Spring 2007

E 379S • Senior Seminar

Course Description

E 348, Twentieth-Century Short Story, may not also be counted.

Using The O.Henry Prize Stories 2005 and 2006, the class will read and discuss at least thirty short stories in the course of the semester. The goal of such reading is to be able to approach any short story with an open mind and a sense of how the artfulness of the writer works within the form to create character, setting, time, and plot. The goal of the course is to help the student become more articulate verbally and on paper at understanding the short story form.

Grading Policy

The student will write five papers (4 pages each) on a short story to be assigned, and create an approach to the story, showing the ways in which form and content are intertwined. One paper will be rewritten as the final project. The first two papers will be preceded by a summary of 250 words of the ideas the student will pursue in the paper.

Writing 85%
Class participation 15%

Texts

The O.Henry Prize Stories 2005, Laura Furman, series editor (New York: Anchor Books, 2005)
The O.Henry Prize Stories 2006, Laura Furman, series editor (New York: Anchor Books, 2006)
Stories not included in the two O.Henry collections will be distributed from time to time.

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