E 348 l The Short Story Instructor: Doherty, B Unique #: 35560 Semester: Fall 2017 Flags: Writing
Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.
Description: This foray into the short story as a form of literature will go as deeply into the 21st century as one can at this point, reading authors who use formal innovations and new approaches to language and memory to create a different kind of narrative (Jorge Luis Borges, George Saunders, Karen Russell, etc.). Some historical precedent for this occurs in modernism, with writers like Samuel Beckett, Franz Kafka, and, well, Virginia Woolf; it reaches its heyday with what has come to be known as postmodern writing (and we will explore Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, Donald Barthelme. Since what we are investigating is the way narrative form has been creatively transformed by contemporary writers, and this is a work in progress, some of our readings will be decided upon and assigned “on the fly.” There will be some assignments that involve visiting writers and readings, and many of the texts will be in course readers.
Students will be expected to read 40-60 pages of fairly dense texts for each class period.
Texts: Course reader(s) will act as our anthology. Jorge Luis Borges. Labyrinths. 4 days Italo Calvino. Cosmicomics 4 days George Saunders, Tenth of December. 3 days Karen Russell. St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves 3 days
Requirement & Grading: This is a Writing flag course. Test on classic writers from Chekhov to Kafka 20% Two short (2-3-page) papers on individual stories 20% Periodic quizzes on the day’s reading (best 5 of 7 taken for grade) 10% Participation in class discussion analyzing the stories 10% 2 short (2 page) reviews (from List) 10% Final paper (6-8 pages) 30%.
This is a discussion-based format (which includes listening). Absence from class severely limits your ability to discuss or listen. Excessive absences (more than 4) will detract from your grade (10 points for each class day missed after 4).
Plus and minus grades will be used in the class. A = 92-100; A- = 90-91.9; B + = 88-89.9; B = 83=87.9; B- = 80-82.9; C+ = 78-79.9; C = 73-77.9; C- = 70-72.9; D = 65-69.9. Below 65 = F.
Please be aware of University policies and services for students with disabilities: http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/ (Links to an external site.) Please be aware of the University Standard for Academic Integrity: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acint_student.php
Schedule of Readings/Assignment due dates August 31: Introduction to course and participants. Go over syllabus/ grading policies.
September 5: Anton Checkov. Originator of the modern short story. “The Black Monk.” 7: Short shorts by Virginia Woolf. “The Mark on the Wall,” “The Fascination of the Pool,” and “Three Pictures.”
12: Franz Kafka. “A Country Doctor,“ “Jackals and Arabs,” “A Report to an Academy.” 14: Franz Kafka. “In the Penal Colony.”
19: Workshop with Actor from the London Stage and “In the Penal Colony.” 21: Ingeborg Bachman day. “Word for Word” and “The Barking.”
26: Test on Chekhov, Woolf, Kafka, Bachmann. Author biographies, literary periods, themes, plot points 28: Borges and We. Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,” and “The Garden of the Forking Paths.”
October 3: “The Lottery in Babylon,” Oierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,” “The Circular Ruins,” “The Library of Babel,” and “Funes, the Memorious.” 5. “Death and the Compass,” “Three Vesions of Judas,” “The Sect of the Phoenix,” “The Immortal,” “The Theologians.”
10: Italo Calvino and Everything. “The Distance of the Moon,” “A Sign in Space,” “All at One Point,” and “Without Colors.” 12: “Games Without End,” “The Aquatic Uncle,” “How Much Shall We Bet,” and “The Dinosaurs.”
17: “The Form of Space,” “The Light Years,” and “The Spiral.” 19: “The Origin of the Birds,” “t-zero,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” and “As Long as the Sun Lasts.”
24: Gabriel Garcia-Marquez Day. “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World,” and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wing,” and “Death Constant Beyond Love.”
26: Donald Barthelme day. “Me and Miss Mandible,” “The Balloon,” “Game,” “Report,” and “The Phantom of the Opera’s Friend.”
31: Ivan Vladislavic day. “The WHITES ONLY Bench” and “The Reading.” November 2: Karen Russell. “Amy Wrestles the Alligator” and “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.”
7: Karen Russell. “The City of Shells,” “Out to Sea,” and “Accident Brief, Occurrence # 0/422.” 9: Karen Russell. “The Star-Gazer’s Log of Summer-Time Crime” and “from Children’s Reminiscences of the Western Migration.”
14: George Saunders. from Tenth of December. “Victory Lap,” “Sticks,” and “Puppy.” 16: George Saunders. from Tenth of December. “Escape from Spiderhead” and “The Semplica Girl Diaries.”
21: George Saunders. from Tenth of December. “Exortation,” “My Chivalric Fiasco,” and “Tenth of December.”
28: Two stories representing the “Best of The New Yorker stories, Fall 2017. 30: Short work by winner of the Mann-Booker award
December 5: Short work by the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature. 7: Last Day of Class. The short story road that stretches out in front of us (the future).
Final Paper due on Thursday, December 14, or before.