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NEW HAMPSHIRE COMMUNITY TECHNICAL COLLEGE
2020 Riverside Drive, Berlin, NH 03570
COURSE OUTLINE
Course Number: BENG 224.1
Title: The American Short Story
Prepared by
Susan M. Zoino
Associate Professor of English
January 2007
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COURSE OUTLINE
COURSE NUMBER AND TITLE: BENG 224 The American Short Story
CATALOG DESCRIPTION: Early, modern and contemporary short stories are read closely
and analyzed for theme, plot development, character study and author’s style, as well as for the
literary and historical periods they represent.
PREREQUISITE: ENG120 College Composition
INSTRUCTOR:
Susan Zoino
752-1113 x 2014
szoino@nhctc.edu
Office: 201A
Office hours: Tuesdays, 9:30-12:00; Wednesdays, 11:00 – 12:00;
Thursdays, 9:30 – 11:00, and by appointment
Class Times: Wednesdays, 1:00 – 3:30
Class Location: Room 147
TEXTBOOK(S) REQUIRED:
Charters, Ann. The American Short Story and Its Writer. Bedford/St. Martins: Boston, 2000
Chabon, Michael and Kenison, Katrina. The Best American Short Stories 2005. Houghton
Mifflin: Boston, 2005.
RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTARY READING:
Other readings as assigned.
GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF COURSE:
At the completion of this course the student will be able to:
1. Identify significant short stories and authors in American literature.
2. Define literary concepts (plot, theme, irony, setting, etc.).
3. Demonstrate knowledge of literary terms.
4. Classify the different literary periods.
5. Compare short stories to their historical background.
6. Formulate analytical questions about the literature.
7. Apply library research skills to access supplements to readings.
8. Formally analyze stories.
9. Creatively interpret short stories.
10. Deliver oral presentations.
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LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
Readings, writing, discussions, analyses, tests, and student presentations. Background
information is supplied in brief lectures. Two papers, two in-class essay examinations, story logs
and presentations hold students accountable for concepts and analysis.
LIBRARY RESOURCES: There are many library resources available, both in the library and
online
(http:/www.berlin.nhctc.edu/services/lib/). Please contact the library staff for more information.
Students will be required to use library resources for some of their essay research.
GRADING POLICY:
Papers: 40%
Tests: 30%
Story logs and Presentations: 30%
Note: The story log is graded holistically (one three-page, typed, double-spaced entry per week,
minimum) on depth of perception and observation, thoroughness of detail, style, originality and
interest. Guidelines will be discussed in class.
INSTRUCTOR'S POLICIES:
Attendance policy is consistent with college policies set forth in the student handbook. After
three class-hours of absence, you may be dropped from the class.
ACADEMIC HONESTY – Original thinking and intellectual honesty are central to a college
education. Research projects require the ongoing use of existing works, but students must
conduct themselves with proper regard for the rights of others and of the college, in a context of
mutual respect, integrity and reason. Activities such as plagiarism and cheating are not
acceptable and will not be condoned by the college. Students involved in such activities are
subject to serious disciplinary action. The following are presented as examples of academic
dishonesty:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Misrepresenting academic work done by someone else as one’s own efforts, with or
without permission of the person.
Providing or using prohibited assistance in assignments and examinations.
Unauthorized communication in any manner with other students during an examination;
collaboration in the preparation of reports or take-home examinations; copying, giving
aid or failing to follow the faculty member’s instructions.
Tampering with or falsifying official college records.
Infringing upon the right of other students to fair and equal access to college library
materials and comparable academic resources.
Falsification of data collected for and presented as part of course requirements.
Presenting as one’s own ideas, another person’s work or words without proper
acknowledgement.
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There may be other instances of academic dishonesty, which will be identified by a faculty
member.
SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS OR RECOMMENDATIONS:
If you have a documented disability that may affect your performance in this course, please
advise the instructor immediately so appropriate accommodations may be put in place.
Accommodations may be arranged through the Disability Services Coordinator in room #104.
Accommodations and assistive technology are available to students at no additional cost, and
should be accessed at the beginning of each semester.
