TOPICS IN LITERATURE: THE RISE OF THE SHORT STORY

ENGLISH 108, SECTION 02

T, TH 5:30-6:45 p.m., 228 McIver Building

 

Professor: Porter Shreve

E-Mail: portershreve@aol.com

Phone: 334-4692

Office: 119 McIver Building

Office Hrs: T, TH 2-3 and by appointment

Text: The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction,

unabridged fifth edition, edited by Ann Charters

 

Course Description

In this course we will read love stories and war stories and everything in between from some of the finest and most imaginative fiction writers of the past one hundred and fifty years, including James Joyce, Eudora Welty, Chinua Achebe, Nikolai Gogol and Flannery OConnor. The course will be divided into three overlapping themes: power struggles, journeys and connections/disconnections. We will focus on the tensions that give rise to individual short stories and also on the progression of literary influence. We will track, for example, how the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez owes a debt to the experimental ficciones of Jorge Luis Borges and how the spare language and heightened emotion of Anton Chekhov influenced the minimalist realism of Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Carver. Requirements: three examinations, one group presentation, one final paper.

Student Learning Goals

At the completion of this course, you should be able to:

    1. Identify and understand the varied characteristics of literature
    2. Apply the techniques of literary analysis to texts
    3. Use literary study to develop your skills in careful reading and clear writing
    4. Demonstrate an understanding of the diverse social and historical contexts in which the assigned literary texts have been written and interpreted

Requirements

Workload

    1. Participation in class discussions
    2. Three Exams
    3. One group presentation (20-30 minutes)
    4. Final Paper (7-10 pages)

Attendance

Since this course depends on a full and lively classroom, we all suffer when seats are empty. The attendance policy, therefore, is strict and absolute: Any unexcused absences will affect your grade. Perfect attendance will be rewarded. Good attendance can nudge you up. But if you miss two classes, each subsequent absence will cost you a third of a letter grade.

Participation


Active participation in classroom discussion is critical to the success of this class. Come prepared, and be aware that in my effort to get everyone involved I will call on people. If for whatever reason you have not done the reading for a given class, dont skip it. Come and listen, catch up, and dont neglect the reading again. If youre quiet or nervous about speaking in class, stop by my office hours and well talk about it.

Late Work

Late work will be penalized. Because of our tight schedule you need to get your prospectus and both drafts of your final paper in on time. If you anticipate a crunch at some point during the semester and know you cant make a deadline, you need to notify me with as much advance warning as possible.

Paper

You will have three due dates for the final paper: a 1 page prospectus, a 4-6 page draft and a final draft of 7-10 pages. All drafts should be typed, double-spaced, spell-checked, numbered, and carefully proofread. I will expect a strong standard of mechanical and stylistic proficiency. Good grammar, organization and clarity are integral to good ideas.

Grades

The breakdown will be as follows:

Exam 1: 15%

Exam 2: 20%

Exam 3: 20%

Final paper: 20%

Participation: 25%

*Note: Presentations constitute a significant part of the participation grade.

Plagiarism


You all know intuitively what it is: using someone elses words or ideas and claiming them as your own. The thrust of this course is to think for yourself. Please dont put me in the position of checking line with line, word with word. Plagiarism is an extremely serious matter. It can result in failure of this course and possible expulsion from the university.

 

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

*Note: Readings listed beneath each date should be read for that date.

 

T 8/21

Introduction

Syllabus

 

I. POWER STRUGGLES

TH 8/23

The Domestic Sphere

"The Story of An Hour" Kate Chopin

"Shiloh" Bobbie Ann Mason

"Say Yes" Tobias Wolff

T 8/28

"Fiesta, 1980" Junot Díaz

"The House on Mango Street" Sandra Cisneros

"Hairs" Sandra Cisneros

"My Name" Sandra Cisneros

"The Monkey Garden" Sandra Cisneros

"Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes" Sandra Cisneros

"Girl" Jamaica Kincaid

TH 8/30

Flannery OConnor presentation

"Everything That Rises Must Converge" Flannery OConnor

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" Flannery OConnor

"A Reasonable Use of the Unreasonable" Flannery OConnor

"Flannery OConnor and Her Readers" Robert H. Brinkmeyer Jr.

