Professor Peter Schmidt<\/p>\n
English 71D: \u201cThe Short Story in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fall 2018, MWF 9:30am \u2013 10:20am, LPAC 301<\/p>\n
Swarthmore College<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Short Story in the U.S.\u201d is an English Department \u201cGateway\u201d Course. This course is open to all sophomores, juniors, and seniors and is intended to provide a solid introduction to the study of literature at the college-level. It is also an appropriate survey course for English majors and minors. The enrollment is currently capped at approximately 30 students. Class will be taught with a mixture of brief lectures and large-and small-group discussions.<\/p>\n
Reading assignments will primarily be short stories, but will also include selected other relevant materials: see Secondary Sources listed below. The course will begin in the early 19th<\/sup> century with Irving, Hawthorne, and Poe, plus significant late 19th<\/sup>– and early to mid-20th<\/sup>-century authors (such as James, Chopin, Chesnutt, Twain, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Wright, Ellison, Baldwin, among many others). After fall break there will be a significant emphasis on post-World War II and contemporary authors, including important older and younger contemporary figures such as Eudora Welty, Ray Bradbury, Ursula LeGuin (whom Swarthmore will honor with a special event in late October), John Cheever, Samuel R. Delany, Octavia Butler, Bernard Malamut, Cynthia Ozick, Viet Nguyen, Jhumpa Lahiri, Gish Jen, Sandra Cisneros, Cristina Henr\u00edquez, Jennifer Egan, and Kristen Roupenian\u2019s notorious \u201cCat Person\u201d story, among many others. Note also that our syllabus features published work by 1990s Swarthmore graduates Adam Haslett (You are Not a Stranger Here<\/em>) and Jon Raymond (Livability<\/em>).<\/p>\n Reading assignments will primarily be from Joyce Carol Oates\u2019 The Oxford Anthology of American Short Stories<\/em>, supplemented by pdfs posted on our 71D Moodle site, and the occasional link to a story or other info available online. Assignments will also draw from Chris Castellani\u2019s The Art of Perspective<\/em>, which focuses on the varied roles that narrators can play in literary fiction. Castellani is a Swarthmore alum and a published fiction writer; he also directs Boston\u2019s famous Grub Street Center, one of the leading creative writing organizations in the U.S. https:\/\/grubstreet.org\/about\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Primary Reading Assignments, plus paper due dates:<\/strong><\/p>\n This color, when used below, signifies optional<\/strong> reading. Students may write on an \u201coptional\u201d text. I includes these extra materials because there were so many good stories I wanted to include on our syllabus, but there just wasn\u2019t room!<\/p>\n This English 71D syllabus below is organized in two ways. First, reading assignments are listed chronologically, for each week of the semester. Second, after that the assigned stories (both required and optional reading) are grouped by theme<\/u><\/em>. Consult this thematic version of our syllabus below when you are considering a topic for your final paper, stories for further reading, etc. THESE TWO VERSIONS OF OUR SYLLABUS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE ON OUR ENGLISH 71D MOODLE PAGE.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 1 Sept 3, 5, 7<\/strong> [Note: for this and the following weeks, the authors are listed in order we\u2019ll read them\u2014one per class unless otherwise noted. This week:<\/p>\n Monday<\/em>: Intro to course, followed by discussion of Washington Irving\u2019s \u201cRip Van Winkle\u201d in Oates anthology.<\/p>\n Wed<\/em>.: discussion of Nathaniel Hawthorne story in Oates, plus<\/strong> Castellani, The Art of Perspective<\/em>, Introduction and ch. 1 (Toward a Narrative Strategy);<\/p>\n Friday<\/em>: Poe, Tell-Tale Heart, plus<\/strong> Castellani, ch. 3 (Try To See Things My Way, on first-person narration.)<\/p>\n Optional reading: Austin or Melville stories in Oates; Wharton\u2019s The Journey in Oates (compare w\/ Poe?)