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Scott Nadelson

Professor of English; Hallie Ford Chair in Writing

Headshot of Scott Nadelson

Contact Information

Salem Campus

Address
Eaton 202
900 State Street
Salem  Oregon  97301
U.S.A.
Phone
503-370-6290

Selected Publications

Books

Between You and Me (Novel; 2015)

The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress (Memoir; 2013)

Aftermath (Stories; 2011)

The Cantor’s Daughter (Stories; 2006)

Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories (2004)

Stories

"The Fourth Corner of the World," North Dakota Quarterly, 2016

"Son of a Star, Son of a Liar," AGNI, 2015

“The Measure of a Man,” Harvard Review, 2014

“Girl Made of Metal,” Passages North, 2014

“Some Macher,” Arts & Letters, 2014

“Between You and Me,” Fifth Wednesday Journal, 2013

“The Old Uniform,” American Literary Review, 2011

“Dolph Schayes’s Broken Arm,” Ploughshares, 2010

“If You Needed Me,” Alaska Quarterly Review, 2009

“Aftermath,” Glimmer Train, 2009

Essays

"Double Vision: The Clarity of Narrative Distortion," The Writer's Chronicle, 2016

“A Warm Breath,” Ploughshares Solos, 2013

“The Nothing That Is,” Prairie Schooner, 2012

“I’m Your Man,” Iron Horse Literary Review, 2012

“Three Muses,” The Southern Review, 2011

“The Odessa Writing Course,” New England Review, 2011

“Pal Man,” Crazyhorse, 2011

“The Next Scott Nadelson,” Post Road, 2010

“What About the Suffering?: The Quiet Power of Minor Characters,” The Writer’s Chronicle, 2010

Teaching Philosophy

Teaching is as much a passion for me as writing, and I strongly believe that the teaching of creative writing, particularly on the undergraduate level and in a liberal arts context, complements studies in literature. My primary aim in creative writing courses is to teach students to read closely, from a writer's perspective; I do so by providing a framework of rigorous analytical exploration of narrative and regular practice of craft. Students in my classes learn to read with an eye toward understanding how a writer has put a work of fiction together, how characters are developed and plots structured, how a certain combination of words and sentences creates an emotional or intellectual response in a reader. At the same time, I encourage students to engage their imaginations, to experiment, to discover their natural voices and their unique perspectives on the world.

In practical terms, I design my courses to immerse students in the world of fiction writing and to foster a sense of community. Classroom time is taken up almost entirely with discussion of professional or student stories, both of which we examine first to discover the work's intention. In workshops I challenge students to put aside taste and preference and instead begin by working to understand what an author has tried to accomplish in a story, how she has used the elements of craft to do so, and where, if at all, she has fallen short of her goals. As a class, we put ourselves in the shoes of a writer, in order to gain a better understanding of both her work and our own.

Links

Recent Interviews

http://otherppl.com/scott-nadelson-interview/

http://fictionwritersreview.com/interview/dont-take-yourself-too-seriously-an-interview-with-scott-nadelson/

http://run-to-the-roundhouse-nellie.com/2013/05/21/the-next-scott-nadelson-a-life-in-progress/

Reviews

http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2013/03/a_memoir_of_self-understanding.html

http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/culturephile-portland-arts/articles/review-the-next-scott-nadelson-march-2013

http://thecollagist.com/the-collagist/2012/4/13/aftermath-by-scott-nadelson-hawthorn.html

Willamette University

English

Address
Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem Oregon 97301 U.S.A.
Phone
503-370-6061