2015 the Short Story Syllabus Winter

7/24/2019 2015 the Short Story Syllabus Winter

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SHORT STORY: THE GENRE AND ITS CONTEXTS

CLARE WALLACE, PHDTuesday 9.10-10.45, Room 313Winter semester 2015

Consultation hours: Tuesday 10.45-12.15 Room 219bEmail: [email protected] key: SS2015

Course Description:This course will look at one of modern literatures most recent genres, and one of the mostancient forms of storytelling. We will explore different authorial approaches to narrative andthe confines of the form, paying particular attention to language, cultural contexts andthemes. Due to its length the short story is ideal material for examining the variouscomponents of narrative theory and modes of decoding or interpreting texts. Students will beencouraged to focus upon the basics: character, plot, point of view, as well as interpretingtexts using various theoretical frameworks: feminist, post-colonial, psychoanalytic etc. The

course will be based on weekly close reading of selected texts, reading assignments andstudent responses to the material.

Schedule:

Week 1(6 Oct.) Introduction. Course outline and requirements. A brief history of the ShortStory.

Week 2(13 Oct.)Early tendencies in the genre

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) William WilsonJ. Sheridan LeFanu (1814-1873) A Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter

W.W. Jacobs (1863-1943) The Monkeys Paw

Week 3 (20 Oct.)Detectives and deductionEdgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Purloined LetterArthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) A Scandal in Bohemia

Week 4(27 Oct.)EpiphanyGuy de Maupassant (1850-1893) The Necklace, Boule de Suif/ DumplingAnton Chekhov (1860-1904) The Darling, The Lady with the Dog

Week 5(3 Nov.)ModernismsJames Joyce (1882-1941) Clay

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) Moments of BeingKatherine Mansfield (1888-1923) Marriage la Mode

Week 6(10 Nov.)Child NarratorsWilliam Golding (1911-1993) Billy the KidFrank OConnor (1903-1966) My Oedipus ComplexSaki (1870-1916) Sredni Vashtar

Week 7(17 Nov.)State Holiday

Week 8(24 Nov.)Latin American fictionJorge Lus Borges (1899-1986) The Circular RuinsJulio Cortzar (1914-1984) AxolotlClarice Lispector (1920-1977) The Smallest Woman in the World


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Week 9(1 Dec.)Southern Gothic?Flannery OConnor (1925-1964) Good Country People, A Good Man is Hard to Find

Week 10(8 Dec.)American RealismErnest Hemingway (1899-1961) The Killers, A Very Short Story, Hills Like WhiteElephants

Week 11(15 Dec.)Playing games with narrativeMary Lavin (1912-1996) A Storywith a PatternDavid Lodge (1935-) Hotel des BoobsAngela Carter (1940-1992) The Bloody Chamber

Week 12(5 Jan.)Detectives againJohn Fowles (1924-2005) The Enigma


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Primary Texts:The following stories are available on Moodle

Borges, Jorge Lus The Circular RuinsCarter, Angela The Bloody ChamberChekhov, Anton The Darling, The Lady with the DogCortzar, Julio AxoltlDoyle, Arthur Conan A Scandal in BohemiaFowles, John The EnigmaGolding, William Billy the KidHemingway, Ernest The Killers, A Very Short Story, Hills Like White ElephantsJacobs, W.W. The Monkeys PawJoyce, James ClayLavin, Mary A Story with a PatternLeFanu, J. Sheridan A Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the PainterLispector, Clarice The Smallest Woman in the WorldLodge, David Hotel des Boobs

Mansfield, Katherine Marriage la ModeMaupassant, Guy de The Necklace, Boule de Suif/ DumplingOConnor, Flannery Good Country People, A Good Man is Hard to Find OConnor, Frank My Oedipus ComplexPoe, Edgar Allan William Wilson, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Purloined LetterSaki Sredni VashtarWoolf, Virginia Moments of Being

Selected Secondary Texts:Aycock, Wendell M. ed. The Teller and the Tale: Aspects of the Short Story. Lubbock: Texas

Tech Press, 1982.Barroll, J. Leeds, Austin M. Wright. The Art of the Short Story: An Introductory Anthology.

Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1969.Bates, H. E.The Modern Short Story: A Critical Survey.London: Nelson and sons, 1945.Beachcroft, T. O.The English Short Story I.London: Longmans, Green, 1967.Beachcroft, T. O.The English Short Story II.London: Longmans, Green, 1967.Brooks, Peter. Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative. Cambridge (Mass.);

London: Harvard University Press, 1998.Buford, Bill ed. More Dirt: The New American Fiction. Cambridge: Granta Publications, 1986.Cassill, R. V. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction[3rd ed.]. New York: Norton, 1978.Hassan, Ihab. The Dismemberment of Orpheus: Towards a Postmodern Literature. New

York: Oxford University Press, 1971.Hutcheon, Linda.A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction. London: Routledge,

1988.

