Note to viewers: this course is intended to incorporate a text that is temporally or culturally relative. For purposes of this demonstration, I have selected Neil Gaiman’s “Trigger Warning,” as it is a compilation by a popular modern author. Compilations by visiting authors, local authors, or releases with a culturally relevant theme may all be candidates for primary text in this course instead of Gaiman.

The Short Story

Instructor:

Name: Edward Reges                         E-Mail: regese12@gmail.com

Office: [insert office location]             Office Hours: [insert hours]

Office Phone: [insert number]           Mobile number: [insert cell]

 

Description: An investigation into the creation, understanding, and audience of contemporary short fiction. Class meetings will include discussion and analysis of modern and contemporary fiction – its components, appeals, and conventions. Subjective interpretation from class members paired with academic literary analyses provides a context for students to investigate.

Meeting Times: Tuesdays & Thursdays – 2-3:15

Place: [insert meeting location]

 

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Express knowledge of genre conventions in the related field.
  • Example: narrative arc, literary devices, story “shapes”
• Utilize literary theory to analyze and critique short fiction.
  • Example: lenses such as feminism, new critic, reader response
• Demonstrate an understanding of how culture and history affect fiction.
• Compose a literary analysis that displays an understanding of some of the subtleties of fiction.

 

Required Print Texts:

The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction – 7th Edition

Gaiman, Neil – Trigger Warning [contemporary short fiction compilation]

 

Grading Components: *Due dates in class schedule **More information on assignment handouts

Class Participation (15%)

Throughout the course of this semester, we will read a multitude of fiction with the intent on analyzing and giving subjective interpretations. Two venues to this end are in-class discussion and responses to blog posts. Classroom discussion will be guided when necessary, but should guide itself in many ways. Alternatively, additional responses to blog posts may supplement classroom participation for students that are less vocal. Also included in this component is participation in peer review.

Weekly Blog Posts (30%)

Each week we will be reading at least two short stories. Students are to use various databases to search for a literary analysis on one of the pieces assigned for that week. Using the literary analysis and, if possible, classroom discussion, compose a short response (300-500 words) to the short story. Students are also expected to respond to six classmate’s posts per week before the new postings are due. Topics might ask questions about the story, argue with the analysis, offer points the analysis omitted yet supports, or bring to the attention of the class connections between analysis and class discussion. By using literary analysis, we can see what others have to say about the texts to come to a closer understanding of what standards there may be in fiction and to and utilize their interpretations to stimulate our own analysis.

Contemporary Fiction Inquiry (25%)

Midway through the semester, students will form groups of four. Each member of these groups will select a contemporary short story (published in the last 5 years) to present to the group. In place of weekly readings, students will read the selections of their group and collaboratively select one story for the class to read. Members of that group are expected to lead classroom discussion on that story for the allocated time. Blog posts for this period will take a different format: they are to be brief literary analysis of stories selected on the individual level (~1000 words). Students will be given the entirety of the two weeks in which we will be discussing inquiry pieces to work on this analysis.

Literary Analysis (30%)

The final project of this semester is a literary analysis of one of the stories we read for class this semester. Utilize the concepts we have discussed over the course of the semester to give your opinion on the story of your choosing. For this analysis, incorporate at least two sources in addition to the primary source. Remember to focus your analysis: the paper should view the narrative from one lens or argue against a specific interpretation. Use examples from the text to back up your claims. Final drafts should be ~1500 words.

 

Attendance Policy:

[insert institutional policy here, or:] Attendance in this course is necessary to achieve the course objectives. As adults committed to furthering your education, class attendance should be of top priority to that end. That being said, attendance will not be taken on a daily basis, as quality of work on assignments will likely be impacted by a lack of attendance.

Technology Policy:

Students are encouraged to utilize any and all technology possible to the ends of this course. That being said, the use of technology for other means during course time distracts you as well as other students and is strongly discouraged. Responsible members of this learning space do not answer calls, sent texts, or access social media. Those that are less responsible may find their participation scores reflect their respect for the learning space and classmates. If certain circumstances dictate phone access necessary, appropriate concessions will be made at the discretion of the teacher, who is to be informed.

E-Mail Policy:

Feel free to e-mail me at any time, but please do understand that it may take some time to receive a reply. Expect a response within two to three days. When sending an e-mail please do so professionally: send from a professional address with an appropriate title including course section and use diction appropriate for a letter to an instructor.

Plagiarism:

[insert institutional policy here] Plagiarism is a serious offense not only to the original author but to yourself as an academic: it undermines your credibility, prevents original thought and self-progression, and -least of all- is risky to your career for the repercussions of being caught. Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this course. Instances of accidental plagiarism will incite one warning and a mandatory revision; students are expected to know how to properly cite sources and that expectancy is upheld in the writing for this course. Intentional plagiarism will result in a 0 for the assignment and the notification of proper institutional officials.

Schedule:

The following is a tentative schedule. It is subject to change as necessary and only when necessary. Entries appear as they are due, so students should have read Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher by the second day of class.

Class Schedule
Progression	Date	Assigned Reading / Coursework
Week 1 Introduction		Introduction – Syllabus and Community Locating Literary Analyses
		Understanding Short Fiction – The Analysis Poe, Edgar Allen – The Fall of the House of Usher
Week 2 Character		Melvile, Herman – Bartleby the Scrivener Updike, John – A&P
		Welty, Eudora – Why I Live at the P.O. Kawabata, Yasunari – The White Horse
Week 3 Character		O’Connor, Flannery – Everything That Rises Must Converge Joyce, James – Araby
		Baldwin, James – Sonny’s Blues
Week 4 Setting		Atwood, Margaret – Death By Landscape Woolf, Virginia – Kew Gardens
		Hawthorne, Nathaniel – Young Goodman Brown
Week 5 Setting		Gaiman, Neil – Jerusalem L’Heureux, John – Brief Lives in California
		Steinbeck, John – The Crysanthemums
Week 6 Plot		Gilman, Charlotte Perkins – The Yellow Wallpaper Gaiman, Neil – An Invocation of Incuriosity
		O’Connor, Flannery – A Good Man is Hard to Find
Week 7 Plot		Clemens, Samuel – The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Crane, Stephen – The Open Boat
		Faulkner, William – A Rose for Emily
Week 8		NO CLASS – SPRING BREAK Consider Individual Story
Week 9 Interpretation		Activity: Reader Response
		Film Comparison Thurber, James – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Week 10 Theme		Jackson, Shirley – The Lottery Walker, Alice – Everyday Use
		Kafka, Franz – The Metamorphosis Gaiman, Neil – Click-Clack the Rattlebag
Week 11 Theme		O’Brien, Tim – The Things They Carried Gaiman, Neil – Feminine Endings
		Individual Story Selection Due Roth, Philip – The Conversion of the Jews
Week 12 Inquiry		Group Readings Group Collaboration – Selection of Story
		Readings for Groups 1 & 2 Groups 1 & 2 – Presentations
Week 13 Inquiry		Readings for Groups 3 & 4 Groups 3 & 4 – Presentations
		Readings for Groups 5 & 6 Groups 5 & 6 – Presentations
Week 14 Format		Contemporary Fiction Analysis Due Gaiman, Neil – Orange Le Guin, Ursula K. – The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
		Oates, Joyce Carol – How I Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and Began My Life Over Again
Week 15 Focus		Hemingway, Ernest – Hills like White Elephants Chopin, Kate – The Story of an Hour
		Bambara, Toni Cade – Gorilla, My Love
Week 16		Manditory Peer Review Literary Analysis Rough Draft Due
		Literary Analysis Final Draft Due