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 2 Sept 10, 12, 14<\/strong><\/p>\n Sarah Orne Jewett, A White Heron, plus<\/strong> Castellani, ch. 2 (Story[ies] of a Marriage), which defines a story\u2019s plot as \u201ca collision with the main character\u201d<\/p>\n Mary Wilkins Freeman, Old Woman Magoun<\/p>\n Kate Chopin, La Belle Zora\u00efde (see online link to this story on Moodle)<\/p>\n Optional reading for week 2: the Chopin story in the Oates anthology<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 3 Sept 17, 19, 21<\/strong><\/p>\n Sui Sin Far, In the Land of the Free (pdf on Moodle)<\/p>\n Mark Twain, The Million Pound Bank Note (online link on Moodle)<\/p>\n Joel Chandler Harris, 2 B\u2019rer Rabbit tales about the \u201cTar Baby\u201d (Word file on Moodle includes Prof. Schmidt\u2019s introduction to these tales, followed by the stories themselves.)<\/p>\n Optional: Twain, Cannibalism in the Cars (in Oates)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 4 Sept 24, 26, 28<\/strong><\/p>\n James, Cather, Chesnutt. Allow extra time for reading the James story.<\/p>\n Optional: Gilman, Crane, London<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 5 Oct 1, 3, 5<\/strong><\/p>\n Faulkner; Hemingway plus<\/strong> Carver; Fitzgerald [all in Oates]<\/p>\n SUNDAY, OCT. 7: PAPER #1 DUE, uploaded by 10pm to our Moodle page using the link provided. For guidelines for paper #1, see pp. 3-4 above.<\/p>\n Students may write on any<\/strong> author on our syllabus for paper #1.<\/p>\n Plan your work on this paper so that you can also complete before Monday\u2019s class the required reading: the Williams story in Oates and Castellani, ch. 4.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 6 Oct 8, 10, 12<\/strong><\/p>\n For this week of writers focusing on working-class characters, we\u2019ll merge early, middle, and late twentieth-century stories. To prepare, read Castellani, Art of Perspective<\/em>, ch. 4 (The Position of Power). Stories assigned this week:<\/p>\n Monday<\/em>: William Carlos Williams, The Girl With the Pimply Face (in Oates)<\/p>\n Wed<\/em>.: Alice Childress: read 1-2 stories from the selections I\u2019ve provided in her collection Like One of the Family<\/em> (pdf on Moodle); plus<\/strong> Lucia Berlin, \u201cA Manuel for Cleaning Women\u201d and \u201cPoint of View\u201d (pdf);<\/p>\n Friday<\/em>: D\u00edaz in Oates<\/p>\n Optional: Crane, Sherwood Anderson; London\u2014all in Oates; and\/or Adam Johnson\u2019s very contemporary story \u201cNirvana,\u201d from his collection Fortune Smiles<\/em> (pdf)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fall Break<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n week 7 Oct 22, 24, 26 <\/strong><\/p>\n Wright, Ellison, Baldwin [all in Oates]. Baldwin\u2019s is one of the longer stories: allow extra time to read it.<\/p>\n Optional: Hughes, Toomer [both in Oates]; Bambara, The Lesson (pdf)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 8\u00a0\u00a0 Oct 29, 31, Nov 2<\/strong> [celebrating Halloween via 3 pairs of short tales using the \u201cfantasy\u201d and \u201chorror\u201d genres.<\/em> Also, Swarthmore\u2019s Ursula LeGuin memorial celebration will be this week, on Nov. 1 in the late afternoon, time and place tba. All fans of LeGuin should attend!]<\/p>\n Monday<\/em>: Jackson, The Lottery (in Oates), plus<\/strong> LeGuin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (pdf)<\/p>\n Wed<\/em>.: Bradbury, There Will Come Soft Rains in Oates plus<\/strong> John Cheever, The Swimmer pdf made<\/p>\n Friday<\/em>: Samuel R. Delany, driftglass , plus<\/strong> Octavia Butler, Bloodchild\u00a0\u00a0 pdfs<\/p>\n Optional reading for this week: see next page.<\/p>\n Optional reading for week 8:<\/p>\n Twain in Oates [Cannibalism in the Cars: compare with Poe or Jackson?]; Lovecraft in Oates; Bradbury\u2019s The Veldt read by Leonard Nimoy (!); Nalo Hopkinson, Precious; Arthur C. Clarke, The Sentinel pdf; Charles Yu, Third Class Superhero pdf<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 9 Nov 5, 7, 9 <\/strong><\/p>\n Welty, Where Is The Voice Coming From?<\/p>\n O\u2019Connor, A Late Encounter With the Enemy<\/p>\n Peter Taylor, In the Miro District pdf. A long, rich story: allow enough time to read it well.<\/p>\n SUNDAY NOV. 11: PAPER #2 DUE, uploaded by10pm as a .docx file to Moodle. Follow the guidelines on pp. 3-4 above. 3-4pp. double-spaced using 12-point font.