The American Short Story - Einzelansicht

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This course explores American literature and culture through what has been called its uniquely national art form, the short story. Writer Ann Patchett likens reading short stories to the experience of a swarm of bees, “blocking out sound and sun and becoming the only thing you can think about.” We’ll be doing a lot of thinking about the short story—as a literary art form, as a social and historical record, and as a reflection of the cultural values that shape collective identities. From the ghosts and fantasies that haunted the nineteenth-century short story to the casual cruelties and everyday redemptions in twentieth-century stories to today’s experimental fictions, the short story represents diverse visions of American identity and experience. We will thus roam widely to construct methods for thinking about and a critical vocabulary for discussing and writing about the short story. Students will examine the genre, learning about its formal structures and strategies, as well as its place in different cultural and historical contexts.

All necessary reading materials will be made available via Moodle.

regular participation in class discussions, reading diary, mid-term paper (2000 words)