Date approved by CPC
9/19/11
Date approved by faculty
N/A
TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON PROGRAM AND CURRICULUM
Application for New Course
1. Submitted by (program)
English
2. Course Designation and Catalog Description
a.
ENG-2614
prefix/number
Note:
1000-level courses cover a wide range of material, serve as introductions to a discipline, and
are generally appropriate for first-year students
2000-level courses are more specific in focus than 1000-level courses, may require some
previous knowledge, and are generally appropriate for sophomores.
3000-level course are clearly upper-level courses, require significant background, may have
prerequisites and are generally appropriate for juniors and seniors.
4000-level courses require extensive background, usually have prerequisites, and are generally
appropriate for juniors and seniors
Course Numbering Justification:
Provide a concrete rationale for the proposed course number by appealing to the description of
the course numbering system as outlined above
The course American Short Story has the specific focus on a genre appropriate for an offering in
English at the 2000 level.
b. i.
American Short Story
Transcript Title (limited to 29 characters/spaces only)
b. ii.
American Short Story
Catalog Title (unlimited characters)
c.
40
class hours/wk
d.
e.
lab hours/wk
f. Instructor(s):
Martha Billips
g. Prerequisites:
none
1
units
h. Please provide a course description exactly as it should appear in the catalog. Descriptions must be
less than 75 total words. Descriptions may be returned for editing.
A study of the genre of the short story as conceived and crafted by American writers. The course will
consider the nature and history of the short story, its development in America, its early American
practitioners and theorists, and how American short fiction reflects and comments on American life and
culture. May include the work of Poe, Hawthorne, Wharton, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Baldwin,
O’Connor, Paley, Oates, Lahiri, and others. IV
3. Please attach an outline of the proposed course.
See attached syllabus from May term 2010.
4. Pattern information:
a.
In which patterns will this course be required (major, minor or allied)?
none
b.
In which patterns may it be chosen as an elective?
English
5. Does any part of this course duplicate material already addressed in existing courses? If so, why is this desirable?
Other English courses include short stories by American writers, but none focuses solely on the genre or contains the
breadth and depth of coverage provided by this class.
6. How often will this course be offered?
a. Twice a year
b. Fall
Once a year
Winter
May
Alternate years
X
X
Summer
7. What methods of instruction will be employed?
Lecture, discussion, and feedback on written work.
8. Will this course require any facilities, equipment, or personnel not presently available?
If yes, please explain.
No.
9. Will the course require additional library resources (books, journals, online databases)? If yes, please explain.
No.
10. What enrollment is expected?
20
Maximum enrollment desired?
20
11. What is the primary reason this course was proposed?
The course has been offered several times as a May term special topic listing in English. It has proven largely
successful and has unfailingly drawn full or nearly full enrollments. Making American Short Story a part of the
regular curriculum will allow students to plan to take the course, will fill existing gaps in curriculum, and will
broaden the offerings in American literature.
12. Whom should CPC consult for further information regarding the proposed changes?
Martha Billips
*********************************************************************************************
The following sections must be completed before application is considered by CPC:
Martha Billips
___________________________________
Originated by
9/16/11
___________
Date
Program Director comments:
I support this petition to make the May term course “American Short Story” a permanent offering rather than an
special topics class.
Kremena Todorova
__________________________________
Program Director
9/16/11
___________
Date
Division Chair comments:
I support this petition to make the May term course “American Short Story” a permanent offering rather than an
special topics class.
Martha Billips
9/16/11
___________________________________
___________
Division Chair
Date
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Division Chair submits form via email to CPC secretary (Michelle Rawlings, mrawlings@transy.edu) and chair
(Mike Pepper, mpepper@transy.edu)
Paste Syllabus here:
May Term 2010
American Short Story
English 2294
Instructor: Martha Billips
Office: HH 12 (inside Writing Center)
Telephone: 233-8390
E-mail: mbillips@transy.edu
Office Hours: M/T/Th, 12:00-3:00
“Being short does not mean being slight. Meaning keeps the short story from being short.” Flannery O’Connor,
American short story writer
Description: In this class, we’ll explore O’Connor’s observation from her essay “Writing Short
Stories.” We’ll ask specifically how short stories by American writers escape being “short”
through the creation of meaning.
