Return to the Course Schedule 1, for
assignments from Day 1 through Day
Go to Course Schedule 3,
for assignments between the Mid-Term and Final Exam.Our textbook is Dana Gioia and R. S. Gwynn's The Longman Anthology of Short Fiction: Stories and Authors in Context (paperback, 2001). Find out how to get a copy by clicking here. All page references in the Course Schedule are to this book. Other readings (required or recommended) are indicated by links, which appear in blue underlined font.
Before printing off a copy of this schedule, be sure to read the pointers about Using the Course Schedule. |
5 Feb (W): (1) Read the editors' introductory remarks on Alice Walker (pp. 1670-71).
(2) Read Walker's story "Everyday Use" (pp. 1671-1676).
(3) There are two study guides on our site to this story. Use one or the other of them to guide your exploration of the story. (Each has a link to a writing assignment, which you might want to have a look at, keeping in mind that it's not being assigned today.)
(4) In connection with the study guide you rely on, you'll want to work through our glossary entry on Foil and point of view. How thoroughly does Walker exploit the device of foil in the characterization of the two sisters? (What differences do you notice, for example, in the two sorts of "everyday use" Maggie and Dee would make of the quilts? How does this enrich our appreciation of the foil relationship between the two characters themselves?)
7 Feb (F): (1) Read the editors' introductory remarks on William Faulkner (pp. 597-598).
(2) Read Faulkner's story "A Rose for Emily" (pp. 627-634).
(3) Do your initial reading in the light of the questions in the first part of the Study Guide to the story.
10 Feb (M): (1) Re-read "A Rose for Emily" in the light of the questions in the second & third parts of the Study Guide.
(2) Read Faulkner's remarks on "The Human Heart in Conflict with Itself" -- an excerpt from his acceptance speech upon receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950 (pp. 634).
(3) Read our editors' remarks on "Reader-Response Criticism" (p. 1823-1824).
(4) Read the critic Stanley Fish's remarks on "An Eskimo 'A Rose for Emily'" (pp. 1824-1825).
(5) Study our editors' remarks on the choices the tradition of fiction has opened to narrative writers with respect to plot (pp. 1863-1868).
==> Start getting on top of the concepts whose conventional terminology is presented in bold font.
12 Feb (W): (1) Check out our editors' introduction to Dagoberto Gilb (p. 724). What's the main expectation you derive from it about the story by Gilb that follows?
(2) Read Dagoberto Gilb, "Look on the Bright Side" (pp. 725-733). When you're done, jot down your main impressions of the narrator: how did you react to him, as the story unfolded?
(3) As you read, be looking for features of the story that indicate the choices Gilb has made in inventing and structuring his story with respect to
- point of view
- foreshadowing, climax, and dénouement.
While you're doing this, you want to keep an eye out for features that might indicate what might have moved Gilb to make the choices he has.
(4) Now look back over the short stories we've read so far and see if you can nail down the author's decisions with respect to the same features.
- Maupassant's "The Necklace"
- Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"
- Welty, "Why I Live at the P.O."
- Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"
| Forming new
habits By now you will have begun to notice that, in the discussions of the stories we have read so far, certain types of questions have been showing up again and again in class, in the study guides, and in our editors' introductory remarks on authors and their appendix on the elements of fiction. Your job now is use the questions you've seen posed by experienced readers to move your own way of reading to a new level.
=> Make it a point to carry these curiosities into every story you read from here on out. Don't forget to explore the glossary entries on the critical concepts for which you find links on the Course Schedule. You want to be on top of these for the Mid-Term Exam. (How do we know whether someone is "on top of a concept" or not? Stay tuned.) |
14 Feb (F): (1) Have a look at our editors' introduction to Anjana Appachana (p. 64). What is the main idea you derive from it about what to expect in her story that follows?
(2) Read Appachana's "The Prophecy" (pp. 65-76). How would you characterize the narrative point of view of this story? Where does the story's rising action begin? Where does the dénouement begin? Where do you figure the author's allegiances are in this story?
(3) Glance back over the mythological narratives, fables & parables we read at the outset (pp. 13-15, 16-18, 19-21). Which of these make use of the conventional "dramatic curve," aka "Freitag's pyramid (p. 1866-1868)?
(4) Do any of the mythological narratives, fables or parables that we read at the outset (see above) make use of a participant narrator? Which of the short stories we've read so far (see the list in the assignment for yesterday) make use of a non-participant narrator?
