Great American Short Stories: A Guide for Readers and Writers

Description

Short stories offer readers the unique opportunity to experience a powerful piece of literature in a deceptively small package. The constraints of a few thousand words can give the best works an economy of storytelling that distills the power of the written word in astonishing ways. The brevity of short fiction belies its emotional and intellectual complexity. Professor Biography......Page 3 Dedication......Page 8 Course Scope......Page 9 Lecture 1—“Come In Here”: How Stories Draw Us In......Page 13 The Opening Line......Page 14 The Four Ps......Page 15 First Line Examples......Page 16 Lecture 2—Discovering the American Short Story......Page 19 Trouble in the Mind......Page 20 Empathy......Page 21 The American Short Story......Page 22 The Connecting Element......Page 24 Lecture 3—The Storytelling Instinct in America......Page 25 Written Pieces and Oral Tales......Page 26 A Transformation......Page 27 Defining a Genre......Page 28 Story Circles......Page 29 Lecture 4—Storytelling and American Mythos......Page 32 The American Voice......Page 33 A New American Genre......Page 34 Mythos......Page 35 “Rip Van Winkle” as a Hero’s Journey......Page 36 The Purpose of “Rip Van Winkle”......Page 38 Lecture 5—Sentimental Fiction and Social Reform......Page 40 Harriet Beecher Stowe......Page 41 Women Writers......Page 42 “The Seamstress”......Page 43 Materiality and Feeling......Page 44 Lecture 6—The Rise of Realism in American Fiction......Page 46 The Champions of Realism......Page 47 A Literary Boy’s Club......Page 48 A Flexible Category......Page 49 Jack London......Page 50 Lecture 7—American Modernists......Page 54 “Barn Burning”......Page 55 Faulkner versus Hawthorne......Page 56 The Modernist Voice......Page 57 Gertrude Stein......Page 58 Other Modernist Voices......Page 59 Lecture 8—Contemporary American Storytelling......Page 62 The Iceberg Principle......Page 63 “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”......Page 64 Hemingway’s Influence: “A Worn Path”......Page 65 Hemingway’s Influence: “Lou”......Page 66 Lecture 9—Setting or Donnée in American Short Fiction......Page 68 Indoor and Outdoor Examples of Données......Page 69 Donnée and the World......Page 71 The Donnée’s Influence......Page 72 Lecture 10—The Use of Detail in American Short Fiction......Page 76 A Deluge of Details......Page 77 The Purpose of the Detail Deluge......Page 78 Details in “Recitatif”......Page 79 Lecture 11—Character: Who You Are in the Dark......Page 82 “A Temporary Matter”......Page 83 Feelings, Actions, and Thoughts......Page 85 Three Fiction-Writing Errors......Page 86 Lecture 12—American Dialogue and Interior Monologue......Page 89 Making It Real......Page 91 Interior Monologue......Page 94 Lecture 13—Standing Apart: The Third Person......Page 97 The Advantages of the Third Person......Page 98 The Limited Third Person......Page 99 The Objective Third Person......Page 100 The Omniscient Third Person......Page 103 Lecture 14—Standing Close: The First and Second Person......Page 108 The Autobiography......Page 109 Pitfalls of the First Person......Page 110 The Second Person......Page 112 Conclusion......Page 114 Lecture 15—Plot: What Characters Do Next......Page 115 Mimesis and Epiphanies......Page 116 The Parts of the Epiphanic Plot Structure......Page 117 “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”......Page 119 Lecture 16—Imagery in American Short Fiction......Page 122 Imagery in “Gasoline”......Page 123 Figurative Language......Page 124 Clichéd Imagery......Page 128 Lecture 17—Style in Traditional American Short Stories......Page 129 Hemingway versus Faulkner......Page 130 Hemingway on Hunting......Page 132 Conclusion......Page 134 Lecture 18—Experimental American Short Stories......Page 136 Deconstruction......Page 137 Breakdown of “The School”......Page 138 Breakdown of “The Cheater’s Guide to Love”......Page 139 Literature in Flux......Page 141 Lecture 19—Genre Short Fiction in America......Page 143 “The Tell-Tale Heart”......Page 144 “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains”......Page 146 “She Unnames Them”......Page 148 Lecture 20—Graphic Short Fiction in America......Page 150 The Black Panther Series......Page 151 “Body Language”......Page 152 “Blink,” Part 1......Page 154 “Blink,” Part 2......Page 155 Lecture 21—Postmodern Short Fiction in America......Page 158 “Bullet in the Brain”......Page 159 “Captivity”......Page 160 “The Hit Man”......Page 161 Example 1: “Brushes”......Page 165 “The Mirror” and “Lonely Twentysomething Tries Tinder”......Page 166 Lecture 23—Short Story Endings......Page 170 The Ending of “The House of Usher”......Page 171 The Ending of “Life in the Iron Mills”......Page 172 The Ending of “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”......Page 173 The Ending of “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”......Page 174 Lecture 24—A Hundred False Starts......Page 177 The Short Story Publishing World......Page 178 Bibliography......Page 181