History Through the Short Story
Name：
David Pickus
Nationality：
United States
Academic Title：Associate Professor
Home University Renmin University of
（From）：
China
Email Address： David.pickus@asu.edu
Undergraduate
Master
English
No
Focusing on discussions more than lectures
essay
2 credits
Post-Doc., Center for Advanced Studies, University of Leipzig, Research Grant,
summer, 1996
Ph.D. in History, University of Chicago, 1995
Dissertation: (Defended with Distinction): “Dying with an Enlightening Fall:
Poland in the Eyes of German Intellectuals, 1764-1800”
Committee: Michael Geyer (advisor), John Boyer, Ronald Inden, Katie Trumpener
M.A. in History, University of Chicago, 1989
Thesis: “Hegel and India: A Study in Absolute Subjectivity”
B.A. in History, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI, 1987
Graduated Cum Laude
This course is designed to help RenDa students better understand modern history,
particularly modern Western history. The method is to read short stories, and analyze
them in their historical context. Doing so, will also teach students valuable skills
in literary analysis. The more students practice using literary texts as a vehicle
for historical analysis, the better prepared they will be to analyze as a whole.
The structure of the course is as follows: an opening section will provide a
theoretical overview of what it means to study literature as a means to understanding
history. Specifically, the class will be introduced to the notion that works of
fiction express social conflicts and tensions. We can, therefore, use them to
understand how societies experiences change, growth and destruction. The short story
first became popular in the Western world in the 19th-century. As a result, its rise
coincided with the spread of modern media and the expansion of middle class culture.
The class will show RenDa students how to link this larger world of “big history”
to the individual world of specific authors.
In
A.
it
B.
C.
particular, the stories selected will cover three main themes:
The emergence of polite or respectable society, and the benefits and burdens
imposes on individuals.
The clash between insiders and outsiders and the longing for justice.
The search for self-awareness, and better philosophies of life.
1.Introduction: What is the short story and why does it help us understand history
2.“The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by Leo Tolstoy. What is bourgeois society?
3.“Master and Man” by Leo Tolstoy. Does modernity make us greedy?
4.“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Does modernity make us hypocrites?
5.“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. Is life governed by
statistics?
6.“Little Herr Friedmann” by Thomas Mann. Do we discriminate Unconsciously?
7.Midterm.
8.“That Evening Sun” by William Faulkner. What is the relationship between racism
and violence?
9.“Babylon Revisited,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Does modern society give people
second chances?
10.“Rain” by W. Somerset Maugham. Is modern society dishonest about sex?
11.“Gimpel the Fool” by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Can foolish people be wiser than
clever ones?
12.“The Eighty Yard Run” by Irwin Shaw. What does it mean to live in the past
13.“The Shawl” by Cynthia Ozick. How can the modern world destroy our spirit?
14.Conclusion.
15.Final Exam.
No textbook
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy
Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce
Little Herr Friedmann by Thomas Mann
That Evening Sun by William Faulkner
Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Rain by W. Somerset Maugham
Gimpel the Fool by Isaac Bashevis Singer
The Eighty Yard Run by Irwin Shaw
The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick