This project asked that we "stretch" the argument of an existing even further through re-purposing it. I selected a prose poem, The Elegy for My Dead Relationship, which I had composed for a class in the New England Literature Program (NELP) in spring 2013.
I decided to re-purpose the piece into a personal essay one might find in the New York Times Modern Love section. The essay itself is fictional, though with definite ties to my own life and experiences.
Project 2: Re-Purposing
NOTE: This piece was not actually posted in the New York Times...yet.
Heading and "Modern Love" title courtesey of nytimes.com.
The Un-Love Story
The Making Of Project 2
This assignment required a research component in the form of an annotated bibliography. I chose to fulfill this requirement by consulting different books, movies, short stories, and essays which dealt with love and heartbreak, and attempted to hone in on which elements of each I wanted to emulate.
Through my research, I came up with the term "un-love story" to describe the sub-genre my predecessors and I were working in. More of my thoughts on this subject and the pieces that inspired me can be found in my annotated bibliography:
I did a lot of revising/revisioning for this piece. I initially set out to write a screenplay, then thought about composing an audio essay, and even after finally settling on writing a personal essay, It took a ton of writing and re-writing before the piece really felt finished. If you're interested in seeing the project's evolution for yourself, check out the links to my drafts and final project proposal below.