525ScheduleF2010
Schedule for ENGL 525: Studies in the Short Story
Autumn 2010
Dr. Don Florence
Please note: in addition to the assignments listed below, each week you will be writing
one paragraph, each, in response to two of my discussion prompts (topics) and in
response to two of your fellow students’ posts regarding the week’s assigned story
readings. You may respond to more prompts and posts if you wish, of course.
In other words, you will be writing at least four paragraphs each week in the discussion
forum as your class participation. For more details, please see the individual weekly links
in the Learning Modules. (See the Course Tools menu in the left margin of your course
page.) The weekly discussion questions immediately follow my lecture each week; the
discussion prompts will also be made available in the discussion forum as we get to each
week.
I make available video clips (mostly from YouTube) to give examples of ways that some
stories have been dramatized for film. These clips are recommended viewing to give you
additional possible perspectives on various stories.
Please note that although we’ll be reading nearly 60 stories, half of them are quite short:
seven pages or less, each, in our anthology. The total assigned number of pages for the
semester is reasonably moderate.
All but six of the stories assigned are in our anthology Fiction 100. The remaining stories
will be available as e-text "handouts" or on the Web through links I will provide.
A "course week" usually begins on a Wednesday and runs through the following Tuesday
night. That includes the weekend and two days afterward to help you finish assignments.
The first course week begins on a Monday and hence is two days longer than usual.
Week 1 (Aug. 16-24): Introduction
Reader’s Guide to the Short Story (companion booklet to our story anthology): "Reading
and Studying the Short Story" (1-37) and "Writing About the Short Story" (39-76)
Scofield, The Cambridge Introduction to the American Short Story, chp. 1
My lecture notes on the elements of short fiction
Week 2 (Aug. 25-31): Origins
Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado"; "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Hawthorne, "Young Goodman Brown"
Reader’s Guide to the Short Story: "Studying the Short Story: Additional Resources" (7785) and "The Historical Development of the Short Story" (87-100)
Scofield, chps. 3 & 4.
My lecture notes on Poe’s and Hawthorne’s development of the short story
Recommended: video of Vincent Price presenting "The Cask of Amontillado"
Week 3 (Sept. 1-7): Dark Fantasy
Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
H. H. Munro, "The Open Window"
Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily"
Jackson, "The Lottery"
Bowen, "The Demon Lover"
King, "The Man in the Black Suit"
Oates, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
Scofield, pp. 68-72 and chp. 16
My lecture notes on the evolution and uses of dark fantasy in stories
Week 4 (Sept. 8-14): Time & Mind
Borges, "The Garden of Forking Paths"
Dobyns, "Kansas"
Bradbury, "August 2002: Night Meeting"
Clarke, "The Star"
My lecture notes on fantasy, science fiction, and time
Paper #1 assigned on Sept. 8th, due Sept. 29th
Week 5 (Sept. 15-21): On the Edge
Gilman, "The Yellow Wall-Paper"
Silko, "Yellow Woman"
Lawrence, "The Rocking-Horse Winner"
Garcia Marquez, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings"
Wolff, "Nightingale"
Alexie, "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona"
Scofield, pp. 96-98
My lecture notes on the blending of the fantastic and psychological, the edge where the
real and surreal meet
Week 6 (Sept. 22-28): Myth & Humor
Irving, "Rip Van Winkle"
Twain (Clemens), "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
Thurber, "The Catbird Seat"
Keillor, "The Tip-Top Club"
Scofield, pp. 10-14, 57-64
My lecture notes on the development of humor, satire, and irony
Week 7 (Sept. 29 - Oct. 5): Satire
Twain (Clemens), "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg"
Lardner, "Haircut"
Welty, "Petrified Man"
Bambara, "The Lesson"
Scofield, pp. 113-14, 173-76, 215
My lecture notes on social satire
Paper #1 due on Sept. 29th
Week 8 (Oct. 6-12): The Absurd
Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener"
Kay Boyle, "Astronomer’s Wife"
Barth, "Lost in the Funhouse"
Barthelme, "The Balloon"
Carver, "Cathedral"
Scofield, chps. 5 & 22, and pp. 217-21
My lecture notes on humor, absurdity, tragedy, meaning, and a strange form of realism
Paper #2 assigned on Oct. 6th, due Oct. 27th.
Week 9 (Oct. 13-19): Realism
London, "To Build a Fire"
Crane, "The Blue Hotel"
Freeman, "A New England Nun"
Steinbeck, "Chrysanthemums"
Scofield, pp. 72-77, 92-95, 121-27, 197
My lecture notes on realism, naturalism, and the power and trap of environment
Week 10 (Oct. 20-26): Childhood
Jewett, "A White Heron"
Joyce, "Araby"
Cather, "The Enchanted Bluff" (available as an e-text handout)
Porter, "The Grave"
Bunin, "Light Breathing"
Scofield, pp. 90-91, 103-6, 170-73
My lecture notes on childhood, nature and nurture, and the sense of place
Week 11 (Oct. 27 – Nov. 2): Very Short
Chekhov, "Misery" (a.k.a. "Heartache," available in Handouts under Course Menu)
Maupassant, "The Necklace"
Chopin, "The Story of an Hour"
Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants"
Cisneros, "The House on Mango Street"
Scofield, pp. 98-100 and chp. 14
My lecture notes on "short but not always sweet"—the power of compression
Paper #2 due on Oct. 27th.
Week 12 (Nov. 3-9): Looking In
Faulkner, "Barn Burning"
Ellison, "King of the Bingo Game"
Baldwin, "Sonny’s Blues"
Erdrich, "The Red Convertible"
Scofield, pp. 190-94, 214
My lecture notes on being outside and looking in—the pain, power, and perspective of
alienation, and some ways that stories can look into those looking in
Paper #3 assigned on Nov. 3rd, due Nov. 29th.
Week 13 (Nov. 10-16): Love and Pain
Turgenev, "The Country Doctor"
Chekhov, "The Lady with the Dog"
Fitzgerald, "Winter Dreams"
Updike, "Here Come the Maples"
Scofield, chp. 15 and pp. 204-7
My lecture notes on the romantic dream in the context of realism
Week 14 (Nov. 17-21): Questions
A time to pause and consider any questions you might have about the course and our
readings thus far.
Week 15 (Nov. 22-28): Thanksgiving Week
A time to give thanks for having survived the course thus far. Also a time to get stuffed.
Maybe consider doing a little reading and writing between bites of turkey.
Week 16 (Nov. 29 - Dec. 5): Finishing Up
Bunin, "The Gentleman from San Francisco" (available through a web link)
Joyce, "The Dead"
My lecture notes on ways that short fiction can capture and evoke impressions of entire
lives
Paper #3 due on Nov. 29th.