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A REMOTE ONLY session.
It’s widely agreed that empathy—the ability to understand and share the feelings of another—is an essential faculty of a good writer as well as a good human being. But are there incongruencies in how we commonly define and imagine empathy—in how we practice it? Is it ever unhealthy, counterproductive, even dangerous? In this talk, we’ll discuss these questions as a way to demonstrate that empathy is indeed invaluable, but that its true value might lie beyond compassion and somewhere more unexpected and ambiguous within us. And as storytellers, we’ll explore how to exercise this messier, more demanding form of empathy to help us access our most inaccessible characters and bring them to life, whether they deserve it or not.
Vu Tran's first novel, Dragonfish, was a NY Times Notable Book and a San Francisco Chronicle Best Books of the Year. His writing has also appeared in the O. Henry Prize Stories, the Best American Mystery Stories, Ploughshares, and Virginia Quarterly. He is the winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award and an NEA Fellowship, and has been a fiction fellow at Bread Loaf, Sewanee, MacDowell, and Yaddo. Born in Vietnam and raised in Oklahoma, Vu received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and his PhD from the Black Mountain Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He teaches at the University of Chicago, where he is an Associate Professor of Practice in English & Creative Writing.
We offer free student memberships at a discounted rate of $5.00 per session. You must send verification of your student status. Please contact Claudia Katz at ckatz17755@aol.com for details.
9-9:30 Socializing
9:30-12 Program
Peter Hoppock will lead a discussion of Anton Chekhov’s short story, The Lady with the Dog. First published in 1899, it describes an adulterous affair between an unhappily married Moscow banker and a young married woman. One of Chekhov's most famous pieces of short fiction, which Vladimir Nabokov considered one of the greatest short stories ever written, the story was made into a film in 1987, Dark Eyes, which earned Marcello Mastroianni the best actor award at Cannes that year.
As Peter explains, this work has resonated with audiences for more than a century. With its blend of character development, plot, handling of conflict, balance of summary and scene, economy of language and revealing of backstory, the simplicity of its overall structure yet its willingness to break story telling "rules," there is certainly plenty to chew on. Keep in mind that our summer sessions are not about critiquing stories, but about gathering to help each other find ways to learn from them.
OCWW Board Member Peter Hoppock has published numerous short stories and two novellas in a variety of literary online and print journals. His novella Mr. Pegg to You was a finalist in the Press 53 Novella Competition. With Renee James, he co-edited the 2021 OCWW anthology Turning Points, and has assumed the same role for the upcoming anthology. He has also published articles on teaching and coaching in preeminent professional journals for both skiing and soccer, sports in which he has held advanced national educational credentials for over 40 years.
~ Celebrate with us~
Members and honored guests, please join the Off Campus Writers' Workshop in celebration
Members and honored guests, please join the
Off Campus Writers' Workshop
in celebration
Sunday June 26, 2022 4-7 p.m. Program at 4:30 | Induction Ceremony| Goldie Goldbloom Keynote
Appetizers and Desserts
Cash Bar
Garden Party Attire Adults Only
Proof of Vaccination Required
OCWW Members: Complimentary Guests of Members: $25
Room capacity is limited. Please reply by June 1
Paula Mikrut will lead a discussion about The Fourth State of Matter by Joann Beard.
Though The Fourth State of Matter is an essay, fiction writers will find a lot to like and learn from it. In fact, it was originally published in the fiction section of The New Yorker because of its artistry. We can learn a lot about effective writing by studying this essay, and there are a lot of angles from which we could approach this discussion. I would like to look at it through the lens of the great craft presentations we’ve experienced as OCWW members. I will post a few questions of my own, but I’ll also challenge you to find examples in The Fourth State of Matter of something you’ve learned during an OCWW presentation.
No one is asked to speak up who is not comfortable doing that. You're welcome to just listen, but the hope is you’ll add your voice to our discussion and that we’ll have the opportunity to learn from you.
Accompanying your registration confirmation will be a .pdf copy of the story and some ideas for you to consider as you prepare for this discussion.
Paula Mikrut is an OCWW board member and our Zoom Goddess.
Beth DeSchryver will lead a discussion of The Open Window, by H.H. Munro (aka Saki).
What is fascinating is how he can create distinct characters and multiple, vivid stories within the story frame with such economy. We will look at structure - how he chunks things - character creation, selective use of detail, the seeming manipulation of the reader’s interpretation and… enough said. It would give too much away.
Saki is considered a master of the short story, on par with O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. His work is often mischievous and satirical regarding society, but he also explores themes of conflict in and with nature. But The Open Window doesn’t quite fit into either category, although you could argue it has a bit of both. It was included in the last collection of short stories published in his lifetime, Beasts and Super-Beasts (1914) available for free download at Project Gutenberg.
Beth DeSchryver is a long-time member of OCWW. Her latest story, Nameless Child, is included in the OCWW Turning Points Anthology.
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