Texts
Charters, Anne. The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. ISBN: 9780312397296. (Be careful: if you order on-line, we are using the full version, not the “concise” edition.)
James, Henry. Daisy Miller. Reissue ed. New York, NY: Penguin, 1987. ISBN: 9780140432626.
Levi, Primo. The Periodic Table. Reissue ed. New York, NY: Schocken, 1995. ISBN: 9780805210415.
Calvino, Italo. Cosmicomics. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1976. ISBN: 9780156226004.
Faulkner, William. Three Famous Short Novels: Spotted Horses, Old Man, The Bear. New York, NY: Vintage, 1958. ISBN: 9780394701493.
Readings by Session
The readings below are excerpted from the texts listed above. For some of the readings, links to e-texts are provided.
| SES # | READINGS |
|---|---|
| 1 | (no readings) |
| 2 |
Williams, William Carlos. “The Use of Force.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 3 |
Calvino, Italo. Cosmicomics. pp. 1-39. |
| 4 |
Calvino, Italo. Cosmicomics. pp. 40 through end of book. Come prepared to point out a chapter that especially intrigues or puzzles you. Maybe we’ll even read it aloud. |
| 5-6 |
Levi, Primo. The Periodic Table. |
| 7 |
Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 8 |
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Minister’s Black Veil.” In The Story and Its Writer. Don’t overlook Hawthorne’s footnote on the first page of the tale. And take the time to peruse Melville’s remarks on his sometime neighbor Nathaniel. |
| 9 |
Alexie, Sherman. “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 10 |
Olsen, Tillie. “I Stand Here Ironing.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 11 | Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 12 |
Welty, Eudora. “Why I Live at the P.O.” In The Story and Its Writer. Leave your book at home. We’ll encounter the tale by way of a recorded reading by the author. |
| 13 |
Crane, Stephen. “The Open Boat.” In The Story and Its Writer.
Look at the journalistic version on page 1438 of the anthology, as well. |
| 14 | Carver, Raymond. “Cathedral.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 15 |
James, Henry. Daisy Miller. We’ll spend much of our time on the very first paragraph of the tale. What clues are we offered as to the subject or genre of the novella. Does the rest of the tale follow up on these clues? |
| 16 | Wharton, Edith. “Roman Fever.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 17 |
Faulkner, William. “Spotted Horses.” In Three Famous Short Novels. |
| 18 | Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “Babylon Revisited.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 19 | Joyce, James. “The Dead.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 20 |
Jen, Gish. “Who’s Irish?” In The Story and Its Writer. (Notice the clever joke, there.) |
| 21 | Erdrich, Louise. “The Red Convertible.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 22 | Cisneros, Sandra. “The House on Mango Street.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 23 | Paley, Grace. “A Conversation with My Father.” In The Story and Its Writer. |
| 24-25 |
(no readings) Class presentations. |
