The three essays you read for today presented their authors' perspectives on what CNF does and how it works. Pay attention to their descriptions since they define the "moves" you will be expected to make in your essays for this course.
At the beginning of class, you did some writing to explore your identity as a character - and then you read some of the pieces and we speculated about what a reader might infer about the persona in the writing. We noticed that the narrator's identity could be portrayed through behavior within the story itself, or stated directly through first-person declarations or reflections.
We spent the rest of the class discussing the Lott's definition of CNF. I asked you to notice both the points he made about what CNF did -and the form he used to make his points. In particular, I pointed out how he used segments and a "refrain" => to state and "re-cap" the points in his definition. You might also notice that the points were (in a way) cumulative, going from what might be understood as the most concrete and obvious (we write to keep the past from slipping away) - to the most abstract => that we are accountable for the truths we create in writing. The structure + organization help to create the essays force and movement (it would be very different if he began with accountability & ended with "to record the past"). Look at the principles he used (and describes) = and think about how you might use them in your work.
For class Thursday:
In our next class we will look at essays that use sections or segments.
Read: Cofer, 83; Simic, 166; Atwood, 288
Blog 3: Use your reflections on the readings and today's class discussion to develop your definition of CNF: what do Kidder and Lopate suggest about the writer's relationship to CNF? How does Lott define creative nonfiction add to their perspectives? How are their definitions similar to or different from your definition(s)?
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