The University of Jordan
Faculty of Arts/ Department of the English Language and Literature
Spring 2014
Course Title: Short Story
Course Code: 2201251
Instructor’s Name Office Hours
E-mail
Inas Ababneh
12:00- 1:00
inas.ababneh@ju.edu.jo
Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday i_ababneh@hotmail.com
Intended Learning Outcomes:
Upon the completion of this course, the students are expected to be able to:
A.
Knowledge and Understanding
 identify the major characteristics of the genre of short fiction,
 describe the main elements of a short story (setting, character, plot, point of
view, theme, atmosphere, etc), and
 recognize the different traditions, schools, and approaches to writing short
fiction.
B.
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D.
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Intellectual /Cognitive/ Analytical Skills
develop the necessary analytical and critical thinking skills to examine the
literary text,
compare and contrast the works of different writers,
explain how a certain narrative technique fits a certain theme or topic
critique ideas and theories, and
produce coherent, meaningful, and logically constructed essays.
C.
Subject Specific Skills
be able to analyze the role of a literary text in representing and exploring
social and cultural changes and
discuss the characteristics of each of the following movements and trends:
Realism, Naturalism, Modernism and Post-modernism.
Transferable Skills
develop the skill to argue, both orally and in writing, effectively.
adopt life-long reading habits,
apply critical thinking skills in real-life situations, and
employ knowledge about the different cultures that the texts talk about in
interaction with others in an increasingly multi-cultural world.
Textbook: Material compiled from different anthologies
Web Companions:
Norton Literature Online:
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/literature/OpenSite.htm
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References from the E-library:
 Benzel, Kathryn N. and Ruth Hoberman. Trespassing Boundaries: Virginia
Woolf's Short Fiction. Gordonsville, VA: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
 Davis Vines, Lois. Poe Abroad: Influence, Reputation, Affinities. Iowa City:
University of Iowa Press, 1999.
 Fallon, Erin C., R. A. Feddersen, and James Kurtzleben. Reader's Companion
to the Short Story in English. Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated:
2001.
 Koch, Stephen. Modern Library Writer's Workshop: A Guide to the Craft of
Fiction. Random House Adult Trade Publishing Group: 2003.
 Limon, John. Writing after War: American War Fiction from Realism to
Postmodernism. Oxford University Press, Incorporated: 1994.
 Malcolm, David. Blackwell Guides to Literature: British and Irish Short Story
Handbook. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
 March-Russell, Paul. Short Story: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 2009.
 Toolan, Michael. Narrative Progression in the Short Story: A Corpus Stylistic
Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2009.
 Roche, Mark W. Why Literature Matters in the 21st Century. Yale University
Press: 2004.
 Rossen, Janice. Women Writing Modern Fiction: A Passion for Ideas.
Palgrave Macmillan: 2004.
Evaluation:
Midterm exam:
30%
Two Quizzes (one of them is optional):
10%
Responses to Five Short Stories:
10%
Final:
50%
Course Plan:
Week 1 (Feb. 16-20): Introduction and Poe’s “The Purloined Letter”
Week 2 (Feb. 23-27): Poe’s “The Purloined Letter”
Week 3 (Mar. 2-6): Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”
(March 6th): Quiz
Week 4 (Mar. 9-13): Maupassant’s “The False Gems” and Chekhov’s “Misery”
Week 5 (Mar. 16-20): Chopin’s “A Pair of Silk Stockings” [Students read this story
on their own]
London’s “The Law of Life”
Week 6 (Mar. 23-27): Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client”
Week 7 (Mar. 30- April. 3): The Midterm Exam (April 3rd)
Week 8 (April. 6-10): Hemingway’s “In Another Country”
Saki’s “The Open Window”
Week 9 (April. 13-17): Mansfield’s “Miss Brill” and Woolf’s “The New Dress”
Week 10 (April. 20-24): Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
Week 11 (April. 27-May 1): Márquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”
(on April 29th an optional quiz)
Week 12 (May. 4-8): Holst’s “The Zebra Storyteller”
Week 13 (May. 11-15): Nasrallah’s “A House Not Her Own”
Week 14 (May. 18-22): Tan’s “Two Kinds”
Soueif’s “Knowing” [Students read this story on their own]
Week 15 (May. 25): Revision
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