17 Feb (M): (1) Get acquainted with our editors' introduction to Chinua Achebe (pp. 41-42).
(2) Read Achebe's story "Dead Men's Path (pp. 46-49)
(3) Glance back over the folktales, legends, and novellae/nouvelles we read at the outset (pp. 23-26, 27-31, 32-36). Which of these make use of the conventional "dramatic curve," aka "Freitag's pyramid (p. 1866-1868)?
(4) Do any of the folktales, legends, or novellae/nouvelles that we read at the outset (see above) make use of a participant narrator?
(5) Work through our glossary essay on on Point of View -- Omniscient, Objective, and Reliable Narration.
(6) Looking back on the stories we've read so far, can you specify the point of view of each of them in terms of the classification system we've been developing? (Is the "voice" telling the story that of a participant narrator or of a non-participant? If participant, is the narrator a central or a marginal character? Is he or she reliable as a narrator or unreliable? If reliable, what is the evidence? If unreliable, in what way, to what degree, and on what evidence? If the story comes to us via a non-participant narrator, is it omniscient and, if so, to what extent? Or is it objective (in our editors' sense of the term)? Does it editorialize on occasion, or does it refrain from editorializing?)
19 Feb (W): (1) Read what our editors have to say about Jack London (pp. 1116-1117).
(2) Read London's story "To Build a Fire" (pp. 1117-1127).
But first: what are the questions you are going to be bringing to bear during your initial reading of this story? (You should be able to formulate these questions before you even begin. As you read, you will be customizing them to the specific facts of the story -- and following them up with appropriate "so what?" questions.)
(3) Have a look at London's defense of the factuality of his story, written to a skeptical editor (pp. 1766-1767).
(4) Work through the material in our Character and Characterization. Use this to solidify your grasp of what our editors have pointed out in their discussion of characterization on pp. 1868-1871.
21 Feb (F): (1) Work through our editors' discussion of "Characterization" (pp. 1868-1873). Remember, your aim is to "get on top of" the concepts marked by the terminology in boldface type. (Being able to match terms & definitions is not the point. Rather, you'll need to be able to respond to and use the terms appropriately.)
(2) Read about Anton Chekhov in our editors' introduction (pp. 400-402) and in their discussion of the history of the short story (p. 1849).
(3) Read Chekhov's story "The Lady with the Pet Dog" (pp. 402-414). Before you start reading the story, remind yourself of the standard questions you're going to bring to bear on that initial reading. This time you should add one or two questions based on our editors' discussion of characterization.
(4) After you've read the story, check out the distinction between "open dénouement" and "closed dénouement" (pp. 1913, 1920). What sort of denoument does Chekhov elect to go with for this story? Why do you think he went this way?
24 Feb (M): (1) Get acquainted with the career of Katherine Mansfield via our editors' introduction (pp. 1146).
(2) Read Mansfield's story "Miss Brill" (pp. 1147-1150). (But first: what are the questions you're going to be pressing even in your first reading?)
(3) Reread the story in the light of our glossary entry on the distinction between dynamic and static characterization. (Your aim here is to sharpen your sense of what is at stake in a distinction you're already familiar with from our editors' discussion on pp. 1868-1873, which you might want to review first.) Does the protagonist here qualify as a dynamic, or as a static character? What is the story's narrative point of view? Does Mansfield opt for a closed dénouement, or an open one? (What question should you ask once you've decided upon an answer?)
(4) Recall the short stories we've read so far. In how many of them do we find the protagonist to be a dynamic character (in our special sense of the term)? Any static characters among the protagonists? Is there some moment that qualifies as an epiphany? Is the protagonist in on this, or is it only for the reader?
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26 Feb (W): (1) Read about Kate Chopin's life in our editors' introduction (p. 425).
(2) Then read Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" (pp. 430-431).
(3) Let's now pause a while and take stock of some more of what we've worked through so far, in light of these discussions. In particular you want to get clear on the difference between the flat/round distinction and the static/dynamic distinction. And you don't want to be able merely to spot the one or the other: you want to take make what you notice the basis for a further question: so what? How is this decision the right one for the purposes of the story at hand (supposing it is?) Further: supposing this is exactly the right sort of characterization, for this particular figure, in this particular story, does noticing exactly how it is right sharpen our sense of why the story was brought into being and put before us? (Of course, we are at liberty to judge that the author made an inappropriate choice, so that the story is in conflict with itself as to what is is trying to do.)
