Mondays, January 6 – February 10, 2020
6:30 to 8:30 p.m. (six sessions)
Guide: Benjamin Ficklin
Where have the gonzo journalists gone? Who is proudly owning the biases of their bylines? What use to a readership is a novelist turning to journalism? Why do we invest trust in certain writers above others? How has social media changed authors’ abilities to construct personas?
Zadie Smith and Hunter S. Thompson are an unlikely pairing. Their arrivals to world fame coming from London and Louisville respectively. Thompson wrote through the 60s to his death in 2005; Smith writes today. Their voices couldn’t be more different: Thompson being punchy, outrageous, sometimes cruel, often chaotic; Smith being measured, cautious, bordering on academic, always with a wink of irony. Yet both authors scribe essays in an inevitable way, as if despite their greater aspirations of writing fiction, they can’t help but center themselves in commentary on our reality.
We’ll read Thompson’s articles on Watergate, the 1972 presidential election, 9/11, the reemergence of White supremacy after the election of George W. Bush, and the killing of Ruben Salazar; we’ll read Smith’s work on Brexit, the 2016 presidential election, climate change, personhood in social media, and cancel culture. While assessing each piece independently, we’ll also consider these authors in juxtaposition. Over the six weeks of this seminar, we’ll see how fear and freedom has grown privately, politically, consciously through the journalistic oeuvre of these two giants. We’ll see who we can trust in a time of misinformation.
READING LIST:
Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson
Songs of the Doomed by Hunter S. Thompson
The Great Shark Hunt by Hunter S. Thompson
Feel Free by Zadie Smith
Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith
FIRST ASSIGNMENT:
SEMINAR GUIDE:
Benjamin M. Ficklin will never surrender. His work has been published in Lomography, wildness, Ursus Americanus Press, Clackamas Literary Review, Autre, Oregon Voice Magazine, and featured in the Best Short Fiction 2019. When not travelling, he teaches literary seminars in his hometown of Portland.
Delve Access Program
We want Delve seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. We are happy to offer an Access Program which provides reduced tuition to qualifying participants. Our Access Program offers Delve seminar registrations at a sliding scale amount of $45-$100 per registration.Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you would like to take a Delve at the Access Rate.
