I’m not drawn to literature because I love stories per se. I find nearly
all the moves the traditional novel makes unbelievably predictable,
tired, contrived, and essentially purposeless. I can never remember
characters’ names, plot developments, lines of dialogue, details of
setting. It’s not clear to me what such narratives are supposedly
revealing about the human condition. I’m drawn to literature as a form
of thinking, consciousness, wisdom-seeking. What I like about works that
are thematically rather than narratively organized is that they’re
focused line by line and page by page on what the writer really cares
about rather than hoping that what the writer cares about will magically
creep through the cracks of narrative, which is the way I experience
most stories and novels. Collage-works, thematically organized works,
are “about what they’re about.” Which may sound a tad tautological, but
that is the way I often put it to myself. When I read a book that I
really love, I experience the excitement that in every paragraph the
writer is manifestly exploring his subject.

As a moon rocket ascends, different stages of the engine do what they
must to accelerate the capsule. Then each is jettisoned until only the
capsule is left with the astronauts on its way to the moon. In linear
fiction, the whole structure is accelerating toward the epiphanic
moment, and certainly the parts are necessary for the final experience,
but I still feel that I and the writer can jettison the pages leading to
the epiphany. They serve a purpose and then fall into the Pacific Ocean,
so I’m left with Gabriel Conroy and his falling faintly, faintly
falling, and I’m heading to the moon in the capsule, but the rest of the
story has fallen away. In collage, every fragment is a capsule: I’m on
my way to the moon on every page.

In this course, we will read and discuss a dozen of my favorite
collage-books. Each student will write his or her own collage.

Sarah Manguso, The Guardians.

· *ISBN-10:* 0374167249

· *ISBN-13:* 978-0374167240

Amy Fusselman, The Pharmacist’s Mate.

· *ISBN-10:* 0970335539

· *ISBN-13:* 978-0970335531

Maggie Nelson, Bluets.

· *ISBN-10:* 1933517409

· *ISBN-13:* 978-1933517407

David Markson, This Is Not a Novel

· *ISBN-10:* 0956107338

· *ISBN-13:* 978-0956107336

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five.

· *ISBN-10:* 0385333846

· *ISBN-13:* 978-0385333849

Joe Wenderoth, Letters to Wendy’s.

· *ISBN-10:* 0970367201

· *ISBN-13:* 978-0970367204

Eduardo Galeano, The Book of Embraces.

· *ISBN-10:* 0393308553

· *ISBN-13:* 978-0393308556

Anne Carson, Plainwater.

· *ISBN-10:* 0375708421

· *ISBN-13:* 978-0375708428

Renata Adler, Speedboat.

· *ISBN-10:* 0060971436

· *ISBN-13:* 978-0060971434

(out of print; available as e-book on Amazon, **ASIN:** B0067B3W0Q)

Renata Adler, Pitch Dark.

· *ISBN-10:* 0060971444

· *ISBN-13:* 978-0060971441

(also out of print; available as e-book on Amazon, **ASIN:** B0067B3ZZ8)

George W.S. Trow, Within the Context of No Context.

· *ISBN-10:* 0871136740

· *ISBN-13:* 978-0871136749

Eula Biss, The Balloonists

·*ISBN-10:* 1931260702

·*ISBN-13:* 978-1931236072

David Shields, How Literature Saved My Life. (manuscript provided
electronically).