Highly Successful Short Stories

In this course, we’ll study fiction by some of literature’s finest: Hemingway, Kate Chopin, Katherine Anne Porter, Izaak Babel, Chekhov, and Tolstoy.

While the short story may seem like a younger sibling of the novel, short story writing actually came first, from 14^th-century Italian literature (Boccacio) and even earlier (The 1001 Nights of Sheherazade). In our time, short stories have become a staple of many literary and popular magazines, such as The New Yorker. They have gained wide readership in similar publications in other countries.

Many fine writers have published both novels and short stories: Cervantes, the author of the first great novel; Don Quixote, who published stories and even included models of short fiction within DQ; and Hemingway, Kate Chopin, and Tolstoy, who wrote both novels and short stories.

What differentiates these genres? Mainly length, but this imposes certain constraints and opportunities for us to truly speak of novels and short stories as distinct genres.

We will read and explore five short stories by different authors and look at the techniques and the highlights of each. We will also discuss narratives, the practice that underlies our personal biographies, and the production of literature.

You may take this course as part of the following program:

What will I learn?

In this course, we will examine five short stories.

How will I learn?

• Lectures
• Discussion (may vary from class to class)
• Papers (applicable only to certificate students)

Who should take this course?

This course if for anyone who is interested in learning more about the short story genre.

How will I be evaluated?

(For certificate students only)

Your instructor will evaluate you based on an essay you will complete at the end of the course. You will receive a grade of “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.”

Textbooks and learning materials

The stories we will examine will be available at the beginning of the course. Some course materials may be available online.