Class Description
This workshop is part of GrubStreet's Manuscript Month, a programming deep dive into the publishing journey. Learn more about Manuscript Month here!
Reading List: Labyrinths, by Jorge Luis Borges. Translated into English by Donald A. Yates.
Few books are as small—or as endless—as Labyrinths. In stories, essays, and parables that rarely run more than a few pages, Jorge Luis Borges hands you a library containing every book that could ever exist, a garden where time branches into all its possible futures, a man who can't forget a single thing, and a labyrinth you may not want to leave.
Over 6 weeks, we'll read this one slim volume slowly and together, treating each piece not as a puzzle to crack but as a place to get happily lost. You don't need to have read a word of Borges before–just bring a willingness to reread, to have work through challenging bits with your fellow readers, and to be a little unsettled.
You'll leave with a new sense of what a short story can hold, and the strange pleasure of having read a single book as if it were many. Among the pieces we'll talk through: "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," "The Library of Babel," "The Garden of Forking Paths," "Funes the Memorious," "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote," and the short, haunting "Borges and I."
Note: Class does not meet 10/1.
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.