Catalog Description

Prerequisite: Eligibility for ENGL 1A
Hours: 54 lecture
Description: Critical appreciation of the short story. Intensive reading of a representative selection of American, British, and translated short stories. (CSU, UC)

Course Student Learning Outcomes

  • CSLO #1: Explain the literary elements of the short story and provide examples.
  • CSLO #2: Evaluate and explain various critical approaches to the short story.
  • CSLO #3: Compare and contrast style and theme in stories from various literary and historical periods.

Effective Term

Fall 2018

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

54

Outside of Class Hours

108

Total Student Learning Hours

162

Course Objectives

Students will, through oral and written work:
1. Describe the historical development of the short story.
2. Identify, compare and contrast both the major and minor writers of the short story.
3. Identify, compare and contrast style and theme in stories from various literary and historical periods.
4. Define the elements of the short story.
5. Analyze, interpret, and critique a collection of stories by a single author.
6. Differentiate the short story from other genres.
7. Describe and evaluate various critical approaches to the short story.

General Education Information

  • Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
    • AA/AS - Literature & Language
  • CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
    • CSUGE - C2 Humanities
  • Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
    • IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)
      • IGETC - 3B Humanities

    Articulation Information

    • CSU Transferable
    • UC Transferable

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Classroom Discussions
      • Example: In groups of 3-4 people, discuss the short story collection, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler. In your discussion, you should do the following: Identify and then analyze the dominant elements that you see working in a pattern throughout the collection. Talk about how these elements affect your interpretation of a singular story, or the collection as a whole. Argue about the story collections' effectiveness. Is it a "good" book? Discussion will be assessed by the instructor observing group members, asking follow up questions, and examining level of depth and specificity of responses.
    • Essay Examinations
      • Example: In a 1 1/2 - 2 page essay, provide, in your own words, a definition of realism as it relates to the short story. Then explain which of the works we've read so far best illustrate the traits of the writing from this period. Use specific examples from the literature to support your points. Use a thesis statement and organize your thoughts. Essay will be evaluated with a rubric that assesses the accuracy of the definition (which should discuss historical period), the quality of reasoning and examples, the focus on a central idea, organization and academic correctness.
    • Objective Examinations
      • Example: Students will be given a multiple choice examination on the elements of a short story.

    Repeatable

    No

    Methods of Instruction

    • Lecture/Discussion
    • Distance Learning

    Lecture:

    1. Instructor will lecture and may use multimedia to explain and illustrate course concepts, terms, and theories.
    2. Instructor will facilitate discussions in which students will be required to articulate course concepts and theories.
    3. Instructor will provide specific questions for students to apply theories and critical approaches to texts.
    4. Instructor will assign readings from an assigned anthology and from short story collections by single authors. Texts will be assigned as homework and interpreted, analyzed and evaluated by students in class.
    5. Instructor will assign and respond to Response papers, journal entries, essays, midterm, final exam, research paper.

    Distance Learning

    1. Instructor will post lectures and may link multimedia to introduce, explain course content.
    2. Instructor will create, monitor, and participate in discussion board questions.

    Typical Out of Class Assignments

    Reading Assignments

    1. Read Robert Olen Butler's collection of stories, A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain. Pay special attention to the use of imagery. Be prepared to discuss in class. 2. In your textbook, read Appendix 1, "Storytelling Before the emergence of the Short Story." Provide a brief summary of the essay.

    Writing, Problem Solving or Performance

    1. In a 2-page essay, describe the difference between the tale and the short story and give specific examples from our readings. 2. Explain the way setting affects the action in Chopin's "Desiree's Baby." 3. Describe a typical Hawthorne character.

    Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)

    Term Paper and Class Presentation: For this paper, you will choose a short story writer whose work interests you. First, you'll immerse yourself in the writer's works. What central themes appear in the stories? How would you describe the writer's style? Subject matter? Settings? Does the writer work primarily with traditional or modern plots? Do the stories span multiple volumes, and if so, how would you characterize changes in the stories over time? Or, are they arranged thematically in a volume? If so, explain the collection you've read as a whole – what makes the individual pieces work cohesively as a unit? You might even consider where the writer's stories were first published. This section of the paper should be considered an introduction to the writer's work – the stories themselves – what is distinctive about this author's stories? How might we recognize a story as one written by this author? Of course, you'll also be concerned with the writer's life, at least briefly. Provide a biographical sketch that includes relevant aspects of the writer's life. You'll also want to discuss the writer's professional life – does the writer, for instance, primarily work within the genre of the short story, or is s/he a poet, novelist, essayist? What is the significance of this experience in relation to the stories? Does the writer ascribe to a particular school of thought? Of style? Besides introducing the writer's life, introduce your readers to commentary concerning the writer's work. What do literary critics say about the work? Most importantly, what do YOU think? Explain which critical approaches (i.e., psychological, historical, formalist, feminist, etc.) would seem most appropriate and why. Finally, provide a thorough explication or analysis of at least one of the writer's stories. Provide a context for the story – where does it fit in terms of the larger body of work? Consider your classmates and me the audience for this paper, which should be typed, double-spaced, with 12 point type. MLA documentation style.

    Required Materials

    • The Story and Its Writer
      • Author: Charters, Ann
      • Publisher: Bedford St Martin's
      • Publication Date: 2015
      • Text Edition: 9th
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction
      • Author: Bausch, Richard
      • Publisher: Norton
      • Publication Date: 2015
      • Text Edition: 8th
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain
      • Author: Olen Butler, Robert
      • Publisher: Penguin
      • Publication Date: 1992
      • Text Edition:
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • The Awakening and Other Stories
      • Author: Kate Chopin
      • Publisher: Penguin
      • Publication Date: 1999
      • Text Edition:
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:

    Other materials and-or supplies required of students that contribute to the cost of the course.