Monstrous Women I: A Feminist Approach to Myth and Magic
This workshop will be held online weekly with the specific dates and times to be determined from student surveys on common availability.)
This intensive, online writing workshop explores the theme of monstrous women in literature and myth. Participants will explore goddesses and queens, monsters and mothers, soothsayers and shapeshifters. From the familiar to the obscure, these monstrous women seduce and beguile, pushing writers to take a closer look at the labels pasted on women who behave badly— whether they are supernatural or not.
Monstrous Women I includes the following modules: Great Goddesses of Death and Destruction, Matriarchal Monsters and First Females, Wicked Queens and Bloody Crowns, Witchy Women and Enchanted Attacks, The Seductive Allure of the Femme Fatale, & Lesbian Vampires and Lost Souls.
“I am happy only in that I am a monster.” — Angela Carter
NOTE: Monstrous Women II will be offered in Spring 2018 and will include the following modules: The Shifting Shapes of Animal Brides, The Monstrous Female Unveiled, Weeping Women and Tearful Prophecies, The Female Descent into Hysteria and Madness, Women’s Vengeance Unleashed, and Mayhem in Numbers and the Sacred Three. Registration will open in September. Space is limited.
Intersections: Nature and Myth
This self-paced course explores the theme of the Intersection of Nature, Humanity, and Myth in a series of modules designed to prompt story generation over the course of 10 weeks. Participants will explore fairy tales, folk tales, and world myths with links to scientific themes primarily in the fields of natural history, ecological news, and climate-based studies. Intersections: Nature and Myth runs from the first week of September through mid-November with modules released each Friday (9/1, 9/8, 9/15, 9/22, 9/29, 10/6, 10/13, 10/20, 10/27, 11/3).
Modules in Intersections: Nature & Myth include the following scientific themes: Bioluminescence, Colony Collapse Disorder, Migratory Pathways, GMOs & the Changing Face of Food, Climate Change & Our Warming Oceans, Fracking & Agriculture, The Internet of Fungus, and Viruses.
Fairy tales, folktales, and myths explored include “The Firebird,” “The Moon-Maiden,”“Aristaeus, the Bee-keeper,” “The Bee and Jupiter,” “The Swan Maiden,” “The Grateful Crane,” “Johnny Appleseed,” “Fruit in Mythology,” “Fisherman and his Wife,” “The Stonecutter,”“Isis and Osiris,” “The Juniper Tree,” “The King of the Wood,” “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” “Pied Piper,” and “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.”
Personal critiques and feedback of final projects and/or portfolios will be available in scheduled one-hour online meetings with the instructor throughout the month of November.
“Cli-fi is a truly modern literary phenomenon: born as a meme and raised into a distinct genre by the power of social media.” — “Climate Fiction: Can Books Save the Planet?” at The Atlantic Monthly