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 10 Nov 12, 14, 16<\/strong><\/p>\n Malamud, Ozick, Singer (The Boarder pdf)<\/p>\n Optional: Roth (in Oates); Bellow, A Silver Dish pdf<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 11 Nov 19, 21 (<\/strong>before Thanksgiving break)<\/p>\n Viet Nguyen, \u201cThe Americans,\u201d from his recent collection The Refugees<\/em> (pdf)<\/p>\n Jhumpa Lahiri, Heaven-Hell [Oates]. Attendance is required for this class; do not leave early for Thankgiving.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 12 Nov 26, 28, 30 <\/strong>[Raymond, Haslett, and Reddi are all Swarthmore alumni]<\/p>\n Gish Jen: Who\u2019s Irish? plus<\/strong> In the American Society, both from her 1999 collection Who\u2019s Irish?<\/em> 2 pdfs: <\/strong>allow extra reading time.<\/p>\n Adam Haslett, The Volunteer (pdf). This is a long story; allow extra reading time.<\/p>\n Jonathan Raymond, Train Choir (pdf). This is a long story; allow extra reading time.<\/p>\n Optional: Rishi Reddi (pdf); Andre Dubus, A Father\u2019s Story (see DuBus, Collected Stories in McCabe\/Gen Reserve; it\u2019s the final story in Vol. II.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 13 Dec 3, 5, 7 <\/strong><\/p>\n Nicholasa Mohr\u2019s \u201cThe English Lesson\u201d plus<\/strong> Schmidt and Lecuona Lesson Plan (pdfs)<\/p>\n Sandra Cisneros, \u201cLittle Miracles Kept Promises\u201d (pdf and Schmidt lesson plan);<\/p>\n Cristina Henr\u00edquez, \u201cEverything Is Far From Here\u201d (recent New Yorker pdf story), plus<\/strong> a recent Henr\u00edquez essay on refugees (link on Moodle).<\/p>\n Note also D\u00edaz story included in week 6 readings.<\/p>\n Optional: Justin Torres, We the Animals, \u201cWe Wanted More\u201d (pdf)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n week 14\u00a0\u00a0 Dec 10 \/ last class <\/strong><\/p>\n Jennifer Egan, \u201cEmerald City\u201d (pdf) plus<\/strong><\/p>\n Kristen Roupenian, \u201cCat Person\u201d (see link on Moodle), plus ONE of 2 brief articles <\/u>on reimaging \u201cconsent\u201d in romantic relationships<\/u> (links on Moodle)<\/p>\n Optional reading for this week: Amy Hempel or Annie Proulx [both in Oates]; Karen Russell, \u201cSt. Lucy\u2019s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves\u201d pdf ; Lauren Groff, \u201cUnder the Wave\u201d (link to New Yorker story and the author reading it)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *******<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A THEME-BASED ORGANIZATION OF OUR English 71D SYLLABUS:<\/p>\n This is our syllabus re-organized by topic, with some new optional readings added. These are marvelous stories but the majority won\u2019t fit into the syllabus. Their concerns intersect with and amplify selected topics from our syllabus, however, including race, gender, sexuality, fantasy, \u201ccoming of age,\u201d formal experimentation with the narrator\u2019s role, and other themes too. You\u2019re welcome to browse the lists of topic(s) that interest you to find a story or two on which you\u2019d like to write your final paper.<\/p>\n If you what to write on one or more of the optional extra stories you may do so, but only on one condition: that you first talk with me about your ideas.<\/p>\n Please note: the \u201ccategories\u201d in which I\u2019ve placed these stories below are for ease of reference and to guide your searching. None of the stories below simply \u201cfits\u201d within any simple or single label, however, and the stories named are NOT THE ONLY tales on our reading list that could be grouped under such provisional but useful topics.<\/p>\n All texts are in Oates anthology unless otherwise indicated. Pdfs and links etc. for stories will be posted on our course\u2019s Moodle page.\u00a0\u00a0 Topics:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Masculinity<\/strong><\/p>\n Crane, The Little Regiment [in Oates]<\/p>\n Faulkner, That Evening Son [in Oates]<\/p>\n Richard Wright (week 7)<\/p>\n Roth, Bellow (week 9 optional reading)<\/p>\n John Updike [in Oates]<\/p>\n Richard Ford [in Oates]<\/p>\n Peter Taylor (week 9)<\/p>\n Tobias Wolff, That Room (pdf and Lesson Plan); or Tobias Wolff, Hunters in the Snow [in Oates]<\/p>\n Tim O\u2019Brien, The Things They Carried [in Oates]<\/p>\n Pinkney Benedict, Mercy [in Oates]<\/p>\n Viet Nguyen (week 11)<\/p>\n Jeffrey Ford [in Oates]<\/p>\n Kristen Roupenian and\/or Jennifer Egan (Dec 10 reading)<\/p>\n Lauren Groff, \u201cUnder the Wave\u201d (link to New Yorker story and LG reading it)<\/p>\n Carmen Machado, Difficult at Parties [make a pdf of Machado\u2019s Difficult at Parties from Machado\u2019s e-book in Tripod, Her Body and Other Parties]<\/p>\n Andre Dubus, A Father\u2019s Story [see Vol. II of his Collected Stories, on General Reserve in McCabe]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Evolving representations of queer sexuality<\/strong><\/p>\n James, The Middle Years (hints at this topic?)