Short and Experimental Fictions

In this course, we will read and write stories that challenge the boundaries of fiction. We will parse what is gained (and lost) when we elide convention, study how language can be the engine of a story, and experiment with form. We’ll explore literary techniques including compression, fragmentation, the long sentence, and collage, and read writers like Diane Williams, Lydia Davis, Garielle Lutz, Roberto Bolaño, Steven Dunn, Richard Chiem, Jennifer Egan, Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, and Carmen Maria Machado. We will also workshop, try out different approaches to revision, and, at the conclusion of the term, we will host a reading where students can share work from their final portfolios.



Jackson Frons is a 2016 graduate of Middlebury College and holds an MFA in fiction from Syracuse University. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Racquet Magazine, Joyland, Hobart, and Washington Square Review, among others./