Studies in Fiction (313-0-20)
Topic
Stories of the World
Instructors
Clay Ross Cogswell
Meeting Info
University Hall 418: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
Topic: Stories of the World: Short Fiction and Modernity
Students in this course will take a global tour of canonical and recent short fiction. Ranging over masters of the short story from Gogol to Kafka, Gordimer to Ngũgĩ, and Melville to Baldwin, we will conclude by turning to contemporary American authors Ted Chiang, Kelly Link, Tananarive Due, and Dantiel Moniz. The class will analyze the richest responses from across different cultures to emerging problems of desire, subjectivity, national identity, and narrative form. Tales of alienation in the Russian caste system, intricate thought experiments from Argentina, investigations of perspective in a modernized Japan, and distillations of early American experience beguile us with their elegance and insight. Through theoretical accounts of economics, ethics, and national identity, as well as close readings of the techniques that give a story its resonance, students will gain broad familiarity with the global history and current state of short fiction. Readings will be supplemented with seminal film adaptations such as All About Eve and Brokeback Mountain. Please note that this class is not open to students who took an earlier version of this course.
Teaching Method
Seminar discussion.
Evaluation Method
Essays and class participation.
Class Materials (Required)
Stories by Poe, Gogol, Melville, Baldwin, Kafka, Ngũgĩ, Munro, Link and Chiang.
Texts will be available at: No required texts.
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area