- How would you describe the characterizations of the protagonist and the antagonists of "The Three Feathers" in light of the distinctions between flat and round, and between dynamic and static characterization?
- How about the philosopher Chuang Tzu?
- How about Isabella, in Bocaccio's tale "The Pot of Basil"?
- How about Pygmalion? Venus? Galatea?
- How about Madame Loisel in "The Necklace"? How about her husband? and Madame Forestier?
- How about Emily Grierson, in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"? her father? Homer Baron? the narrator?
- What about the narrator in Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"? the old man he kills?
- The narrator of "Look on the Bright Side"? the narrator's landlady? the police"
- The narrator ("Sister") of "Why I Live at the P.O." Stella Rhondo? their mother?
- Brently Mallard in "The Story of an Hour"? Mrs. Mallard? her sister Josephine?
- The headmaster in "Dead Men's Path"? his wife? the village priest?
- The camel in Bidpal's "The Camel and His Friends"? the lion? the fox, the crow and the leopard?
- The narrator of "The Prophecy"? her roommate?
- Miss Brill? the two young people present at the concert?
- The man in "To Build a Fire"? the dog? the old-timer?
28 Feb (F): (1) Work through the glossary article on "Classifying Plots in Terms of Character Development" . Then go back over the stories reviewed for Wednesday. Which of the plot types discussed in this scheme of classifications have we met with already? Where?
(2) Get acquainted with Sherwood Anderson, through our editors' introduction (pp. 50-51).
(3) Read Anderson's story "Hands" (pp. 58-62).
(4) Work through Anderson's argument that "Words Not Plot Give Form to a Short Story" (pp. 62-63). Can you see the views expressed here at work in "Hands"?
2 Mar (Sun): The Prep Sheet for the Mid-Term Exam will be posted today.
3 Mar (M): Work through our glossary articles on (1) the concept of psychological repression, (2) the analogy Sigmund Freud used to explain to his first American audience the ideas of consciousness, and (3) the parable Freud used to explain the alternatives to repression. (4) Now reread Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" with this question in mind: how many details can we notice in this narrative that indicate to the reader the presence of unconscious motivation in the experience and behavior of the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard? How is Chopin's choice of narrative point of view essential for enabling these details to gain admission into the story? (5) In preparation for the assignment for the class session after this one, work through our glossary article on assessing responsibility.
5 Mar (W): (1) Read Katherine Anne Porter's story "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" (pp. 80-87). (2) Reread it carefully (at least a couple of hours later!) in light of our editors' questions on p. 87. (What questions are you supposed to be asking about these questions themselves? If you've forgotten, you'll find the answer here.) (3) Use the reflections you've generated on the basis of those questions to decide, concerning both Granny and Cornelia, whether Porter has decided on flat or round characterization and on static or dynamic characterization. (4) What form of plot does the characterization of the protagonist yield here? (Keep in mind that there might be more than one respect in which a character might be put to the test, and that it might be possible to meet some of these while failing others! We might have to introduce some complexities into our use of the scheme developed earlier.) Might it make sense to consider this story as an instance of initiation story?
7 Mar (F): (1) There is a quite detailed Study Guide for Porter's story. Over the weekend, work through it carefully, rereading the story at least once again. (The study guide was originally designed for for three readings, and you've already accomplished a couple of these. You'll therefore already have answers to some of the questions you'll encounter here. There is also a writing assignment linked to from this study guide. You are not to do the writing assignment, but you should think it through carefully, because it lays out some agendas of curiosity that the story calls up. Remember: being able to tune into what the story asks us to asks is a key mark of a skillful reader, a reader who can catch on from the story's way of behaving what sort of game it is that the story is inviting the reader to play. (2) What point of view does Porter decide on for conveying this story? Where does it shift into and out of stream of consciousness? Do we see interior monologue on some occasions? What considerations must have played a role in Porter's decision to adopt this particular "window on events"? (3) Pay some visits to the Message Board for discussion of important aspects of this story.
10 Mar (M): Mid-Term Examination. Be sure you have studied the Prep Sheet posted last week!
Return to the Course Schedule 1, for
assignments from Day 1 through Day
Go to Course Schedule 3,
for assignments between the Mid-Term and Final Exam.
Suggestions are welcome.
Please send your comments to lyman@ksu.edu
.
Contents copyright © 2003 by Lyman A.
Baker.
This page last updated 13 March 2003.