UPDATE: MFA Residency Public Lecture and Reading Schedule for Friday, July 12
THE FRIDAY MORNING LECTURES WILL BE IN CANON LOUNGE
All lectures will be in Canon Lounge, Gladfelter or Upper Fellowship Hall, as noted below, on the WWC campus. For more information, call the MFA Office at Warren Wilson College: (828) 771-3715. The schedule is subject to change. Please check www.friendsofwriters.org for updates.
Friday, July 12
9:30 AM Canon Lounge
CHARLES BAXTER ~ On the Plausibility of Dreams
While we’re dreaming, we almost never think that the dream is implausible. Similarly, while we’re reading or watching a movie, particularly if we’re engrossed, we’re likely to ignore problems of plausibility, particularly if the novel we’re reading (or the film we’re watching) embodies a wish or a fear.I’m raising a question about plausibility in stories, at least in certain cases, when the overall mood of the story removes or finesses our demands for believability, and what we want instead is to be swept away by the story. Truth, in such cases, gives way to astonishment and longing.
10:45 AM Fellowship Hall
MATTHEW OLZMANN ~ Direct Address and the Illusion of Audience
This talk will look at epistles, apostrophes, and other moments where a speaker or narrator pretends to be talking to someone other than the reader. We’ll consider how we shape—to varying degrees—an identity for the addressee, and how and where is the reader positioned in this type of excepted “conversation.” How much information about the addressee does the reader actually need, and what happens when the reader and addressee need different types of information? We might look at a combination of work by the following writers: Patrick Rosal, Horace, Lucille Clifton, Kenneth Koch, Alice Walker, Jonathan Miles, Kim Addonizio, Yusef Komunyakaa, Joe Wenderoth and others. Or we might look at writing by totally different people. No reading necessary beforehand.
4:30 PM Kittredge Auditorium
READINGS by GRADUATING STUDENTS
followed by Graduation Ceremony
Annabella Johnson
Joshua E. Lopez
Madison Mainwaring
Cynthia Oka
Idrissa Simmonds
The public is welcome to attend the morning lectures and evening readings in fiction and poetry offered during the Master of Fine Arts Program summer residency. Events last approximately one hour. Admission is free. The schedule is subject to change.
For more information, call the MFA Office: (828) 771-371
