Genres

Genres

Fiction

Fiction students at Brown complete a program of workshops, independent studies and electives designed to provide feedback for an eclectic mix of talented writers who are in the process of refining or defining their artistic visions. Through readings, assignments, and discussion of works in progress, instructors encourage the inherent diversity of approaches to the art of writing that are found within the graduate writing community.

Fiction Faculty:

Robert Coover

Brian Evenson (Director ~ on leave Fall 2008)

Thalia Field

Renee Gladman

Carole Maso

Meredith Steinbach

Poetry

Like Fiction students, Poetry students at Brown complete a program of workshops, independent studies and electives that emphasize feedback and exposure to many literary traditions and anti-traditions. Poets are encouraged to develop their independent voices and unique artistic visions through readings, assignments, and discussion of works in progress, as well as through participation in a vibrant and diverse literary community.

Poetry Faculty:

Forrest Gander (Interim Director ~ Fall 2008)

Michael S. Harper

Gale Nelson (Assistant Director)

Keith Waldrop

C.D. Wright

Playwriting

At the heart of Brown’s playwriting workshop is a collaboration with the Brown University/Trinity Repertory Consortium MFA program in acting and directing. During their first semester at Brown, graduate student playwrights work with a team of actors and directors on a series of short projects that explore a variety of theatrical forms and styles. Each graduate playwright will also write at least one longer original play and will work with the talented directors and actors of the Consortium, starting with a cold reading of the first draft and continuing with rehearsed staged readings of their works in progress. The Literary Arts Program and the Consortium collaborate each spring to present the New Plays Festival, a showcase performance of new work by Brown graduate and undergraduate playwrights.

Playwriting Faculty:

Aishah Rahman

Paula Vogel

Literary Hypermedia

Since the early 90s, Brown’s Graduate Program in Literary Arts has earned recognition as an international leader in the field of electronic writing. Today, electronic writing is part of the trans-departmental digital arts development at Brown involving Literary Arts, Music, Visual Art, Modern Culture and Media, Computer Science, and other departments. Links are now being forged with the New Media Center at the Rhode Island School of Design, with an eye to expanding the curriculum, facilitating more collaborative projects and developing joint degree programs. Though the focus is still on writing and thus on the text, students in literary hypermedia take courses offering the additional possibility of working in mixed hypermedia, including computer graphics, animation, electronic music, video, and virtual 3-D environments. Most electronic writing workshops and labs take place in the specially designed Multimedia Labs located in the Graduate Center and List Art Center. A new experimental workshop, “Cave Writing,” has been launched in Brown’s immersive virtual reality environment in the Center for Advanced Scientific Computation and Visualization (the “CAVE”).

E-Fest 2007 Symposium (Robert Coover, Moderator, with John Cayley, Daniel Howe, Michael Joyce, Bill Seaman, and Roberto Simanowksi). Panel Discussion -- February 22, 2007. Click link to hear full symposium discussion.

Crossing the Boundaries

Many Literary Arts Program graduate and undergraduate students are interested in working in a second (or third) genre, in addition to their genre of primary interest. For some students, cross-disciplinary work may incorporate music, visual art, or performance art. Program faculty members encourage students to take workshops in other genres and classes in other art forms; in addition, they have established a graduate elective, Special Topics in Creative Writing, designed to give students the opportunity to explore interdisciplinary methods and issues. The topic of exploration changes from year to year.

Literary Hypermedia and Cross-Disciplinary Faculty:

John Cayley

Robert Coover

Thalia Field