Name:
Ms. Hayes
Honors Modern Fiction
Date:
Modern Fiction/Nonfiction Short Story Unit
In this course we will consider two closely related cultural movements, Modernism and
Postmodernism. Although we will spend much of our time considering written texts,
both of these movements embrace all of the arts---visual, literary, musical, etc.
Therefore, for our short story unit, you will be asked to consider a variety of such texts
that incorporate modernist/postmodernist philosophy.
Requirements:

Read a combination of the texts listed below. Links to each text have been
provided. You must read/engage a minimum of three (3) short
stories/poems, one (1) nonfiction essay, and a combination of three
(3) visual media.

Annotate your selected written texts and take notes on the visual texts
by selecting quotations, images, or other elements that interest you;
identifying ideas/themes/motifs that seem important; and recognizing
patterns and correspondences that appear across all of the texts. Write
questions and comments about things you don’t understand or elements that
make you think, feel, or wonder. Also try to identify how the authors/artists/
directors make their points.

You will be asked to analyze your notes and come up with a hypothesis regarding
what you think modernism and postmodernism are, based upon your
experiences with your selected texts. You will use your notes to help you
specifically support your hypothesis.
Selections:
Short Stories/Poems. Choose a minimum of three (3)!

“Alphabet” by Catherine French - poem

“ Answers to a Questionnaire" by J.G. Ballard

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“Easter, 1916” by William Butler Yeats - poem

“Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood

“Perl, the First Postmodern Computer Language”


“The School” by Donald Barthelme
The Transfer of Patient Twenty-Sevenby Hugh Cook

“The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot - poem

“Waiting” by Peggy McNally

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates
Nonfiction. Choose a minimum of one (1)!



“Electronic Revolution” by William Burroughs
“Hiroshima” by John Hersey
Present Shock excerpt by Douglas Rushkof
Visual Media. Choose a minimum of two (2)!



Fountain by Marcel Duchamp
Infinite Divisibility by Yves Tanguy
Impression Sunrise by Claude Monet