September 6

We will meet in CAS 113 for the rest of the term.


Blogs:  You set up your blogs - and sent me your blog address.  I have posted links to all blog s on my Class Blog list at the right - and will update as the last several come in.  Feel free to copy the URLs and create your own link list.  If you aren't sure how to do that - we will take a minute at the beginning of class to review any remaining questions about blogs.


Early memories: Journal wiring took you back to your earliest memories.  Like the introduction to an essay or the opening scene of a novel - early memories can provide interpretive foundations for subsequent experiences.  What comes after is lived in terms of what comes before.  After we told stories, we summed up some of the patterns in the kinds of stories we told: about "pain" (bee stings); about "firsts," most were told from within that peculiar sensibility of childhood that is unaware of others watching and judging, and most were associated with family.  As we move through the different prompts - do some thinking about patterns in how we respond to certain questions.  CNF writers often write from within the mainstream answers - but with a fresh or startling perspective = the common theme connects to the audience, the freshness gives us all something to think about.


Grealy, Danticat, & Koestenbaum.  We didn't really get through this discussion - but we got a start.  In discussing what the essay was about - we noticed that there were two distinct "abouts" :1)  the sequence of events or "what happened"; and 2) the interpretative reflections on what those events/descriptions/experiences "meant".  As you re-read, re-consider these pieces, think about how (and why) the authors move between telling and reflecting.  And think about the purpose of each move.


As we analyzed Grealy - we noticed that like an essay - it placed clues to its "aboutness" in places similar to an "regular" essay.  This is not the only way to write CNF - but it is a common approach.  We also noticed that what the essay was about was not stated directly - that it was literary in the sense that its meaning unfolded through inference, images, and symbols.  


We also noticed that Grealy and Koestenbaum were "segmented" => written in "chunks" of several paragraphs that hung together in terms of focus.  This is a common strategy in CNF.  These sections operated like mega-paragraphs.  If you look at how these sections are organized - you will see other "moves" authors make to present the kind of "idea stories" characteristic of CNF.  Think about how the authors used/structured the sections in terms of "telling" and "reflecting" - then notice where you got bored - and where you lost yourself in the story.  What is the correlation?  Which parts drew you in?  Where did you withdraw?


We also  noticed - just as the class was ending - that although, after the opening section, following sections seem to be mostly chronological - in a larger sense the organizing principle of the essay is not about accurately representing the sequence of what happened to her.  Rather - the essay is in a LOGICAL (rather than chronological) order that uses selected experiences to develop an idea - a concept - a realization.    So for your first blog - 


For next class:
Read:  Lowry, 48; Vowell, 130; Bellow, 176 => we will use  these essays to continue discussion about what CNF is - and how it works.


Post Blog 1:  Do some writing about the idea or focus that organizes Grealy's essay.  What point is she making?  What sequence of ideas does she move through?  How do her stories serve as "points" in her "argument"?    Where does she move to direct statements (reflections) and why?   


This is your first blog and I am hoping you will use your post to do some thinking about what creative nonfiction is - and how it is built.  If you have a brilliant (or even an average) insight - put it out there!  


Thanks for your good stories - and see you on Thursday.