EN9C3 Writing Wrongs Workshop
The Writing Wrongs Workshop is designed for students who have taken EN981 (Writing about Human Rights and Injustice) and wish to pursue a longer, more ambitious project in this vein. In accordance with WWP writing workshop precepts, the module will be led by an expert in the field. Students will submit work for class discussion on a rota basis, with weekly readings and tailored mini-lectures serving to keep the larger issues raised by that work in historical, political and cultural context.
Term 2
Thursday 3 - 6 pm
Full details TBC. What follows is an indicative plan:
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Writing truth
Javier Cercas, The Imposter (extracts: pp13-42 and 167-174)
Jenny Diski, Skating to Antarctica (pp1-38 and 85-103)
Week 3: Writing difference
Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump
Steve Silberman, Neuotribes
Stephen Kuusisto, Planet of the Blind
Week 4: Writing the suffering of others and oneself
Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking
Emmanuel Carrere, Lives Other Than My Own
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Wrestling with the Devil
Sonali Deraniyagala, The Wave
Week 5: Writing people
Oscar Lewis, Pedro Martinez
WG Sebold, The Emmigrants
Salena Godden, ‘Shade’ in Nikesh Shukla (ed), The Good Immigrant
Week 6: TBC
Week 7: Writing war
Martha Gelhorn, The Face of War
Helen Parr, Our Boys: the Story of a Paratrooper
Week 8: Writing for change
Arundhati Roy, The Algebra of Infinite Justice
Elizabeth Pisani, The Wisdom of Whores
Gary Younge, The Speech
Week 9: Writing the Future
Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction
Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Week 10 Final workshop; Overview
Indicative Reading List – to accompany mini lectures
Javier Cercas, The Imposter (extracts: pp13-42 and 167-174)
Jenny Diski, Skating to Antarctica (pp1-38 and 85-103)
Benjamin Zephaniah, My Life and Rhymes
Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump
Steve Silberman, Neuotribes
Stephen Kuusisto, Planet of the Blind
Karl Ove Knausgaard, A Death in the Famiily
Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking
Emmanuel Carrere, Lives Other Than My Own
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Wrestling with the Devil
Sonali Deraniyagala, The Wave
Hisham Matar, The Return
Martha Gelhorn, The Face of War
Helen Parr, Our Boys: the Story of a Paratrooper
Arundhati Roy, The Algebra of Infinite Justice
Elizabeth Pisani, The Wisdom of Whores
Gary Younge, The Speech
Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction
Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Assessed work:
For the MA in Writing: 8000 words of creative work (80%) with a 1000-wForord commentary on the aims and processes involved (20%)(45 CATS).
For the MA in English: (5000 words of creative work (80%) and a 1000-word commentary on the aims and processes involved (20%) (30 CATS).
For the LLM in International Development Law and Human Rights and LLM in Advanced Legal Studies: 3200 words of creative work (80%) and an 800-word commentary (20%) on the aims and processes involved (20 CATS).