Embedded Files
I've shared the space of the blog with my high-school students at PVA from the blog's inception in July 2015. Below are the links to the posts I've written on the blog myself, some as the basis of class lessons and others in response to my independent reading.
A description of the practice of a visual approach to literature that forms the basis of the Friday elective "Picturing Literature" that I taught to both the underclassmen and upperclassmen in the spring of 2024. Includes discussion of Bessel van der Kolk's The Body Keeps the Score (2014) and Brené Brown's Atlas of the Heart (2021), as well as a look at my project The Corrections in Collage.
A look at the narrative structure of the 2023 musical adaptation of Alice Walker's classic novel The Color Purple (1982), with some discussion of the 1985 film adaptation as well, to examine how particular scenes and passages from the novel were developed into musical numbers (and what was left out). An example presentation for the elective on musicals I taught in the spring of 2024.
A look at the failure of computer-generated eyes in the live-action Disney remakes–most prominently Dumbo (2019) and Pinocchio (2022)–through the lens of Jungian puns and Robert Boswell's "The Half-Known World," with some discussion of Wall-E (2008) as a counterpoint to the potential of computer-generated eyes to generate an emotional response in the viewer. A pseudo example presentation for the Disney elective I taught in the fall of 2023.
A look at the dual internal and external functions of eyes and looking through the lens of a narrative comparison of Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989) and its 2023 live-action remake, with some discussion of Hans Christian Andersen's original fairy-tale source text (1837) for good measure.
An analysis of the narrative function of dead mothers in Disney animated movies, their live-action remakes, and Stephen King plots, based around the summer 2023 theatrical co-releases of The Little Mermaid and The Boogeyman.
An analysis of the short short story "Gall" by Ben Fergusson in the Summer 2022 issue of Ploughshares (ed. Jamel Brinkley), including its rendering of trauma through the lens of The New Yorker article "The Case Against the Trauma Plot" by Parul Seghal.
A structural, thematic, and historical analysis of Baz Luhrmann's new biopic Elvis. Inspiration for the PVA fall '22 elective on music writing.
An analysis of Aimee Bender's short story "The Healer" (1998) and a discussion of the potential of writing and reading's healing qualities, inspired by its use in a PVA mini-elective. Includes a discussion of the resonance of these themes with Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000).
A holiday season reading of Toni Morrison's 1981 novel Tar Baby and its use of the tar baby folktale to explore racial themes through the narrative deployment of food, along with the interrelated use of clothes, names, and dialog. Use of the pineapple in particular in Jonathan Franzen's 2001 novel The Corrections and the 1961 Elvis Presley movie Blue Hawaii are also touched on.
An analysis of the narrative use of clothing in the 2021 movie Spencer starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, specifically how the clothing is used to emphasize an atmosphere of horror in the film. The use of clothing in a narrative arc on the eighth season of the television show Seinfeld (1996) and in both character development and plot in the 1955 James Dean movie Rebel Without a Cause are also discussed.
Prompted by the twin advents of a road trip and moving, a discussion of the relevance of setting and different iterations of "space." Further analysis of Selena Anderson's short story "Godmother Tea," and its use of Houston (aka "Space City") as its unnamed setting.
A narrative analysis of Selena Anderson's short story "Godmother Tea" from the Best American Short Stories 2020 (ed. Curtis Sittenfeld), which is the anthology the students chose their presentation stories from for the Spring '21 semester advanced fiction workshop with the PVA CW upperclassmen.
A discussion of the development of my interest in clothes in general and as a narrative device as a framework for my new elective class for the spring '21 semester with the PVA CW upperclassmen, with an analysis of the use of two sweaters that inspired the class, one worn by Princess Diana (in real life and on The Crown) and one by the character David Rose (on Schitt's Creek).
A description of the six-day "mini elective" class I had with a group of PVA CW underclassman at the outset of the Spring '21 semester, focusing on practicing tension- and mood-building in fiction-writing by focusing on their use in genre horror film and stories.
A textual collage with excerpted passages from a range of credited sources exploring the impact of America's questionable origins on cultural attitudes concerning property and ownership. Inspired the the collage class elective designed and taught to PVA CW upperclassmen in the fall of 2020.
As we start the first semester after George Floyd's murder in the summer of 2020, a look back at my patriarchal literary lineage and its influence on my teaching as symbolized in the first short stories I teach in the introductory fiction class, "Reunion" by John Cheever and "The First Day" by Edward P. Jones.
A narrative analysis of The Stone Sky (2017), the final novel of N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth sci-fi trilogy. Conclusion to "A World Apart" Part 1 and Part 2.
A reflection on misogyny's role in the narrative structure of Tobias Wolff's short story "Smorgasbord" (1996) and memoir This Boy's Life (1989) as well as the latter's film adaptation (1993).
