English 402

Office: 336 Wyatt Hall. Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 9:00-10:15, and by appointment. I teach five days a week, so I am around quite a lot. Phone: x3235 (messages), x3434 (voice mail).

From having taken English 202 (the prerequisite for taking English 402), you no doubt learned the extent to which short fiction is very much its own literary form, distinct from novels, poems, and plays but sharing some territory with them. In English 402 we shall continue to explore the distinctness and the shared territory, and we shall continue to produce our own "short fictions," to experiment and work hard.

To read a wide variety of stories and experiment with different critical lenses with which to interpret short fiction; to experiment with different narrative methods; to explore narrative theory; to build on your experience writing stories; to give, take, and use responses to work-in-progress; to look at the world through the lenses of narrative; to ponder the mysteries of "fiction": these are among the other purposes of this course.

In general, I expect a higher level of commitment and maturity in English 402 than I expect in English 202. Dig in and work hard. This is essentially a "senior seminar," so the energy and ideas you bring to the class are vital.

Be firm and assertive in your own ideas, but also be open to experimentation, to other ways of reading and writing.

Come to class on time and prepared. Attendance and participation are crucial.

Do not eat in class. (Every professor has his or her pet peeves.)

A good chunk of the course will be devoted to the close reading, by your peers, of your work-in-progress. I’ll set out guidelines for how we do this. The workshop method isn’t for everyone, but by staying in the course, you implicitly agree to participate actively and productively in this method of response and revision.

You’ll take three stories through the workshop, revising them before, during, and after the presentation to your group. At the end of the term, you will submit two of these in a portfolio, along with at least four one-page "slices" or "micro-stories." (Please note: the number of micro-stories may change because we may, as a class, decide to do more work in this area.) The portfolio is the work I will evaluate formally, though of course I will be reading and commenting on your drafts all along.

As you’ll see from the schedule below, there is a rhythm to this course, with intervals of reading and writing, class discussion and group work, and so on. There is a plan for the whole term, but there is, by design, plenty of room for flexibility. Bring the syllabus to class with you every time so that you may note any changes.

Portfolio: 55 per cent.

Participation (showing up; demonstrating commitment and maturity; doing the reading; contributing to discussions; participating in group work; meeting deadlines for drafts; giving an oral report on the extra book of short fiction): 25 per cent.

Midterm exam (actually a late-term exam that will ask you to analyze and synthesize the short fiction we have read and ideas in Le Guin’s book): 20 per cent.

Roberta Allen, Certain People. "Flash fiction" or microstories.

Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities. This book will allow us to explore (among other things) the narratives by one celebrated, accomplished writer of "postmodern" fiction.

Ernest Hemingway, In Our Time. A first collection, warts and all, by a young writer who went on to make friends (and enemies) and influence people.

Langston Hughes, The Ways of White Folks. An important first collection of stories and one that, to some degree, goes "against the grain" of Modernist fiction.

Ursula Le Guin, Steering the Craft. A fine book about writing fiction.

And a collection of stories (by one author--that is, not an anthology) of your choice.

Tuesday, August 29. Aims & expectations. A look at the syllabus. Some writing. A microstory assigned, based on Le Guin, p. 26. For Thursday, read Le Guin, Chapter One.

Thursday, August 31. A microstory is due. A review of the history of short fiction. Bring Le Guin and Hemingway. Writing.

Tuesday, September 5. Read half of Hemingway and Le Guin, Chapter Three. Discussion leaders assigned. Photocopy of Genette’s essay distributed. Microstory based on Le Guin assigned.

Thursday, September 7. Photocopy: Gerard Genette, "Order, Frequency, Duration." Discussion leaders assigned. Microstory due.

Tuesday, September 12. A partial draft of your first story is due. Also, read Le Guin, Chapter Two, for today.

Thursday, September 14. Read the rest of Hemingway. Rewriting and repunctuating Hemingway’s prose.

Tuesday, September 19. Complete rough draft of your first story due.

Thursday, September 21. Some stories from The Ways of White Folks. Also read Le Guin, Chapter 7. Point of view in Hughes’s stories. Discussion leaders assigned.

Tuesday, September 26. Stories due. Make copies. Group work.

Thursday, September 28. Group work.

Tuesday, October 3. Group work, if necessary. Also read Le Guin, Chapter Four. More stories from Hughes. Microstory assigned.

Thursday, October 5. Le Guin, Chapter Five. Exercise from Chapter Five due.

Tuesday, October 10. Some stories in Certain People. Analyzing "flash fiction". Analyzing Roberta Allen’s description.

Thursday, October 12. Microstory (assigned Oct. 5) due. For today, read Le Guin, Chapter Six.

Tuesday, October 17. More stories from Certain People. Read Le Guin, Chapter Nine.

Thursday, October 19. Exercise (microstory) from Le Guin, Ch. 9, due. Midterm exam.

Tuesday, October 24. Partial draft of your second story due. Read Le Guin, Chapter Ten.

Thursday, October 26. Complete rough draft of your second story due.

Have you selected an extra book yet?

Tuesday, October 31. . Second story due, with copies. Group work.

Thursday, November 2. Group work.

Tuesday, November 7. Group work, if necessary. Writing in class.

Thursday, November 9. . Read Calvino, Invisible Cities. Microstory assigned. Due date for portfolio established.

Tuesday, November 14. Microstory due.

Thursday, November 16. Partial draft of third story due.

Tuesday, November 21. Complete rough draft of third story due.

Tuesday, November 28. Third story due, with copies. Group work.

Thursday, November 30. Group work.

Tuesday, December 5. Group work if necessary. Report on extra reading.