Summer 2008

E s348 • Twentieth-Century Short Story

Course Description

The focus of this course will be short fiction of the twentieth-century by African American, Asian American, European American, Native American, and Latina/o authors. We will approach these stories from literary (formal), cultural, and historical perspectives, and our discussions will turn frequently to the way that these American writers produce, affirm, critique, and constantly challenge American ethnic, class, gender, cultural, regional, and national identities. The short stories in this class are a site of critical inquiry into "Americanness" in all its manifestations and the focal point of our other main goal: improving our critical reading, thinking, and writing.

Grading Policy

Two exams, with short answer and essay questions (30% each); ten reading quizzes and class participation (40%)

Texts

The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction, Shorter Seventh Edition, ed. Richard Bausch and R. V. Cassill.
Course packet
Sample authors: Sherman Alexie, Donald Barthelme, James Baldwin, Sandra Cisneros, Stephen Crane, William Faulkner, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, Gish Jen, Sandra Tsing Loh, Flannery O'Connor, Luis Alberto Urrea, Alice Walker

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