GENERAL COURSE TIMETABLE
Week
1
2
3
4
Focus
(1/17/07)
(1/24/07)
(1/31/07)
(2/7/07)
Introduction to Course
Early 19th Century: 1819-1860
Early 19th Century: 1819-1860
Late 19th Century: 1861-1899
5 (2/14/07)
6 (2/21/07)
Late 19th Century: 1861-1899
Early 20th Century: 1900-1940
7 (2/28/07)
8 (3/7/07)
9 (3/14/07)
10 (3/21/07)
11 (3/28/07)
Early 20th Century: 1900-1940
Mid- 20th Century: 1941-1965
Spring Break: No Class
Mid- 20th Century: 1941-1965
Late 20th Century: 1966-Present
12 (4/4/07)
13 (4/11/07)
14 (4/18/07)
Late 20th Century: 1966-Present
Stories: 2005
Stories: 2005
15 (4/25/07)
Stories: 2005
16 (5/2/07)
17 (5/9/07)
Final Examination
Final Exam returned; Last Thoughts
Spring 2007
Activities
lecture-discussion, Q & A
lecture-discussion
students’ presentations/discussion
lecture-discussion, students’
presentations
students’ presentations/discussion
lecture-discussion, students’
presentations
Essay test 1; discussion
lecture-discussion, Essay 1 due
students’ presentations/discussion
lecture-discussion, students’
presentations
students’ presentations/discussion
students’ presentations/discussion
students’ presentations/discussion
Essay 2 due
students’ presentations/discussion,
Story Log due
Essay test 2; discussion
Discussion
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Specific Semester Assignments *
ASW = The American Short Story and Its Writer
BASS = The Best American Short Stories 2005
Week 1:
W 1/17
Introduction to Course and Course Outline; Class Introductions
____________________________________________________________________________________
Week 2:
W 1/24
Reading Due: Nachtigal, “Peter Klaus the Goatherd,”ASW 18-21;
“Early Nineteenth Century,” 25-34; Irving, “Rip Van Winkle, 36-48;
Mitford, “Stories of American Life,” 1416-1417; Irving, “Letter to Henry
Brevoort,” 1373-74
Writing Due: Story Log
____________________________________________________________________________________
Week 3:
W 1/31
Reading Due: Hawthorne, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” ASW 104-114;
Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” 117-130; Lowell, “Edgar Allan
Poe and The Fall of the House of Usher,” 1394-1396; Child, “Slavery’s
Pleasant Homes,” 143-147; Stowe, “The Two Altars; or, Two Pictures in
One,” 178-187
Writing Due: Story Log
____________________________________________________________________________________
Week 4:
W 2/7
Reading Due: “Late Nineteenth Century,” ASW 246-254; Twain, “The
Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” 285-289; Twain, “How
to Tell A Story,” 1459-1463; Harte, “The Luck of Roaring Camp,” 291298; Harte, “The Rise of the ‘Short Story’,” 1356-1362; Garland, “The
Return of a Private,” 347-359
Writing Due: Story Log
____________________________________________________________________________________
Week 5:
W 2/14
Reading Due: Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” ASW 391-403; Gilbert
and Gubar, “A Feminist Reading of Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’,”
1352-1354; Gilman, “Undergoing the Cure for Nervous Prostration,”
1354-1356; Jewett, “The Queen’s Twin,” 405-418; Cather, “Miss
Jewett,” 1330-1333; Jewett, “Looking Back on Girlhood,” 1382-1385
Writing Due: Story Log
* Schedule is subject to minor changes.
