Fantastic Metafictions

 

Course Work & Marks

last update: Aug. 3 2012

The mark breakdown for these five categories will be determined by the class on the first day.

Acorn Journal: Pre- and post-class responses (freewrites or something slightly more left brain) to primary and secondary readings from a variety of perspectives* (possibility of connecting this exercise to your Metafiction Project). 10 posts (5 pre & 5 post) for Honours; 12 (6 pre & 6 post) for MA students. 15 minute freewrite or minimum 500 words for something less precipitous.

Research Essay: Open topic on some aspect of the course material with the option of additional primary texts for comparative purposes. Minimum of 5 secondary sources. 12 pgs for Honours; 15 pgs for MA students.

Proposals due: Oct. 10  Paper due: 16:00 hrs, Nov. 28th

Presentations: 1. solo presentation on some aspect of one of the novels or picturebooks and leading of class discussion. Topic can be related to your research paper.

2. Presentation of your paired investigation (assigned) of one of the volumes of The Unwritten. (Oct. 31, vol. 2; Nov. 7 vols. 3, 4, 5)

Metafiction Projects: A creative assignment; could take a variety of forms.

  1. Bullet a picturebook/pamphlet explicating/commenting on some aspect of metafiction (a sort of exercise in creative criticism)

  2. Bulleta reworking of some portion of one of the primary texts: a picturebook/comic version of a novel or vice versa

  3. Bulleta dialogue between some of the class meta-personas (or just your own), with or without illustrations

  4. Bulleta story of your own that makes use of/expands upon the ideas and methods explored in stories we have discussed in class

  5. Bulletsome assignment of your own devising that you’ve cleared with me (could be some form of new media exploration)

These assignments will be presented in class and in some public for(u)m.

Final Exam: 3 hrs, date tba. Basically an in-class essay synthesizing some aspect of the course and coming to some conclusions regarding the value of or possibilities inherent in fantastic metafictions in a variety of forms.

* To this end, we will each adopt the names of Meta-personas to represent different aspects of our reading like the critic, pedant, child, sage, clown/jester/fool, prophet, artist, “reader” (however you define that), etc. : Sam Sub Text, Diggory Diction, Dee Code, Sue Kin Reade, Ms. Nan Sequitur, Dr. Cynthia Segue, Tom Turnpage, you get the idea…