A reflection with different examples of food and clothes being used as an objective correlative literary device (a continuation of "The Power of Objects, Part 1").
An analysis of the adaptation of Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked (1995) into the smash-hit Broadway musical.
A narrative analysis of Stephen King's novel The Institute (2019).
A narrative analysis of the sit-com formula via the show Friends on the 25th anniversary of its pilot airing, with an original spec script attached for a reboot pilot more LGBTQ+-friendly than its predecessor.
A narrative analysis of Book 2 of N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth sci-fi trilogy, The Obelisk Gate (2016). Continuation of "A World Apart" Part 1.
A narrative analysis of Book 1 of N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth sci-fi trilogy, The Fifth Season (2015).
A narrative analysis of Meg Wolitzer's novel The Female Persuasion (2018).
A narrative comparison of the 2018 novels The Outsider by Stephen King and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens with a focus on the function of murder mysteries in their respective plots.
A narrative comparison of the hit Netflix movie Bird Box (2018) and Stephen King's novella Elevation (2018).
A narrative analysis of Lauren Groff's short-story collection Florida (2018), with a focus on the concluding novella, "Yport" and its exploration of the (toxic) literary influence of French writer Guy de Maupassant.
A narrative analysis of Ursula K. Le Guin's classic sci-fi novel The Left Hand of Darkness (1969).
A narrative analysis of Naomi Alderman's sci-fi novel The Power (2016) and the function of gender politics therein, by way of comparison to the same in Stephen King and Owen King's novel Sleeping Beauties (2017) (discussed in Part 1).
A narrative analysis of Curtis Sittenfeld's novel Eligible (2016) and its strategies in reinterpreting Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice (1813).
A narrative analysis of Octavia Butler's sci-fi-inflected historical novel Kindred (1979).
A narrative analysis of Stephen King and Owen King's novel Sleeping Beauties (2017) and the function of gender politics therein.
A narrative analysis of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride and Prejudice (1813).
A narrative analysis of Philip K. Dick's classic sci-fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), the basis of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982).
A narrative analysis of PVA alum Susan Choi's novel A Person of Interest (2008) and its appropriation/incorporation of real-life elements.
A less-than-favorable narrative analysis of Don DeLillo's novel Zero K (2016).
A narrative analysis of Walter M. Miller's classic sci-fi novel A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960).
A narrative analysis of Gabriel García Márquez's classic novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967).
A look at problematically entrenched perspectives in fiction re: who has the right to tell whose story by way of a narrative analysis of Jhumpa Lahiri's short story "The Boundary" (2018) and Sadia Shepard's short story "Foreign-Returned" (2018), as well as fiction writer Francine Prose's reaction to the latter story reinterpreting Mavis Gallant's short story "The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street" (1963).
A narrative analysis of T.C. Boyle's short story "Chicxulub" (2004) and its utilization of the titular dinosaur-killing meteor as an objective correlative.
A narrative analysis of Daniel Suarez's two-part techno-thriller novel consisting of Daemon (2006) and Freedom (2010).
A narrative analysis of Ann Patchett's celebrated breakthrough novel, the opera-based Bel Canto (2001).
A narrative analysis of the final novel in Elena Ferrante's four-part Neapolitan Novels series, The Story of the Lost Child (2015).
A narrative analysis of Curtis Sittenfeld's novel American Wife (2008) and its fictionalization of real-life figure, former first lady Laura Bush.
A narrative analysis of the third novel in Elena Ferrante's four-part Neapolitan Novels series, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2014).
A narrative analysis of the second novel in Elena Ferrante's four-part Neapolitan Novels series, The Story of A New Name (2013).
A narrative analysis of the first novel in Elena Ferrante's four-part Neapolitan Novels series, My Brilliant Friend (2012).
A narrative analysis of Luke Mogelson's short story "Peacetime" (2015) as the final installment of a series focusing on possible distinctions in the preferences of literary journals based on a short story they've published.
A look at using reality-television shows as the basis for creative-writing exercises by way of a narrative analysis of Sherman Alexie's flash fiction piece "Idolatry."
A narrative analysis of Laura Spence-Ash's short story "The Remains" (2014) as the third installment of a series focusing on possible distinctions in the preferences of literary journals based on a short story they've published.
A narrative analysis of Alice Stinetorf's short story "Where the Killdeer Lies" (2016) as the second installment of a series focusing on possible distinctions in the preferences of literary journals based on a short story they've published.
A narrative analysis of Joseph O'Malley's short story "Ceci N'est Pas About You" (2015) as the first installment of a series focusing on possible distinctions in the preferences of literary journals based on a short story they've published.
A narrative analysis of Sinclair Lewis's 1935 novel It Can't Happen Here, about the election of a populist-cum-fascist U.S. President, through the lens of the onset of the Trump Age.
