English 231: First Fiction
Tuesdays, 4:30 to 7:30pm
Dante 214
Fall 2012
Professor Lysley Tenorio
Phone: 925-631-4764
E-mail: latenori@stmarys-ca.edu
Course Description
We see them year after year—debut novels and collections on the bookstores shelves, short
stories in journals, magazines, and annual best-of anthologies. Given the market’s
competitiveness, their publication is a feat in itself, and with publication comes the assumption
that these writers have something unique and vital to say, that their work demands—and is
worthy of—readership. But what makes these debuts so noteworthy? What do these first novels
and stories demonstrate in terms of artistry and vision, craft and technique, and, to quote John
Gardner, how do they “enable us to see and feel vividly what characters see and feel, to
experience as directly and intensely as possible”?
In this course, we’ll read first novels and stories from both new and established writers,
examining their prose styles, the ways they portray and explore their subject matter, and how they
sustain drama and tension. We’ll also consider questions specific to each author’s work. How,
for example, does George Saunders give emotional substance to the satirical dystopias in the
stories in CivilWarLand in Bad Decline? How does Julie Otsuka’s shifting points of view lend
itself toward the portrayal of Japanese-American internment during WWII? What collective
identity does Edward P. Jones create for his characters in the stories from Lost in the City, and
what does this suggest about his portrayal of place?
In addition, three local emerging writers—Will Boast, Kathryn Ma, and Joshua Mohr—
will visit our class. We’ll read their first books, and they’ll discuss their own experience of
putting their first manuscripts together, the technical and aesthetic choices they made, the
thematic concerns that helped push their work forward, as well as their own unique paths to
publication.
As writers working on your own first novels and stories, our discussions will hopefully
raise questions and concerns relevant to your own material, and to your own relationship to the
writing process. Therefore, your responses to these works—whether positive or negative,
enlightenment or bafflement, joy or frustration—are essential to our discussion, so your active
participation and enthusiasm are essential and appreciated.
Students in this course will work toward achieving the following goals:
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To explore the relationship between craft and story, and the ways authors employ
narrative technique
To research the lives and careers of these authors, with attention to critical reception of
their work
To become familiar with current literary trends in the novel and short story
To relate contemporary fiction to its professional context (publishing, the market, etc.)
Course Text
Power Ballads, Will Boast
Tinkers, Paul Harding
Selected stories, Edward P. Jones (course reader)
All That Work and Still No Boys, Kathryn Ma
Some Things That Meant the World to Me, Joshua Mohr
Selected stories, Daniyal Mueenuddin (course reader)
Selected stories, Daniel Orozco (course reader)
When the Emperor Was Divine, Julie Otsuka
The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman
Selected stories, Karen Russell (course reader)
Selected stories, George Saunders (course reader)
Selected stories, Susan Steinberg (course reader)
The Book of Salt, Monique Truong
Various handouts (provided by instructor)
Course Requirements
Each of you will be responsible for the following:
Weekly exercises (2-3 pages). You will write short creative pieces based on each writer’s
work.
Lead and facilitate one discussion. Working in pairs (or trios), you will be responsible for
leading discussion on one book or set of stories. You will frame the discussion with your own
responses to the work, posing questions that reflect your specific concerns and observations.
How you structure the discussion is up to you, but it must include the following:
 an analysis of craft—what technical choices do you see the author making in the work?
How do these choices help (or hinder) what you see as the goals of the story?
 an analysis of story—how does each author build the narrative in each work? How does
he/she introduce tension and conflict, develop connections between reader and
protagonist, etc.? What larger “truths” does the work succeed in revealing or exploring?
 close reading—pick a short passage (one long scene or set of scenes, a short chapter) that
you feel demonstrates what is “quintessential” about the writer and his/her work in terms
of vision, voice, aesthetics, craft, etc. Guide us through the reading.
 your “book club” reaction—share your own gut responses as readers and writers to the
work. In what ways do you relate to the work? What distances you from it? What do
you think are the work’s merits, short comings, etc.?
 in-class writing exercise—come up with a short writing exercise based on the author’s
work, one that students can begin in class. This will be the basis for the weekly exercises
(to be completed and submitted the following week).
 supplemental readings—please provide author biographies/biographical information,
book reviews, critical essays, interviews, etc. to help facilitate discussion (these should be
distributed the week before your discussion)
1 short story (12-20 pages). An expansion of one of the weekly exercises OR
1 analytical paper (10-15 pages). An essay in which you analyze and discuss the technical,
aesthetic, and thematic elements of the book/stories for which you lead discussion
Class participation. This is a graduate level course, the discourse of which relies on student
discussion. All students are expected to participate regularly and frequently, posing questions,
sharing opinions, and responding to your classmates’ comments. If you are consistently silent,
you will not pass the course.
Attendance Policy
Since this course meets once a week, please do not be absent. The only excused absences are
those of a medical/family emergency nature. If you must be absent, please notify me ASAP.
Also, please come to class on time. If this is your only class of the day, please traffic in mind,
and make appropriate accommodations.
CLASS SCHEDULE (subject to change)
August
28
Review syllabus, discuss essays by Reiken, Doerr, and Goodman, stories by Kim
and Mathews
September
4
George Saunders/ stories
11
Edward P. Jones/ stories
18
Tom Rachman/ The Imperfectionists
25
Julie Otsuka/ When the Emperor Was Divine
2
Paul Harding/ Tinkers
8
Karen Russell/ stories (MONDAY class)
16
Daniyal Mueenuddin/ stories
23
Author visit: Joshua Mohr/ Some Things That Meant the World to Me
(MONDAY class)
30
Daniel Orozco/ stories
October
November
6
Susan Steinberg/ stories
13
Author visit: Kathryn Ma/ All That Work and Still No Boys
20
No class—conferences
29
Author visit: Will Boast/ Power Ballads (THURSDAY class)
December
6
Monique Truong, The Book of Salt