Fall 2004

E 348 • Twentieth-Century Short Story

Course Description

This course will examine one of the dominant genres of the twentieth century- the modern short story. We will begin with stories by early masters- James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Katherine Mansfield, Ernest Hemingway, Jean Rhys, and others. In addition, we will read more recent stories featuring a diversity of voices, including works by James Baldwin, Sandra Cisneros, Alice Walker, John Updike, Flannery O'Connor, Pam Houston, and Jamaica Kincaid.

We will round out our study with a collection of New Yorker stories that was a national bestseller in 1997. The short story fuses poetic intensity and narrative richness, and our focus on character and place will reveal a presence that resonates beyond the spatial limitations of the form.

Grading Policy

Mid-term exam 25%
Essay 30%
Final exam 35%
Class participation 10%

Texts

The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction, 6th edition, R. V. Cassill and Richard Bausch, eds.
Nothing But You: Love Stories from The New Yorker, Roger Angell, ed.

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