A narrative analysis of Chimamanda Ngozi Acdichie's novel Americanah (2013).
A narrative analysis of the first book of Isaac Asimov's classic sci-fi trilogy-turned-series Foundation (1951).
A narrative analysis of Donald Barthelme's postmodern novel Snow White (1967), its commentary on the original fairy tale, and its 2017 stage adaptation.
A narrative analysis of Orson Scott Card's classic YA sci-fi novel Ender's Game (1985).
A narrative analysis of short-story writer George Saunders' long-anticipated first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo (2017).
An analysis of Harry Chapin's 1974 classic song "Cat's in the Cradle" as a compact model of character-driven plot.
A narrative analysis and comparison of Donald Barthelme's classic short story "The School" (1976) with episode 3.14 of the sit-com The Big Bang Theory, "The Einstein Approximation" (February 1, 2010). Used as the basis for an introductory fiction lesson on rising action.
A narrative analysis of Steve Almond's short story "God Bless America" (2011) and its political ramifications.
"Rereading the title story of his third collection, God Bless America (2011), in the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, one can find a sinister historical precedent for our present moment as Almond explores what it means to act in different contexts."
A narrative analysis of Flannery O'Connor's short story "Everything that Rises Must Converge" (1965).
"The Inimitable Influence of Clarissa," January 5, 2017
"The Inimitable Influence of Clarissa," January 5, 2017
A narrative analysis of Virginia Woolf's classic modernist novel Mrs. Dalloway (1925).
A narrative analysis of Ann Patchett's novel Commonwealth (2016).
A narrative analysis of Ottessa Moshfegh's short story "An Honest Woman" (2016) and its depiction of male entitlement in the wake of Trump's election.
A narrative analysis of Neil Gaiman's pseudo-mythical epic novel American Gods (2001).
A narrative analysis of Margaret Atwood's classic dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985).
Lessons on sci-fi on speculative and sci-fi world-building derived from the work and commentary of fiction writers George Saunders, Margaret Atwood, and Jennifer Egan. Developed for a one-day creative-writing "module" for the PVA CW upperclassmen.
A narrative analysis of Lauren Groff's acclaimed novel and National Book Award nominee Fates and Furies (2015).
An analysis of fiction writer George Saunders' distinctive style, particularly his manipulation of psychic distance. Includes writing exercises based on passages of Saunders' work. Developed for a one-day creative-writing "module" for the PVA CW upperclassmen.
A narrative analysis of Margaret Atwood's speculative novel Oryx and Crake (2003).
A discussion of Joshua Ferris's short story "The Abandonment" (2016) and Jonathan Safran Foer's short story "Love is Blind and Deaf" (2016) as well as a discussion of criticism of both writers, or more specifically, criticism of their acclaim deriving from technical tricks and white-male privilege.
A narrative analysis of the novel A Storm of Swords (2000), the third book in George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy A Song of Ice and Fire series.
A narrative analysis of Tiphanie Yanique's magical realist debut novel Land of Love and Drowning (2014).
A narrative and rhetorical analysis of the South Park episode "World War Zimmerman" (October 9, 2013) developed as a model for a UH ENGL 1303 composition class.
A narrative analysis of the interweaving character and plot arcs on the fourth season of the original Netflix series Orange is the New Black (2016).
A narrative analysis of A Clash of Kings (1998), the second book of George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy A Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones) series.
A narrative analysis of Justin Cronin's literary fantasy trilogy, The Passage (2010), The Twelve (2012), with a focus on the final book, City of Mirrors (2016), used as a basis for a discussion about the definition and parameters of genre.
A narrative analysis of Ben Fountain's short story "Near-Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera" (2002) compared with episode 6.14 of Bob's Burgers, "The Hormone-iums" (April 17, 2016) revealing the common strategy of "a particular model of plot arc—a character put in the position of a dream backfiring, forcing him/her to choose between two competing desires."
A narrative analysis of the finale episode of the groundbreaking HBO show The Sopranos, "Made in America" (June 10, 2007), "both independently and for the way it resolves the entire series."
A narrative analysis of Larry Niven's sci-fi classic Ringworld (1970).
A narrative analysis of A Game of Thrones (1996), the first book of George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy A Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones) series.
A narrative analysis of Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel-in-stories Olive Kitteridge (2008).
A narrative analysis of Alice Sebold's bestselling novel The Lovely Bones (2002), used as a basis for discussion about the concept of "bad writing."
A narrative analysis of Joy Williams' short story "Congress" from her 2005 collection Honored Guest.
An analysis of journalist Kurt Eichenwald's nonfiction account of the implosion of the Enron Corporation and Eichenwald's use of "narrative journalism."
