The title of the class comes from Georges Perec's book Species of Spaces. Perec writes, "This is how space begins, with words only, signs traced on the blank page." Over three sessions, this workshop will examine ways of describing space with words. To inspire new writings about spaces, readings will be assigned and serve as points of departure for group discussion and written output.
The first class will be devoted to The Fantastic — unlike traditional journalistic pieces, these texts that provoke new interpretations of the relationship between words and space and encourage readers/writers to reimagine their connections to the built environment. Subsequent classes will discuss The Realistic (straight-forward, nearly objective reports) and The Zealous (writings that serve as agents of advocacy).
For the first class, participants may want to familiarize themselves with the following texts. Each person should come prepared with a piece of writing that was somehow inspired by at least one of the texts. Each participant will be allotted 5 minutes to read from his/her work and the group will provide commentary on the writing process and by default grapple with the ideas and techniques presented by Perec, Faulkner, Koolhaas and Muschamp. I encourage particpants to add ideas of other inspiring texts in the comment area below (if it's still open).
Perec, Georges. Species of Spaces, pgs 1-15.
Faulkner, William. Requiem for a Nun (this tale is told through the description of three distinct buildings; feel free to dip in and out wherever you like but at least read the first five pages)
Koolhaas, Rem. Delirious New York. pgs 82-110.
Muschamp, Herbert. The Secret History of 2 Columbus Circle. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/arts/design/08musc.html?pagewanted=1
The next classes are tentatively scheduled for November 15 (The Realistic) and December 6th (The Zealous).
- Date
- October 25, 2009 at 3:00pm
- Location
- common room 2, 465 grand street, ny, ny 10002
- Limit
- 20
- Fee
- free
Comment
Just a thought:
This is a fantastic idea! But I am biased--this topic works great as a course, though it is huge--I did my dissertation work at Columbia on literature about architecture and have taught a course quite similar to this several times at Columbia, Cooper Union, and Sarah Lawrence; it's good fun. (I'd love to talk to you about it, Diana!) The challenge is deciding whether or not it is a writing course or a course about writing. Although the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and in fact complement each other in fascinating and significant ways, reading authors such as Faulkner and Perec is so time-consuming and discussion-worthy that it could be challenging to fit in each others' writing to those sessions too. That said, they both encourage one not only to experiment with ways of writing about the built environment but also to consider writing as another kind of built environment ... Oh, and Calvino, Robbe,Grillet, and Kafka all make excellent additions in the icon category ... I'm looking forward to seeing how this progresses!
29 Sep 2009 12:25PM
I would agree that it's ambitious. When I studied creative writing, I always found the most interesting classes were ones that integrated writing and reading; if I had to favor one though, I would want to emphasize the writingthat will be produced. I want the readings to be points of departure.
29 Sep 2009 3:08PM
Indeed! I hear you. Also, Neil Leach's anthology Rethinking Architecture could be a perfect resource for this--the excerpts are cut to perfect lengths for points of departure.
29 Sep 2009 9:26PM
At this point it would be great if you could post the reading list. I imagine it would make sense to include examples of the reading styles as well as writing theory. I also like the idea of having readings during class.
Ideally, the class participants should do most of the reading prior to class, that way the discussion can be much more productive. i don't know whether you've been following the comments for other classes, but generally these will be classes that meet a single time. Certainly it is worth considering extending to a second meeting (where there may be a writing assignment)or having one class meeting per month, if there is enough interest.
I hope to meet you both at the Open House tonight.
30 Sep 2009 9:17AM
I will post a reading list as soon as I can. If we have just one meeting, I have to think about what material should inform that class. Sadly, I cannot make the open house tonight -- I didn't even know there was one before I saw this comment.
30 Sep 2009 4:19PM
An update on this class as it develops:
It will likely meet three times, once in each Public School (for Architecture) Session. The course themes will be "The Fantastic", "The Realistic" and "The Zealous" or some variation thereof.
13 Oct 2009 8:35AM
Please note that the second session of this class has been scheduled. Species of Spaces: Writing about the Built Environment (The Realistic) will meet on Nov. 16th at 6:30 pm at the Van Alen Institute.
Readings will be posted later this week. Please check back on Wednesday.
2 Nov 2009 3:53PM
Hey, could someone please post the readings for the second class? Thanks.
14 Nov 2009 1:14PM
The second installment of this class appears as it's own class.
Please follow the link below for the class and the readings.
http://nyc.thepublicschool.org/class/1743
Thanks,
Maria
14 Nov 2009 3:17PM
Class Reminder: Tomorrow
Species of Spaces: Writing about the Built Environment (The Realistic)
Class Led by Diana Lind
November 16, 2009 at 6:30pm
Van Alen Institute, 30 West 22nd Street, 6th floor, NY, NY
Please see class link below:
http://nyc.thepublicschool.org/class/1743
15 Nov 2009 5:43PM