One of the most demanding and precise narrative forms, the short story is a quintessentially American art form that has flourished here as nowhere else. For the reader eager to experience a wealth of great writers, short stories offer the opportunity to sample a wide variety of wonderful literature representing many different themes and styles. In this course, you journey through the rich terrain of American short story classics from the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner, James Baldwin, Ray Bradbury, Ursula LeGuin, and Raymond Carver. You explore the characteristics of the short story, chart the changing historical contexts in which each work was written, and look at the relevance of each story in relation to your own life. This course will whet your appetite to read more of the authors you like, and give you new strategies for interpretation and appreciation.
Enrollment is limited. .