A narrative analysis of Adam Johnson's short story "Nirvana" (including its use of a holographic Kurt Cobain).
An analysis of the use of objects (specifically food, specifically the counterpoints of a decadent piece of cake and a boiled potato) to create tension in a chapter from Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer-Prize-winning historical WWII novel All the Light We Cannot See (2014).
"The Novel-In-Stories Echo Chamber of Brando Skyhorse's The Madonnas of Echo Park," January 12, 2016
"The Novel-In-Stories Echo Chamber of Brando Skyhorse's The Madonnas of Echo Park," January 12, 2016
A narrative analysis of Brando Skyhorse's novel-in-stories The Madonnas of Echo Park (2010).
A narrative analysis of Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer-Prize-winning historical WWII novel All the Light We Cannot See (2014).
A narrative analysis of Paula Hawkins' psychological domestic thriller The Girl on the Train (2015).
A narrative analysis of Claire Fuller's novelOur Endless Numbered Days (2015), recommended by a student.
A narrative analysis of Jonathan Franzen's novel Purity (2015).
A narrative analysis of Jonathan Franzen's National-Book-Award-winning novel The Corrections (2001).
A narrative analysis of Tom Perrotta's novel The Leftovers (2011), the basis for the HBO show.
A discussion of the power of objects to convey the abstract in fiction and in real life.
A narrative analysis of Maura Roosevelt's sort-of nonfiction essay "Stranger In a Freaky Land: Reading Miranda July in Los Angeles."
A personal nonfiction essay about my experience reading David Foster Wallace's body of work and learning about his suicide in the wake of a hurricane. Posted on the eighth anniversary of Wallace's death.
A narrative analysis of the first chapter of Nick Flynn's memoir The Reenactments (2013), about the experience of having his first memoir made into the 2012 movie Being Flynn (which in this chapter amounts to watching Julianne Moore re-enact his mother's suicide).
A narrative analysis of John Jeremiah Sullivan's nonfiction essay "Violence of the Lambs" from his collection Pulphead (2011), in which Sullivan reveals at the end that he's fabricated the existence of an entire person he's been discussing.
A narrative analysis of John Cheever's short story "Reunion" (1962), used as the basis for a lesson on rising action for the PVA intro fiction workshop.
A compare/contrast analysis of the prologues of two nonfiction books: Daniel Schulman's Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty (2014) and Mat Johnson's The Great Negro Plot: A Tale of Conspiracy and Murder in Eighteenth-Century New York (2007).
A narrative analysis of Amy Hempel's much-anthologized short story "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried" (1983).
A narrative analysis of Miranda July's novel The First Bad Man (2015).
A narrative analysis of John Jeremiah Sullivan's nonfiction essay "Upon This Rock," about his experience at a Christian rock music festival, from his collection Pulphead (2011).
A narrative analysis of Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American (1955).
A discussion of Robert Boswell's craft concept "narrative spandrels" as demonstrated via the Jennifer Aniston movie Cake (2014) as a counterpoint to Boswell's application of the concept to the Jennifer Aniston movie Picture Perfect (1997).
A narrative analysis of Edward P. Jones' short story "The First Day" from his collection Lost in the City (1992).
A narrative analysis of Adam Johnson's Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel set in North Korea, The Orphan Master's Son (2012).
A narrative analysis of Jay McInerney's novel Brightness Falls (1992), with a focus on its use of the objective correlative.
A narrative analysis of Adam Haslett's short story "Notes to My Biographer" from his Pulitzer-Prize-nominated debut collection You Are Not A Stranger Here (2002).
A narrative analysis of Adam Johnson's short story "Teen Sniper" from his debut story collection Emporium (2002), used as the basis of a lesson to explain one of my foundational tenets of fiction, the concept of chronic and acute tension.
A narrative analysis of the 2013 movie adaptation of James Thurber's classic short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939).
A compare/contrast analysis of Don DeLillo's and Stephen King's fictionalized depictions of historical figure Lee Harvey Oswald in Libra (1988) and 11/22/63 (2011), respectively.
A narrative analysis of True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto's short story "Ghost Birds" from his collection Between Here and the Yellow Sea (2006), used as the basis of a lesson to explain one of my foundational tenets of fiction, the concept of chronic and acute tension.
A synthesized discussion of my approach to the basic tenets of fiction writing--"small picture" via sensory details, and "big picture" via the rising action of plot structure.
A discussion of the literary merits (and lack thereof) of Stephen King's short stories "Autopsy Room 4" (1997) and "A Death" (2015).
A narrative analysis of Harper Lee's so-called new novel Go Set A Watchmen (2015) and its controversial release, revealing that the new novel is not a sequel to Lee's classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird (1960), but rather an earlier draft of it.
The introductory post for the pva creative writing review blog and the rationale behind its goal of narrative analysis.
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