Dream Logic in Writing [Erin Gilbert]

From Gogol to Kafka to contemporary poets like Richard Siken, writers have accomplished literary feats with what Nabokov called “irrational insight.” This generative class will examine how great authors in every genre have dispensed with exposition and the laws of reality by introducing the logic of dreams into their writing. Students will produce one short piece, participate in weekly discussions of short assigned readings, and write from prompts in an effort to mine the “private abyss.”