Kettle, Arnold, Jack Lindsay, Alick West et al. Essays on Socialist Realism and the BritishCultural Tradition London: Arena, [c. 1950].

Levenson, Michael ed. The Cambridge Companion to Modernism. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2002.

McHale, Brian. Postmodernist Fiction. London: Routledge, 1987.Scholes, Robert and Robert Kellogg. The Nature of Narrative.London; Oxford; New York:

Oxford University Press, 1968.Smith, Anthony D. Nationalism and Modernism: A Critical Survey of Recent Theories of

Nations and Nationalism. London; New York: Routledge, 2003.Ward, Alfred C.Aspects of the Modern Short Story: English and American. London:

University of London Press, 1924.White, Hayden. The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation

Baltimore; London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.


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Wolff, Tobias ed. The Picador Book of Contemporary American Stories. London: Picador,1993.

Additional materials may be posted on Moodle throughout the semester.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Students are expected to attend classes, to visit the course site on a regular basis, read thematerials assigned and to participate in discussions.

Participation:

Participation extends beyond mere attendance. Expect your instructor to keep track of howoften you contribute to class discussion (as a whole), particularly during the classdiscussions of assigned readings. Students should come to class prepared to discuss theassigned reading.

Presentations:Presentations should introduce the topic/author you have chosen. Each presentation shouldbe no longer than 10 minutes as a preliminary to our discussion. You may also preparehandouts or use the projector to present your material and include questions for debate, butplease respect the time available. I expect you NOT to be reading long sections of text orregurgitating material available on Wikipedia and the like.

Essays:

I DO NOT ACCEPT ESSAYS BY EMAIL. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO PRINT YOURWORK AND TO SUBMIT IT AT THE DEPARTMENT BY 12.00 ON THE DAY OF THEDEADLINE.

All students preparing essays should email me with a paragraph length proposal outliningtheir topic and thesis statement/argument. A brief list of source materials should also beincluded. Deadline for proposals: 12 December 2015.

Final essays for Credit (Zp.) for BA students should be 2500 words.

Final essays for Credit (Zp.) for MA students should be 3000 words.

Final essays for Grade (PP/ZK) for MA students should be 4500-5000 words.

Please let me know which you would like in advance and write it on the title page of thepaper. Also please write your email address on the title page of your paper so that I cancontact you.

Should an essay be unsatisfactory, students have the opportunity to submit ONE rewrite oncondition that the rewritten work is submitted with the marked original.

Deadline:Essays should be submitted by 15 January 2016. If you require an extension you

need to write to me in advance and explain why you need more time.


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PLEASE NOTE: Essays submitted more than two months after the conclusion of thesemester will not be graded.

Final essays should combine both close analysis of selected primary texts and secondarymaterials. Heavy reliance on the internet should be avoided. Please pay attention to correct

citation procedures. MLA format for citations and bibliographies is required (models can befound in the library, the departmental Study Guide and on the internetSeehttp://ualk.ff.cuni.cz/doc/essays.doc.

All papers should include:

A title page (with your email address and if you are a visiting student the dateby which you must have the credit)

Numbered pages and double spacing Clearly marked paragraphs (either indent or leave a line) Properly formatted sources and bibliography. Guidelines for citation and

bibliographic style are on the Departmental homepage.

ESSAYS THAT HAVE NO RESEARCH BASE OR FAIL TO CITE SOURCESTRANSPARENTLY AND APPROPRIATELY WILL NOT BE GRADED.

Grading Scheme

Attendance and Participation 20%

Presentation 30%

Final Essay 50%

LetterGrade

Percent (%) Generally Accepted Meaning

A 96-100Outstanding work

A- 90-95

B+ 87-89Good work, distinctly aboveaverage

B 83-86

B- 80-82

C+ 77-79

Acceptable workC 73-76

C- 70-72D+ 67-69

Work that is significantly belowaverage

D 63-66

D- 60-62

F 0-59 Work that does not meetminimum standards for passingthe course
http://ualk.ff.cuni.cz/doc/essays.dochttp://ualk.ff.cuni.cz/doc/essays.dochttp://ualk.ff.cuni.cz/doc/essays.doc

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2015 the Short Story Syllabus Winter