MFA Residency Public Lecture and Reading Schedule for Saturday, January 12th

Saturday, January 12th     

Readings and lectures are held in the Region Room of Blue Ridge Center at Blue Ridge Assembly. 84 Blue Ridge Circle; Black Mountain, NC 

Faculty Lectures        

9:30 AM

JANE HAMILTON ~ In Praise of No Big Idea

Many writers seem to feel a pressure to write topically, to take up the mantle of activism in fiction as we try, among other things, to figure out where we are, how we got here, and how to channel outrage into action. Is the coming-of-age novel, then, irrelevant, and that old matter of what it means to be human an antiquated question?  Does every identity group have a different truth, a different answer?  I’m going to consider Jane Gardam’s work, especially her coming-of-age novels, Bilgewater, The Flight of the Maidens, A Long Way from Verona, to try to get at how she writes about matters that were topical to her time without seeming to be topical.  (Has she in fact written “timeless classics”, or is the Brit born in 1928 going to soon disappear from our lists?)  Intercalated into her sentences is a secret mirth.  How does she lace subject-verb-object with joy?  To use Thomas McGuane’s phrase, Can it be said that she has found a language for the real?

 10:45 AM 

MAURICE MANNING – 17 o’clock: Reading and Writing Beyond the Self

This lecture will emphasize the value of reading and writing beyond one’s personal experience and beyond one’s identity in order to dramatize events, situations, and observations that have a broader appeal. Of course, the writer’s identity and experience cannot truly be separated from the writing, but I’d like to explore the possibilities of a literary self, a creature who may be distinct from the person of the writer.  The literary self, to mangle a line from Marianne Moore, dines on imaginary toads while reposing in an imaginary garden.  No advance reading is required.

READINGS by GRADUATING STUDENTS

followed by Graduation Ceremony

4:30 PM

Lillian Huang Cummins

Alyson Dutemple

Angel Nafis

Hieu Minh Nguyen

Rachel Wolff

The public is welcome to attend the morning lectures and evening readings in fiction and poetry offered during the Master of Fine Arts Program winter residency.  Events last approximately one hour. Admission is free. The schedule is subject to change. PLEASE NOTE: The winter residency is being held at Blue Ridge Assemblyin Black Mountain, NC, not on the Warren Wilson College campus.

For more information, call the MFA Office: (828) 771-371