This class will introduce students to the genre of the short story in general and to short
stories by American writers in specific. We’ll consider the nature of the short story, its
background, its emergence as a specific genre, its development in America, its early
American practitioners and theorists, and, most importantly, how American short fiction
reflects and comments on American life and culture. We’ll study major and lesserknown writers from the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as many works by contemporary
American short story writers. Expect lively discussions of this vital form, journal entries,
and two longer pieces.
The course readings will proceed chronologically in order to show the development of the American short story.
We’ll also consider secondary sources by critics and, more frequently, by short story writers themselves. These
materials will help us understand the conscious creation of an American form, the influences of writers on one
another, the evolution of the genre through the years, and its great variety in terms of theme and craft.
Text: Ann Charters, ed., The American Short Story and Its Writer: An Anthology
Course requirements:
Attendance: As the course runs largely by discussion, attendance is mandatory. Missing more than two classes
will result in a lowering of the participation grade; missing more than three will result in a lowering of the final
grade.
Participation: Fruitful class discussions depend upon careful preparation (that is, careful, thoughtful, and thorough
reading). Active participation in discussions is required, because through discussing a work we learn how to do the
kinds of critical thinking that can open up a literary text. Being an active participant in discussion can take many
forms: posing questions, bringing to the class’s attention places in a text that seem confusing or surprising, offering
answers to others’ questions, and active listening and note-taking. Please offer observations even if they seem out of
the ordinary, and please feel free to question the texts and to respond to others’ observations (including the
instructor’s). Students (in groups) will also lead discussion of stories in the final unit, which will count toward the
participation grade. 20% of final grade.
Reading and Reading Journal: This class is really about reading; we’ll read a great deal, and I fully expect
students to read carefully and thoroughly before class. This means annotating, taking notes, and re-reading passages
(or entire stories) that pose special challenges. Reading also forms the basis of class discussion, and the reading
journal functions as a prelude to and extension of class conversation. Before coming to class each day, students
should write a substantive entry that responds to the readings for the day. These responses may be spontaneous and
personal; however, they should include analysis as well as emotive response. In particular, entries should consider
the texts as short stories and as American works. Bring the journal to class each day. From time to time we will
share our observations, and students may be asked to refer to their journals in order to spark class discussion.
Journals will also provide a place to respond to what occurs during class. If something in a discussion intrigues,
confuses, or angers you, explore that response in the reading journal.
In addition to the assigned readings, students should also read one additional story from each section of the course,
and write an entry in their journal on that story. The introductions to each section briefly describe all the readings,
and students should choose based on their own interests. Journal entries should focus primarily on the stories
themselves. Entries regarding secondary materials may be briefer than those concentrating on the literature.
I will take up the reading journals at the end of each unit in the term and make comments on one selected entry. The
final grade will be assigned at the end of the semester. 50% of final grade.
Formal Essays: Twice during the term students will develop an entry (or entries) from the reading journal into
short essays of literary interpretation. These essays will be formally written; they will be unified by a strong thesis,
will develop their insights through close textual analysis, and will be grammatically and mechanically sound. They
should also consider the piece (or pieces) under discussion in terms of the themes of the course. In other words, how
does the story comment on the development of the genre? How does it reflect or respond to cultural changes? The
essays should be 4-5 pages in length; hence, they must be tightly focused.
Although students may choose the stories to which they respond, the essays must come from different sections of the
course. (The course and book are divided into five historical periods which are reflected in the reading schedule.)
Essays drawing from a particular time period must be turned in two class periods after the readings for that section
are completed. At least one essay must be turned in by Monday, May 17. 30% of final grade (15% each).
