HNRS 252-001: Writing the Body

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Writing the body header

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Headshot of Claire McLane

Instructor: Claire McLane       
Mon/Wed | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM | In Person
Fall 2024

Close attention to language and storytelling is vital to learning about our relationships and interactions with each other. Our memories and associations with language, images, symbols, and metaphors are instrumental in the narratives we build of our identities and our connection to place. These elements also deeply affect how we perceive others, as well as how we care for each other and practice empathy in the greater world. In this course, we will explore fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, hybrid genres, and writing exercises that relate to the body, health, and illness and how the physical reality of inhabiting a body can impact how we view, interpret, interact with, and make choices about ourselves and others. As a community, we will read and write to prompts and creative assignments that engage our own stories and experiences alongside the questions and themes of the course. This will be an expansive, experimental, and at times playful context in which to think about the body through a creative lens. No experience with creative writing is necessary!

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