The CRW three-year Graduate Curriculum
Required Form and Theory Courses (9 hours)
CRW 5321 Narrative Theory and Poetics
CRW 5364 Forms and Techniques of Fiction
CRW 5365 Forms and Techniques of Poetry
A Pedagogy class, in the English (Engl 5346) and for the Spanish Department (Ling 5308) for those students with a Teaching Assistantship. FIRST YEAR, SECOND AND THIRD YEAR.
Workshop and/or Variable Topics courses
(Only three in a single genre)
CRW 5366 Advanced Fiction Writing
CRW 5367 Advanced Poetry Writing
CRW 5371 Writing the Novel
CRW 5372 Advanced Screenwriting
CRW 5373 Advanced Creative Nonfiction
CRW 5374 Ten Problems for the Fiction Writer
CRW 5363 Writing Children’s Literature
CRW 5368 Variable Topics
CRW 5369 Advanced Playwriting
Literature (12 hours)
These courses require reading at least six book-length works, and an analytical final project, although they may also include creative assignments. CRW 5368 and CRW 5382 may be counted as Literature Courses if they fulfill these requirements, but such courses will not count toward the 15 hours requirement above. Note: One graduate level Literature course may be taken from another department, such as English and Language and Linguistics, with an advisor’s approval.
CRW 5370 Literary Translation
CRW 5376 Writing About Popular Music
CRW 5377 Rewriting America Since 1960s
CRW 5378 The Politics of Narration
CRW 5379 Kafka and the Art of Fiction
CRW 5380 The Physics of Creative Writing
CRW 5382 Studies in Form
CRW 5383 History of the Short Story Form
CRW 5384 The Literary Marketplace
CRW 5386 Minding Fiction
CRW 5387 Contemporary Latin American Novel
CRW 5388 Storytelling in Film and Literature
CRW 5389 High Modernism in Latin America
Electives (6 hours)
These are graduate-level courses taken from any department with an advisor’s approval. The pedagogy course counts as one elective.
Independent Study (3 hours)
This course may be taken from any department with an advisor’s approval. It may replace a Literature or an Elective Course. In either case, students planning to take this course need to develop a syllabus, which must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.
THIRD YEAR
Thesis (6 hours)
CRW 5398 Thesis I
CRW 5399 Thesis II (this course may only be taken in the last semester)
The thesis will consist of a book-length manuscript of original fiction—poetry, play, group of essays or screenplay—presented by a preface. Each candidate is required to submit a thesis proposal and a sample of the thesis-in progress before enrolling in Thesis I. The thesis will be prepared under the direction of a three-member supervising committee and will be defended orally.
Course Descriptions
CRW 5321 Narrative Theory and Poetic
Intensive readings in literary theory and criticism as they relate to aesthetics, form and the creative process. The course will cover a spectrum of critical reflection by philosophers, theorists, fiction writers and poets regarding poetics and the making of fiction. Students will undertake a research paper or research project. Prerequisite: Department approval.
CRW 5364 Forms and Techniques of Fiction
A course in directed reading and writing that leads the student to a historical understanding of the creative process through analysis and imitation of important works of fiction. Prerequisite: Department approval.
CRW 5365 Forms and Techniques of Poetry
A course in directed reading and writing that leads the student to a historical understanding of the creative process through analysis and imitation of important works of poetry. Prerequisite: Department approval.
CRW 5366 Advanced Fiction Writing
Intensive study and practice in the various forms and approaches of fiction, including workshop discussion and individual student manuscripts. Prerequisite: Department approval.
CRW 5367 Advanced Poetry Writing
Intensive study and practice in the various forms and approaches within the writing of poetry, including workshop discussion of individual student poems. Prerequisite: Department approval.
CRW 5368 Variable Topics in Creative Writing
Genres and forms not normally covered in the M.F.A. curriculum, e.g., the short novel, libretti, the dramatic monologue. Writing consists of both criticism particular to the course focus, and writing representative of the form or genre itself. May be taken as a workshop course.
CRW 5369: Advanced Playwriting
Intensive study and practice in various forms and approaches of playwriting, including workshop discussion of individual student plays.
CRW 5371 Writing the Novel
This is an intensive workshop designated to guide students through the process of planning, researching, writing and editing the novel.
CRW 5372 Advanced Screenwriting
Intensive study and practice in various forms and approaches of screenwriting, including workshop discussion of individual student scripts.
CRW 5373 Advanced Creative Non-Fiction
Intensive study and practice in the various forms and approaches of creative non-fiction including, workshop discussion of individual student creative non-fiction.
CRW 5374 Ten Problems for the Fiction Writer
This is an examination of ten of the most common problems fiction writers might find in their work.
CRW 5370 Literary Translation
Theoretical consideration, reading and practice in various forms and approaches to literary translation, including individual projects.
CRW 5376 Writing About Popular Music
This course looks at the ways in which writers over the past century have engaged popular music as a means to understand a rapidly changing society.
CRW 5377 Rewriting America Since 1960s
An examination of the ways in which American fiction writers of the 1960s (and beyond) began to reimagine the art of fiction in the context of a newly ubiquitous consumer culture.
CRW 5378 The Politics of Narration
Through careful examination of experiments by twentieth-century fiction writers in Point of View, this course investigates the "politics" of narration--that is, the ways in which narration in fiction models, replicates, and reinforces political systems.
CRW 5379 Kafka and the Art of Fiction
The study of Franz Kafka helps us push metaphorical boundaries in our fictional landscapes, because as much of any other writer, he has changed the way we see not only narrative, but reality itself.
CRW 5380 Physics of Creative Writing
This course looks at metaphors in physics –general an special relativity, the particle/wave duality, the uncertainty principle, singularities, black holes, super string theory, parallel universes, time travel, the God particle, etc.–and puts them into practice using them in fiction and poetry.
CRW 5382 Studies in Form
Advanced literary and critical focus on a single author, movement, or period within a single major form, e.g. novel, drama, poetry, essay, screenplay. Students will undertake a research paper or research project. It may be taken as a literature course.
CRW 5385: Forms in the Contemporary Short Story
Intensive study of the short story as it is practiced by contemporary writers, including its various forms and approaches. Students will undertake a research paper or research project.
CRW 5386: Minding Fiction
Study of the representation of consciousness in fiction through the study of theory and the discussion of particular works of fiction. Students will undertake a research paper or research project.
CRW 5387: Contemporary Latin American Novel
Critical study and discussion of the contemporary Latin American novel with focus on a particular time period, a country or a literary movement. Students will undertake a research paper or research project.
CRW 5388: Storytelling in Film and Literature
Comparative study of films and the novels that have inspired them with particular emphasis on the difference between these two media, and a focus on a particular time period, genre or country. Students will undertake a research paper or research project.
CRW 5389: High Modernism in Latin America
Critical study of the influences of Anglo-Saxon Modernism in the literary tradition of Latin America, with a particular emphasis on an author, country or time period. Students will undertake a research paper or research project.
CRW 5398 Thesis I
Initial work on the thesis.
CRW 5399 Thesis II
Thesis completion and defense.
