Module to which the course contributes: Literature and Culture Program

Programs of study to which the module contributes: English & American Literature

Level of the module: Honours     

Category in Major Program: Disciplinary Elective            

The expected and desired learning outcomes include an advanced level of mastery of research skills applied to the written text that will allow students to achieve intellectual maturity.

1. Representations of women’s experience in American Short Fiction

1.1. Engendering Language, Silence, and Voice

1.2. Images of Women and About Women by Male Writers*

1.3. Rethinking the Maternal

1.4. Resistance and Transformation: Race, Class and Nationality

2. Representations of Masculinities in American Short Fiction

2.1.1. Gender Performativity

2.1.2. Black and White Masculinities

2.1.3. Alternative forms of Masculinity

2.1.4. Masculinity and War

2.1.5. Masculinity and Sexuality

By the end of the course, you should have:

CG1. Demonstrated the ability to present logical and coherent arguments in oral form through class discussion.

CG2. Developed skills of analysis, which can be applied outside the confines of the module.

CG3. Showed ability in presenting ideas in written form through essays and examination.

CG4. Learned to appreciate an approach to literature that is multidisciplinary.

CG5. Developed an understanding of how critical theory can contribute to an analysis of your chosen area of research.

By the end of the course, you should feel that you have developed some of the following:

CE1. An enhanced capacity to evaluate short fiction: students will be encouraged to think about genre (the form of writing), representation (the rhetoric in which writing conveys experience), and theme (the ideas and issues that writing actualizes).

CE2. A greater understanding of the short story in critical and historical terms: how short stories reflect human experience over time and through different cultures.

CE3. A larger critical vocabulary for thinking, talking and writing about the short story.

CE4. Convincing interpretations of selected short stories by applying close reading strategies, textual analysis, and a critical approach to the text (psychological, gender, postcolonial, genre, reader-response, etc.).

CE5. A greater appreciation of an author’s work in terms of narrative style and descriptive technique, language, tone or mood, and literary conventions.

Additionally, by the end of the module, you should have acquired some of the following skills:

CT1. The ability to develop your research skills in printed and electronic media.

CT2. The ability to work closely and collaboratively with members of a small team, and be able to present ideas to the larger group.

CT3. The ability to analyze events, movements, groups, and individuals who have shaped and continue to shape American culture, history, and literature.

CT4. The ability to develop reasoned arguments, and present them in accessible forms, both orally and in writing, i.e., develop an interpretation of a literary text, collect research from appropriate sources, support the interpretation with evidence, and cite the source material).

CT5. The ability to apply revision methods to achieve polished final draft/presentation, using standard academic format and conventions of grammar.

CT6. The ability to demonstrate a command of the basic skills of reference and citation, including web-based materials and proper MLA documentation.

Copies of the class syllabus, course handouts and several short readings will be available as PDF files in the course website (Studium). The anthology we will be using, The Short Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction, 9^th edition, 2015 is edited by Ann Charters [Tenth edition (2019) is also available]

• On-line lecture material, additional stories and readings are available as PDF files in the course site (Studium).
• Video presentations or adaptations may be used for some of the short stories or for other selections related to the course.
• Short Fiction Criticism and Anthologies on Reserve (English Department Library)

Recommended texts

March-Russell, Paul. The Short Story. An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.

Cox, Ailsa. Writing Short Stories. New York: Routledge, 2005.

Indicative Secondary Reading

Bendixen, Alfred, and Nagel, James (eds.). A Companion to the American Short Story. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

Boddy, Kasia. The American Short Story since 1950. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010.

Gerlarch, John. Toward the End. Closure and Structure in the American Short Story. Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1985.

Hanson, Clare. Short Stories and Short Fictions, 1880-1890. London: Macmillan, 1985.

_____ . Re-reading the Short Story. London: Macmillan, 1989.

Hunter, Adrian. The Cambridge Introduction to the Short Story in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Iftekharrudin, Farhat. The Postmodern Short Story: Forms and Issues. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2003.

Iftekharrudin, Farhat et al. (eds.). Postmodern Approaches to the Short Story. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2003.

Lohafer, Susan. Coming to Terms with the Short Story. Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana University Press, 1983.

_____ . Reading for Storyness. Preclosure Theory, Empirical Poetics, and Culture in the Short Story. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University, 2003.

Lohafer, Susan, and Clarey, Jo Ellyn (eds.). Short Story at a Crossroads. Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1989.

Lounsberry, Barbara, et al. (eds.). The Tales We Tell: Perspectives on the Short Story. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood P, 1998.

Malcolm, Cheryl Alexander, and Malcolm, David (eds.). A Companion to the British and Irish Short Story. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008.

May, Charles. The Short Story. The reality of Artifice. New York and London: Routledge, 2002 [1995].

May, Charles (ed.). The New Short Story Theories. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1994.

Scofield, Martin. The Cambridge Introduction to the American Short Story. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Winther, Per, et al. (eds.). The Art of Brevity. Excursions in Short Fiction Theory and Analysis. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2004.

Web Resources

The Voice of the Shuttle

http://vos.ucsb.edu/

The Online Books Page

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

The Short Story Project

https://www.shortstoryproject.com/  /  https://www.shortstoryproject.com/es/

The Short Story Guide

https://www.shortstoryguide.com/feminist-short-stories/  https://www.shortstoryguide.com/short-stories-about-women/

Committed participation in class and self-motivated personal research is essential for this course. Your performance will be measured in a variety of ways, including some or all of the following: in-class presentations, reading assignments (seminar work), class participation, a midterm exam and a final examination.

Assessment Summary

A student’s course grade will be determined by five factors:

Reading Assignments: 25% (Formative)

1. Journal entries: 15%  
2. Quizzes: 6%
3. Close Readings (students’ response to learning materials): 4%

Class Participation: 10% (Formative)

Group Presentations (plus short paper): 20% (Summative)

Midterm exam: 20% (Summative)

Final exam: 25% (Summative)

Teacher-made rubric for oral presentation, analytical essay, and tutorial discussion. Grading is based on a standard point system where each assignment is worth a set amount of points (depending on the assignment’s weight and value to the course), which contributes to an overall course total:

MH = 95-100% (A+)

Sb. = 90-94%  (A)

Not.= 75-89%  (B)

Ap. =  60-74% (C)

Susp.= 0-59% (D)

In order to pass this course, students must make a serious attempt at ALL assessment tasks.

Written feedback on assessed coursework, verbal feedback on presentations and non-assessed coursework.