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Week 6:
W 2/21
Reading Due: Cather, “A Wagner Matinee,” ASW 509-514; Wharton,
“The Other Two,” 515-530; Austin, “Regionalism in American Fiction,”
1293-1298
Writing Due: Story Log
____________________________________________________________________________________
Week 7:
W 2/28
Reading Due: Glaspell, “A Jury of Her Peers,” ASW 607-623;
Hemingway, “Soldier’s Home,” 682-687; Bates, “Hemingway’s Short
Stories,” 1313-1316; Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits, 727-736
Prepare for Essay Test 1 (No Story Log due)
____________________________________________________________________________________
Week 8:
W 3/7
Reading Due: Wright, “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” 779-788
Ellison, “Flying Home,” ASW 872-887; Brooks, “We’re the only colored
people here,” 889-891; Cheever, “The Enormous Radio,” 902-910
Writing Due: Essay 1 (No Story Log due)
___________________________________________________________________________________
Week 9:
NO CLASSES: Spring Break
____________________________________________________________________________________
Week 10:
W 3/21
Reading Due: Jackson, “The Lottery,” 923-929; Jackson, “The Morning
of June 28, 1948, and ‘The Lottery’,” 1375-1377; Olsen, “I Stand Here
Ironing,” ASW 931-937; Coles, “Tillie Olsen: The Iron and the Riddle,”
1335-1339; O’Connor, “Everything that Rises Must Converge,” 9981009; O’Connor, “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction,
1417-1423; Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron,” 1019-1023
Writing Due: Story Log
Last day to drop class: March 28th
__________________________________________________________________________________
Week 11:
W 3/28
Reading Due: Barth, “Title,” ASW 1062-1067; Oates, “How I
Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and
Began My Life Over Again,” 1072-1083; Paley, “Conversation with My
Father,” 1090-1093; Paley, “A Conversation with Ann Charters, 14301434; Carver, “Cathedral,” (Handout); Carver, “Creative Writing 101,”
1326-1330
Writing Due: Story Log
____________________________________________________________________________________
Week 12:
Spring 2007
W 4/4
Due: O’Brien, “The Things They Carried,” ASW 1162-1176; Mason,
“On Tim O’Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried’,” 1397-1398; Wideman,
“newborn thrown in trash dies,” 1199-1204; Proulx, “The Bunchgrass
Edge of the World,” 1269-1286
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Writing Due: Story Log
____________________________________________________________________________________
Week 13:
W 4/11
Due:
____________________________________________________________________________________
Week 14:
W 4/18
Writing Due:
___________________________________________________________________________________
Week 15:
W 4/25
___________________________________________________________________________________
Week 16:
W 5/2
___________________________________________________________________________________
Week 17:
Spring 2007
W 5/9
Portfolio Pick Up
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Course # ENG224 The American Short Story
Prepared by: ___Susan Zoino______________________________________ Date: 1/17/07
Approved by
Department Chairperson: _________________________________________ Date: _________
Approved by
Vice President of Academic Affairs: ________________________________ Date: __________
The New Hampshire Community Technical College of Berlin and Laconia does not discriminate on the
basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or handicap in admission or access to, or treatment or
employment in, its programs and activities. Any persons having inquiries concerning New Hampshire
Community Technical College’s compliance with the regulations implementing Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973, is directed to contact Carol Ribner, 2020 Riverside Drive, Berlin, NH, 03570. Carol Ribner
has been designated by New Hampshire Community Technical College, Berlin campus, to coordinate the
institution’s efforts to comply with the regulations implementing Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504. Any
person may also contact the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, or the
Director, U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Region 1, 140 Federal Street, Boston,
MA 02110.
/smz
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Course # BENG 225.1
Prepared
by:
________________
___________________________________________________
Approved by
Department
Chairperson:
Date:_________________
Approved by
Vice
President
of
Date:_________________
Academic
Date:
_________________________________________
Affairs:_________________________________
New Hampshire Community Technical College-Berlin does not discriminate on the basis of race,
color, national origin, sex, age or handicap in admission or access to, or treatment or
employment in, its programs and activities. Any persons having inquiries concerning New
Hampshire Community Technical College's compliance with the regulations implementing Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, or Section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, is directed to contact Carol Ribner, 2020 Riverside Drive,
Berlin, NH 03570. Carol Ribner has been designated by New Hampshire Community Technical
College to coordinate the institution's efforts to comply with the regulations implementing Title
VI, Title IX, and Section 504. Any person may also contact the Assistant Secretary for Civil
Spring 2007
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Rights, U.S. Department of Education, or the Director, U.S. Department of Education, Office for
Civil Rights, Region 1, 140 Federal Street, Boston, MA 02110.
/ja
Spring 2007
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Spring 2007
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