LIT 3024.005 Fall 2023 Cowan

This course will give an overview of the short story genre by focusing on the elements that compose a short story like form, voice, plot, conflict, and so on, in addition to giving a historical perspective on the short story as a development from oral history. We will discuss connections with politics, culture, and other topics. The first half of the course will focus on teaching students the historical contexts of short stories as emergent from myth and folklore, and the second half will attempt to identify elements like tone, character, narration, theme, and other formal aspects. Students will formulate their own interpretations based on the recognition of authorial processes. While the second half of the course will focus primarily on American short stories, the first half will have a heavy emphasis on how older forms of stories like myths are orally preserved and eventually become literature. This class will require discussions, presentations, and close reading in addition to the writing activities.

This course meets the distribution requirement for Genre Courses.