Course Schedule
Complete all readings before the date assigned
W April 28
Introduction to Class
Section I: Early Nineteenth Century: 1819-1860
Th April 29
Introduction to Section, 25-34
J.C.C. Nachtigal, “Peter Klaus the Goatherd,” 18-21
Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle,” 35-48
Irving, “Letter to Henry Brevoort,” 1373-1374
F April 30
Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” 103-114
Related Commentaries (see table of contents)
Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” 115-130
Related Commentaries (see table of contents)
M May 4
Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” 196-225
Related Commentaries (see table of comments)
Lydia Maria Child, “Slavery’s Pleasant Homes,” 142-147
Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The Two Altars; or, Two Pictures in
One,” 177-187
Reading Journals Due (Section I)
Section II: Late Nineteenth Century: 1861-1899
T May 5
Introduction to Section, 246-254
Bret Harte, “The Rise of the ‘Short Story,’” 1356-1362
Mark Twain, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,”
284-289
Twain, “How to Tell a Story,” 1459-1463
Crane, “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky,” 466-475
W May 6
Th May 6
F May 7
Ambrose Bierce, “One of the Missing,” 336-345
Hamlin Garland, “The Return of a Private,” 346-359
Garland, “Local Color in Art,” 1344-1348
Charles Chesnutt, “The Wife of His Youth,” 456-465
William Dean Howells, “Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt’s Stories,”
1365-1368
Essays on Section I Due
George Washington Cable, “Belles Demoiselles Plantation,” 299312
Kate Chopin, “Athenaise,” 430-455
Chopin, “On Certain Brisk, Bright Days,” 1333-1335
Mary Wilkins Freeman, “The Revolt of ‘Mother,’” 360-373
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” 390-403
Related Commentaries (see table of contents)
Brander Matthews, from “The Philosophy of the Short Story,”
1398-1401
Reading Journals Due (Section II)
Section III: Early Twentieth Century: 1900-1940
M May 10
Introduction to Section, 481-491
Willa Cather, “A Wagner Matinee,” 508-514
Edith Wharton, “The Other Two,” 515-530
Wharton, “Every Subject Must Contain within Itself Its Own
Dimensions,” 1473-1474
T May 11
F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Winter Dreams,” 635-653
Charles Scribner III, “On F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Stories,” 14491451
Ernest Hemingway, “Soldier’s Home,” 681-687
H.E. Bates, “Hemingway’s Short Stories,” 1313-1316
Essays on Section II Due
W May 12
Sherwood Anderson, “Hands,” 587-592
Related Commentaries (see table of contents)
William Faulkner, “Spotted Horses,” 701-716
Eudora Welty, “The Sense of Place in Faulkner’s ‘Spotted
Horses,’” 1471-1473
Th May 13
Richard Wright, “the Man Who Was Almost a Man,” 778-788
Zora Neale Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits,” 726-736
Related Commentaries (see table of contents)
Reading Journals Due (Section III)
Section IV: Mid-Twentieth Century: 1941-65
F May 14
Introduction to Section, 789-797
Flannery O’Connor, “Everything that Rises Must Converge,” 9971009
O’Connor, “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction,”
1417-1423
Welty, “Where Is the Voice Coming From?,” 1024-1029
M May 17
John Cheever, “The Enormous Radio,” 901-910
Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery,” 922-929
Jackson, “The Morning of June 28, 1948, and ‘The Lottery,’”
1375-1377
Essays on Section III Due; At Least One Essay Due
T May 18
Tillie Olsen, “I Stand Here Ironing,” 930-937
Robert Coles, “Tillie Olsen: The Iron and the Riddle,” 1335-1339
James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues,” 938-963
Baldwin, “Autobiographical Notes,” 1298-1302
Reading Journals Due (Section IV)
Section V: Late Twentieth Century: 1966-Present
W May 19
Introduction to Section, 1030-1038
Frank O’Connor, from The Lonely Voice, 1424-1430
Joyce Carol Oates, “How I Contemplated the World,” 1071-1083
Grace Paley, “A Conversation with My Father,” 1089-1093
Paley, “A Conversation with Ann Charters,” 1430-1434
Student Led Discussion (Oates)
Th May 20
Alice Walker, “Everyday Use,” 1102-1109
John Updike, “Separating,” 1119-1128
Student Led Discussion (Walker)
Essays on Section IV Due
F May 21
Bobbie Ann Mason, “Big Bertha Stories,” 1129-1141
Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried,” 1162-1176
Mason, “On Tim O’Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried,’” 13971398
Student Led Discussion (Mason)
M May 24
Sherman Alexie, “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation
Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore,” 1205-1211
Lorrie Moore, “Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens,” 12231230
Student Led Discussion (Alexie)
T May 25
Jhumpa Lahiri, “This Blessed House,” (pdf attachment)
Edwidge Danticat, “New York Day Woman,” 1245-1249
Richard Ford, “Crazy for Stories,” 1340-1344
Essays on Section V Due
Full Reading Journal Due