Foster Wallace, “Consider the Lobster”
Excerpt from Infinite Jest “Why—Though in the Early Days of Interlace’s Internetted Teleputers…”
Flash fiction:
Grace Paley “Mother”
Excerpt from Claudia Rankine Citizen
Julio Cortazar “How to Climb a Staircase”
Lydia Davis “New Years’ Resolution”, “Head, Heart.”
Time, Pacing, Clocks:
Nicholson Baker, excerpt from Box of Matches
Aimee Bender “Marzipan”
Robert Coover “Going for a Beer”
Mimickry & “Authentic” texts:
Alejandro Zambra, excerpt from Multiple Choice.
Daniel Orozco “Officers Weep”
Excerpt from Julie Schumacher Dear Committee Members
George Saunders “Exhortation”
George Saunders, excerpt from “Semplica Girls Diary”
Erasures, Cut-Ups, Language Limitations
Matthea Harvey, Of Lamb
J. Robert Lennon, excerpt from “The Cat Text”
Joanna Ruocco, excerpt from Another Governess
Grab Bag: Long Sentences, Flagging, POV
Mathias Enard, excerpt from ZONE
Ray Bradbury, “A Sound of Thunder”
Z. Z. Packer, “Brownies”
Grab Bag: Use of Errors, Distinct Voices, Authentic Texts
Joshua Cohen, excerpt from Book of Numbers
T. Geronimo Johnson, excerpt from Welcome to Braggsville
Thomas Pynchon, excerpt from Crying of Lot 49
