Writing Workshops

Dark and Luminous: Detail in Fiction with Amina Cain (Sold Out)

$395

6 Sessions via Zoom

Out of stock

Once a week Thursdays, 7:00 pm EDT - 9:00 pm EDT October 8 to November 12, 2020

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This workshop has reached its capacity. To join the waitlist, please email Thierry Kehou at [email protected].

When it comes to writing fiction, we often think first and foremost about plot and narrative; in other words, the larger picture. But what happens when we turn our attention more fully to detail, as a painter might, to the smaller points in our work, across which narrative might also unfold? Working from the idea that one or two sharp and interesting details is worth more than an entire paragraph of general description, this six-week course will look closely at the use of detail in our work, and the work of others, to see how we might engage with it in a rich and lively way.

In addition to weekly workshops, mini-lectures, and occasional writing prompts, we will read (and talk about detail within) short stories and novel excerpts by writers such as Marie NDiaye, Brian Evenson, Tove Jansson, Sofia Samatar, Elena Ferrante, and Jorge Luis Borges.

This workshop is most suited for those who have already learned about the fundamentals of fiction and have some experience writing it, even if still a beginner.

Capacity: 12 students

This workshop will take place online via Zoom. Participants will receive instructions for access prior to the first session.

Led by

Amina Cain

Amina Cain

Amina Cain is the author of the novel Indelicacy, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in February 2020, and two collections of short stories: Creature (Dorothy, a publishing project) and I Go To Some Hollow (Les Figues Press). Her writing has appeared in Granta, BOMB, the Paris Review Daily, n + 1, and other places. She lives in Los Angeles.

By Amina Cain

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Indelicacy

By Amina Cain

Published by FSG

PURCHASE

In a strangely ageless world somewhere between Emily Dickinson and David Lynch (Blake Butler), a cleaning woman at a museum of art nurtures aspirations to do more than simply dust the paintings around her. She dreams of having the liberty to explore them in writing, and so must find a way to win herself the time and security to use her mind. She escapes her lot by marrying a rich man, but having gained a husband, a house, high society, and a maid, she finds that her new life of privilege is no less constrained. Not only has she taken up different forms of time-consuming labor—social and erotic—but she is now, however passively, forcing other women to clean up after her. Perhaps another and more drastic solution is necessary?

Reminiscent of a lost Victorian classic in miniature, yet taking equal inspiration from such modern authors as Jean Rhys, Octavia Butler, Clarice Lispector, and Jean Genet, Amina Cain’s Indelicacy is at once a ghost story without a ghost, a fable without a moral, and a down-to-earth investigation of the barriers faced by women in both life and literature. It is a novel about seeing, class, desire, anxiety, pleasure, friendship, and the battle to find one’s true calling.

About this series

Writing Workshops

We strive to make our classes the most inviting and rewarding available, offering an intimate environment to study with award-winning, world-class writers. Each class is specially designed by the instructor, so whether you’re a fledgling writer or an MFA graduate polishing your novel, you’ll find a perfect fit here.

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