Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties Reading Group [Online]
Full Tuition: $200 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Spratley | 3 Weeks | Wednesdays | February 28 - March 13 | 6:00 - 7:30 PM ET | ONLINE
In her debut collection of short stories, Carmen Maria Machado raises questions of female and queer experience through characters that feel alive and constraints that challenge readers’ perceptions of familiar narratives and of reality itself. In “The Husband Stitch,” she offers us a female character pulled from folktale who invites us into her rich and complicated inner life, through which we experience the progression of her relationship with her husband towards an irrevocable and inevitable conclusion. In “Especially Heinous,” she challenges us to reimagine familiar Law and Order: SVU detectives Benson and Stabler by expanding–and breaking–the boundaries of reality in her retellings.
In this 3-week reading group, we will read and discuss the stories in Her Body and Other Parties, offering attention to both craft and content. We will consider Machado’s unique approach to storytelling and how she constructs a writerly voice and identity through this collection, as well as the situations and speculations raised within the stories themselves, their feminist implications, and their reflection on our own society and culture. No other reading is required.
From the publisher:
In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.
A wife refuses her husband’s entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store’s prom dresses. One woman’s surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella “Especially Heinous,” Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgängers, ghosts, and girls-with-bells-for-eyes.
Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.
—
Recordings may be provided upon request for missed classes.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage, and your tuition goes toward supporting this practice. Please pick the payment tier that corresponds to your needs, and consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. We will never request or require proof of need, and do not use an income-based sliding scale; we trust you to decide what payment tier is right for you. If you would like additional support deciding or would like to learn more about the practice of using a sliding scale, we recommend this resource from Embracing Equity.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month.Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
Asynchronous Auditing: Classes are discussion-based and designed to be taken synchronously. However, we do offer an asynchronous audit option for most online classes if you need to follow along at your own pace. You must choose the audit option to receive all course recordings; please do not register using a scholarship if you do not plan to attend the majority of class sessions as you will not receive the recording materials to follow along. We do not automatically offer scholarships for auditors, but if you need one, you may request one by filling out this form.
Full Tuition: $200 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Spratley | 3 Weeks | Wednesdays | February 28 - March 13 | 6:00 - 7:30 PM ET | ONLINE
In her debut collection of short stories, Carmen Maria Machado raises questions of female and queer experience through characters that feel alive and constraints that challenge readers’ perceptions of familiar narratives and of reality itself. In “The Husband Stitch,” she offers us a female character pulled from folktale who invites us into her rich and complicated inner life, through which we experience the progression of her relationship with her husband towards an irrevocable and inevitable conclusion. In “Especially Heinous,” she challenges us to reimagine familiar Law and Order: SVU detectives Benson and Stabler by expanding–and breaking–the boundaries of reality in her retellings.
In this 3-week reading group, we will read and discuss the stories in Her Body and Other Parties, offering attention to both craft and content. We will consider Machado’s unique approach to storytelling and how she constructs a writerly voice and identity through this collection, as well as the situations and speculations raised within the stories themselves, their feminist implications, and their reflection on our own society and culture. No other reading is required.
From the publisher:
In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.
A wife refuses her husband’s entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store’s prom dresses. One woman’s surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella “Especially Heinous,” Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgängers, ghosts, and girls-with-bells-for-eyes.
Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.
—
Recordings may be provided upon request for missed classes.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage, and your tuition goes toward supporting this practice. Please pick the payment tier that corresponds to your needs, and consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. We will never request or require proof of need, and do not use an income-based sliding scale; we trust you to decide what payment tier is right for you. If you would like additional support deciding or would like to learn more about the practice of using a sliding scale, we recommend this resource from Embracing Equity.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month.Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
Asynchronous Auditing: Classes are discussion-based and designed to be taken synchronously. However, we do offer an asynchronous audit option for most online classes if you need to follow along at your own pace. You must choose the audit option to receive all course recordings; please do not register using a scholarship if you do not plan to attend the majority of class sessions as you will not receive the recording materials to follow along. We do not automatically offer scholarships for auditors, but if you need one, you may request one by filling out this form.
Full Tuition: $200 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Spratley | 3 Weeks | Wednesdays | February 28 - March 13 | 6:00 - 7:30 PM ET | ONLINE
In her debut collection of short stories, Carmen Maria Machado raises questions of female and queer experience through characters that feel alive and constraints that challenge readers’ perceptions of familiar narratives and of reality itself. In “The Husband Stitch,” she offers us a female character pulled from folktale who invites us into her rich and complicated inner life, through which we experience the progression of her relationship with her husband towards an irrevocable and inevitable conclusion. In “Especially Heinous,” she challenges us to reimagine familiar Law and Order: SVU detectives Benson and Stabler by expanding–and breaking–the boundaries of reality in her retellings.
In this 3-week reading group, we will read and discuss the stories in Her Body and Other Parties, offering attention to both craft and content. We will consider Machado’s unique approach to storytelling and how she constructs a writerly voice and identity through this collection, as well as the situations and speculations raised within the stories themselves, their feminist implications, and their reflection on our own society and culture. No other reading is required.
From the publisher:
In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.
A wife refuses her husband’s entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store’s prom dresses. One woman’s surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella “Especially Heinous,” Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgängers, ghosts, and girls-with-bells-for-eyes.
Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.
—
Recordings may be provided upon request for missed classes.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage, and your tuition goes toward supporting this practice. Please pick the payment tier that corresponds to your needs, and consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. We will never request or require proof of need, and do not use an income-based sliding scale; we trust you to decide what payment tier is right for you. If you would like additional support deciding or would like to learn more about the practice of using a sliding scale, we recommend this resource from Embracing Equity.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month.Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
Asynchronous Auditing: Classes are discussion-based and designed to be taken synchronously. However, we do offer an asynchronous audit option for most online classes if you need to follow along at your own pace. You must choose the audit option to receive all course recordings; please do not register using a scholarship if you do not plan to attend the majority of class sessions as you will not receive the recording materials to follow along. We do not automatically offer scholarships for auditors, but if you need one, you may request one by filling out this form.