I’m not a reader of the McSweeney publications but thankfully Blog of a Bookslut led me to an excellent piece posted last week by Robert Lanham. It’s a syllabus and course overview for a new English class, Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era.
The piece is absolutely marvelous. I don’t want to spoil it but here’s part of the course description:
Students will acquire the tools needed to make their tweets glimmer with a complete lack of forethought, their Facebook updates ring with self-importance, and their blog entries shimmer with literary pithiness. All without the restraints of writing in complete sentences. w00t! w00t!
Sadly, I can’t take the course. I missed (I hope) a few of the prerequisites, including “Staring Blankly at Handheld Devices While Others Are Talking” (ENG 102), “Internet-Age Surrealistic Narcissism and Self-Absorption” (LIT 209) and “Advanced Tweeting: The Elements of Droll” (ENG232WR). Unfortunately, this interweb thingy is full of people who not only have completed the prerequisites, they will undoubtedly clamor to get into the course — and love the grading schedule.
This piece is well worth the time and is a keeper.
There’s no such thing as oversharing when you’re a writer.
Robert Lanham, “Internet-Age Writing Syllabus and Course Overview“
