College Writing and Rivka Galchen’s Atmospheric Disturbances

Posted byJason W. Ellis

I am very happy that my college writing I students find Rivka Galchen’s Atmospheric Disturbances an enjoying and interesting read. This is the last section of my new College Writing I syllabus on the brain and writing.

As Professor Tammy Clewell and Brittany Adams pointed out yesterday after their talk on neuroscience and literature studies, neuronovels, including this one by Galchen, are detective stories. I am glad that they got me to thinking about that yesterday, because I brought that into the lively discussion during today’s class.

I also owe my students a debt of gratitude for their efforts and attention during this first week of discussing the novel.

I will provide a full reflection on Galchen’s novel in the writing classroom after we finish discussing it next week.

Published by Jason W. Ellis

I am an Associate Professor of English at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY whose teaching includes composition and technical communication, and research focuses on science fiction, neuroscience, and digital technology. Also, I direct the B.S. in Professional and Technical Writing Program and coordinate the City Tech Science Fiction Collection, which holds more than 600 linear feet of magazines, anthologies, novels, and research publications.