English 350-414
The Development of the Short
Story
Professor John Goulet, Office: Curtin
515
Phone: 229-6991 (If no answer, leave message at
229-4511).
Office hours: TR 9:00-9:25, R 1:50-2:20, and by
appointment.
[THIS IS A SAMPLE SYLLABUS FOR THIS COURSE, AND SUBJECT TO
REVISION.]
In this course we will look at short stories mostly from a
writer's point of view. The emphasis will be on the craft of fiction and
on the evolution of various techniques and approaches to the writing of
short fiction. Discussions will focus on such topics as narrative person,
free indirect discourse, reliability of narration, distance, telling vs.
showing, voice, plot, character and setting.
Requirements will consist of the following:
1) Three papers (3-4 pp. each), due on October 6,
November
11, and December 10.
2) Imitations; group projects.
3) Midterm exam on October 27.
4) Final exam.
Papers should be typed, double-spaced, with sufficient margin for
comment; be kept within the requirement of length.
Texts
Italo Calvino, Cosmicomics
Raymond Carver, What We Talk About When We Talk About
Love
Anton Chekhov, Anton Chekhov's Short Stories (Selected and
edited by Ralph E. Matlaw)
Ernest Hemingway, In Our Time
Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis, The Penal Colony, and Other
Stories
James Joyce, The Dubliners (Viking Critical
Edition)
Katherine Mansfield, Stories
Alice Munro, The Beggar Maid
Flannery O'Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find
In addition, students will be required to purchase some Xeroxed
materials.
Schedule:
January 13 Introduction
15 Carver pp. 3-46
20 Carver pp. 47-104
22 Carver pp. 105-159
27 Chekhov
29 Chekhov
February
3 Chekhov
5 Kafka
10 Kafka
12 Kafka
17 Mansfield
19 Mansfield
24 Mansfield
26 Midterm Exam
March
3 Joyce
5 Joyce
10-12 Spring Vacation
17 Joyce
19 Joyce
24 Hemingway
26 Hemingway
31 Hemingway
April
2 O'Connor
7 O'Connor
9 O'Connor
14 Munro
16 Munro
21 Munro
23 Calvino
28 Calvino
30 Calvino
FINAL EXAM