ENC 2000 - FALL 2026 - FARBERMAN

In this course, students will arrive with a piece of contemporary (post 2000s) literature (novel, story, song album, play, narrative-driven game, poetry collection, etc.) that they admire. Through an exploration of interviews, style, and research practices, students will uncover the lineage of inspiration that resulted in the present-day work they admire. Tasked with literally travelling back in time, students will engage with 2-4 books that trace an inspirational lineage through literature.

During class time, students will read short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry following the same methodology as the individual reading assignments; beginning the whole semester with a local contemporary writer, the whole class will work together to trace a lineage of poetry and flash writing backwards through the Western Canon and wherever else inspiration leads.

A midterm paper will engage with texts read during in-class discussion.

A final project will involve a combination of the student’s contemporary writer’s family tree of inspiration, an explanation of evidence used to form their tree, and an examination of style tactics employed by the writers that inspire us today, using a deeper understanding of how those tactics were developed over the history of literature.