Writing Seminar: A Matter of Taste
T-Th 11:30 - 12:50, D38
Instructor: Eve Goldenberg

The rank which a people occupy in the grand scale may be measured by their way of taking their meals, as well as by their way of treating their women. The nation which knows how to dine has learnt the leading lesson of progress. It implies both the will and the skill to reduce to order, and surround with idealisms and graces, the more material conditions of human existence; and wherever that will and that skill exist, life cannot be wholly ignoble.
- Mrs. Beaton?s Book of Household Management

In this course we will use food as our springboard to great writing. Really successful writing - writing that is evocative, emotional, complex, complicated, challenging, spirited - quite often starts with a lush enthusiasm for a topic. If you very much enjoy food - reading about it, making it, talking about it - you will have the best possible start to some fantastic writing. We will read and write recipes, reviews and researched essays. We will explore what makes some pieces of "food writing" more successful than others. We will look at language, form, voice and scope. In the end, our writings about food will be as much art as the food itself, and each person?s writing experiences will be artful as well.

"Life has got to be lived - that?s all there is to it."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Requirements:

In order to pass this course students must:

1) have access to a working kitchen
2) attend class regularly and, more importantly, with honor - with regards to the college, your fellow students, your teacher, yourself and this endeavor
3) write a minimum of three five-six page papers as well as an 8-10 page researched essay using at least four outside sources
4) turn in drafts on time
5) turn in finished pieces on time
6) revise, revise, revise
7) make it to your conferences (with me and at the Writer?s Block)
8) contribute regularly to class discussions
9) complete all short writing assignments (these are short pieces designed to sharpen your skills of observation, examination and explanation)

We have but 14 weeks to experience grand things here - come to the table and make things happen.

Grading:

I believe that C really does mean average - not as in "bad" but as in, this is average skill for this level of college work. To that end, I do not inflate grades. I also believe that people generally do the best they can in their given circumstances - I rarely believe that someone ?could have? done better, because if she could have, she probably would have. I very much like to see people excel at what they do and am willing to offer what coaching and help I can to make that happen. There are going to be difficult moments in this class for each student and for myself, as there always are in any endeavor, especially any artistic endeavor. There will not be failures that reek of finality, though.

That all said, I do not grade drafts and will not offer a ?what if? grade on a draft. I will be clear in all my comments on and about your pieces and your grade will reflect how well you have integrated our discussions and various people?s suggestions into your finished pieces (I don?t love ?creative? grammar - there are conventions out there that make reading easier for all of us).

Reading (subject to change):

• Brillat-Savarin - The Physiology of Taste
  MFK Fisher - selections from The Art of Eating
  Calvin Trillin - selections from The Tummy Trilogy
  George Orwell - Down and Out in Paris and London
• Other selections to include works from Charles Lamb, Henry Fielding, James Boswell, Laura Esquivel, James Joyce, Ruth Reichl, Jacques Pepin, Julia Child, Jeffrey Steingarten, Andrew Todhunter and more

September Calendar (all dates subject to change)

Week of Tuesday, Sept. 12:
Brillat-Savarin?s The Physiology of Taste

Week of Tuesday, Sept. 19:
NO CLASS

Week of Tuesday, Sept. 26:
Mrs. Beeton?s Book of Household Management
Charles Lamb?s Dissertation on a Roast Pig

1st draft of 1st piece due

Finally, don?t forget that,

"The pleasure of the table belongs to all ages, to all conditions, to all countries, and to all areas; it mingles with all other pleasures, and remains at last to console us for their departure."
- Brillat-Savarin