<\/p>\n Sherwood Anderson, Hands (pdf)<\/p>\n Edmund White, Give It Up For Billy, in Oates<\/p>\n Deborah Eisenberg, Some Other Better Otto (pdf)<\/p>\n Carmen Machado, Difficult at Parties [make a pdf of Machado\u2019s Difficult at Parties from Machado\u2019s e-book in Tripod, Her Body and Other Parties<\/em>]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Life\u2019s precariousness <\/strong>[note: Raymond, Haslett, and Reddi are Swarthmore grads]<\/p>\n John Austin, Peter Rugg The Missing Man (in Oates)<\/p>\n John Cheever, The Swimmer (in Oates)<\/p>\n James Salter, Dusk pdf<\/p>\n Jonathan Raymond, Train Choir pdf (week 12)<\/p>\n Adam Haslett, The Volunteer pdf (week 12)<\/p>\n Adam Johnson, Nirvana from Fortune Smiles<\/em> (pdf)<\/p>\n Lauren Groff, \u201cUnder the Wave\u201d (link to New Yorker<\/em> story and LG reading it)<\/p>\n Jeffrey Ford (in Oates)<\/p>\n Rishi Reddy, Karma (pdf)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Science\/fantasy; experimental fiction; satire<\/strong><\/p>\n H.P. Lovecraft, Rats in the Walls [in Oates]<\/p>\n Arthur C. Clarke, The Sentinal (pdf)<\/p>\n Ray Bradbury, The Veldt, with Leonard Nimoy (!!) reading (pdf+link)<\/p>\n John Barth, Freeze-Frame (pdf)<\/p>\n Octavia Butler, Bloodchild (pdf)<\/p>\n Nalo Hopkinson, Precious from Skin Folk<\/em> (pdf)<\/p>\n Charles Yu, Third Class Superhero (pdf)<\/p>\n Thomas Pynchon, The Chums of Chance and the time machine, excerpt from his novel Against the Day<\/em> pdf. NOTE: this \u201cstory\u201d is over 30+ pages but is brilliant, hilarious, and strange as only Pynchon can be.<\/p>\n Donald Barthelme [Oates]<\/p>\n George Saunders, \u201cCivilWarLand in Bad Decline\u201d (pdf)<\/p>\n Karen Russell, St. Lucy\u2019s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (pdf)<\/p>\n Jeffrey Ford, The Drowned Life [Oates]<\/p>\n Lorrie Moore, How to Become a Writer [Oates]<\/p>\n David Foster Wallace, Good People [in Oates]; Mr. Squishy [This latter story is long but deservedly famous: see The Best of McSweeney\u2019s in McCabe, PS648.S5 B4644 2013<\/a>]. As Oates admits, Good People is not that representative of the Wallace\u2019s mature writing style and subjects.<\/p>\n Lydia Davis, Oral History With Hiccups [see The Best of McSweeney\u2019s<\/em> in McCabe, PS648.S5 B4644 2013<\/a>]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Evolving Black identity<\/strong><\/p>\n Langston Hughes [in Oates]<\/p>\n All the writers assigned and optional for week 7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (list continues next page<\/em>)<\/p>\n Alice Walker\u2014not in Oates; see \u201cEveryday Use\u201d pdf<\/p>\n Toni Cade Bambara, The Lesson (pdf)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Immigrants and Others Migrating and Changing American Identity<\/strong><\/p>\n Washington Irving? (week 1)<\/p>\n Williams and D\u00edaz (week 6)<\/p>\n Nguyen and Lahiri (week 11); Gish Jen\u2019s 2 stories (week 12)<\/p>\n Mohr, Cisneros, Henr\u00edquez (week 13)<\/p>\n Ha Jin (Oates) [compare\/contrast with Gish Jen\u2019s 2 stories?, week 12]<\/p>\n Reddi, Karma (pdf)<\/p>\n Erdrich [in Oates]\u2014though obviously Native American characters challenge the definition of America as a \u201cNation of Immigrants\u201d ! \u2014 unless you consider that their ancestors migrated to this hemisphere thousands of years ago\u2026.<\/p>\n Torres, We Wanted More pdf<\/p>\n Paul Bowles, Jeffrey Ford? [in Oates]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Other optional short story authors to consider<\/strong> (not a complete list) include the following in Oates:<\/strong><\/p>\n Updike, King, Banks, Boyle, Wallace, Hempel, Erdrich, Proulx, Oates, Richard Ford, Jeffrey Ford\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Professor Peter Schmidt English 71D: \u201cThe Short Story in the U.S.\u201d Fall 2018, MWF 9:30am \u2013 10:20am, LPAC 301 Swarthmore College Course Description \u201cThe Short Story in the U.S.\u201d is an English Department \u201cGateway\u201d Course. This course is open to … Continue reading