T 9/4

The Regional Sphere

Nathaniel Hawthorne presentation

"Young Goodman Brown" Nathaniel Hawthorne

"The Lottery" Shirley Jackson

"Blackness in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown" Herman Melville

"The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale" Edgar Allan Poe

TH 9/6

James Joyce presentation

"Araby" James Joyce

"The Dead" James Joyce

"Style and Form in Joyces The Dead" Frank OConnor

"A Biographical Perspective on Joyces The Dead" Richard Ellmann

T 9/11

"Filming James Joyces The Dead: The Camera as Character"

Film: The Dead, Directed by John Huston

 

TH 9/13

The National Sphere

Chinua Achebe presentation

"Civil Peace" Chinua Achebe

"Country Lovers" Nadine Gordimer

T 9/18

"Battle Royal" Ralph Ellison

"The Influence of Folklore on Battle Royal" Ralph Ellison

"Roselily" Alice Walker

TH 9/20

"In the American Society" Gish Jen

"Two Kinds" Amy Tan

"In the Canon for all the Wrong Reasons" Amy Tan

T 9/25

Exam 1

 

II. JOURNEYS

TH 9/27

Physical

Tim OBrien presentation

"The Things They Carried" Tim OBrien

"On Tim OBriens The Things They Carried" Bobbie Ann Mason

T 10/2

Joseph Conrad presentation

"Heart of Darkness" Joseph Conrad

"The Greatness of Conrads Heart of Darkness" Lionel Trilling

TH 10/4

"Coppolas Apocalypse Now and Conrads Heart of Darkness" John Simon

Film: Apocalypse Now, Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Due: 1 page Prospectus for Final Paper

T 10/9

Fall break

TH 10/11

Psychological

"The Overcoat" Nikolai Gogol

"Gogols Genius in The Overcoat" Vladmir Nabokov

"Diary of a Madman" Lu Xun

T 10/16

Edgar Allan Poe presentation

"The Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allan Poe

"The Tell-Tale Heart" Edgar Allan Poe

"The Lust of Hate in Poes The Cask of Amontillado" D.H. Lawrence

 

TH 10/18

Emotional

"The Swimmer" John Cheever

"The Management of Grief" Bharati Mukherjee

T 10/23

Eudora Welty presentation

"A Worn Path" Eudora Welty

"Why I Live at the P.O." Eudora Welty

"Is Phoenix Jacksons Grandson Really Dead?" Eudora Welty

TH 10/25

"Meneseteung" Alice Munro

"River of Names" Dorothy Allison

T 10/30

Exam 2

 

III. CONNECTIONS/DISCONNECTIONS

TH 11/1

Human

Anton Chekhov presentation

"The Darling" Anton Chekhov

"The Lady With the Pet Dog" Anton Chekhov

"Hills Like White Elephants" Ernest Hemingway

T 11/6

Raymond Carver presentation

"Cathedral" Raymond Carver

"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" Raymond Carver

"The Origin of Cathedral" Tom Jenks

TH 11/8

"Collaborating With Carver" Robert Altman

"For Compassion, Read Carver. For Male Swagger, See Altman" Robert Coles

Film: Short Cuts, Directed by Robert Altman

Due: 4-6 page draft of Final Paper

T 11/13

Metaphysical

Franz Kafka presentation

"The Metamorphosis" Franz Kafka

"Kafka and The Metamorphosis" John Updike

TH 11/15

"The Garden of Forking Paths" Jorge Luis Borges

"The Company of Wolves" Angela Carter

T 11/20

Conference Day

"Writing about Short Stories" Ann Charters (p. 1696)

TH 11/22

Thanksgiving holiday

T 11/27

Gabriel García Márquez presentation

"A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" Gabriel García Márquez

"The Smallest Woman in the World" Clarice Linspector

"The Moths" Helena María Viramontes

TH 11/28

Intellectual

"If on a winters night a traveler" Italo Calvino

On Italo Calvinos If on a winters night a traveler" Salman Rushdie

"Happy Endings" Margaret Atwood

"On with the Story" John Barth

T 12/3

"Miss Furr and Miss Skeene" Gertrude Stein

"The Jewbird" Bernard Malamud

"All Stories Are True" John Edgar Wideman

TH 12/5

Exam 3

T 12/11

Due: 7-10 page Final Paper