jeanne.hamming
english.dept.
centenary.college
jhamming@centenary.edu
313.JAC
318.869.5082
v.card

engl.201: american short story
mwf |9-9:50am|202 Smith
office.hours: mwf 10-11, 12-1
or by appointment

schedule (click here to view)

course.description

This course will study the short story form by surveying short fiction of American writers since the middle of the nineteenth century. Discussions of literary, cultural, and critical contexts will focus our readings and discussions of these works. Student presentations on literary periods and key authors will also inform our discussions.

course.goals

• to develop strategies for careful reading of literary texts.

• to develop strategies for analyzing, in writing, specific aspects or attributes of literary texts.

• to gain a clear understanding of and appreciation for American writers' contributions to the short story as a literary form.

• to enjoy what we read.

• to become comfortable doing well-prepared class presentations

grade.breakdown

4 short papers (2 pp or 500 words) 5% ea, 20% total
In-class presentation (10-15 minutes) 15%
Extended Paper (4-6 pp or 1000-1500 words) 15%
Midterm Exam 25%
Final Exam 25%

Note: Course preparation and participation (in class and out of class) is crucial to our having a fun, engaging, and enlightening experience. Figured into students' overall grades are attendance, attentiveness to assignments, and attitude. Please keep this in mind.

short.papers

On four occasions during the semester, students will be asked to examine carefully one focused aspect of a text we have been reading and discussing. The purpose of these focused and concise essays, no more than 2 pages in length, is to hone students' abilities to grapple with one limited topic of interest, whether that topic be a rhetorical strategy, a narrative trope, a single image or set of images (motif), a sustained theme, a formal element, or the text's relation to genre or period. Students will be asked to write thesis-driven, focused, and controlled papers.

Essay

Towards the end of the semester students will be asked to write a longer essay with research. Students may develop a response paper into a longer essay or may begin with a fresh topic. The assignment will require that students write about one or more of the course readings in a close, careful, and critical way. At least 3 outside critical (peer-reviewed) sources will be required for this assignment.

attendance

Please note the English Department Policy on Attendance: to be eligible to pass an English course, a student may miss no more than three times the weekly number of class meeting, regardless of the reason for these absences. This means that for classes like this one that meet three times a week, students who have in excess of nine absences cannot pass the course. Frequent absences, even when they fall short of this absolute limit, will adversely affect your grade.

"get out of jail free" card

To promote an atmosphere of personal responsibility and fairness, each student will receive one "get out of jail free" card at the beginning of the semester. In other words, the goal here is to encourage students to be conscientious about completing assignments, done right the first time, by their due dates. Students may use your card one time (I will keep a record of who uses his/her card and when) to:

"buy" a 24-hour extension on an out-of-class assignment
"buy" an opportunity to revise an essay for a better grade
create a "crib sheet" for the final exam on one side of the card

Students may not use their card to get out of an exam or assignment, to excuse an absence, or to retake a quiz or exam. They may not trade or sell cards to any other student.

texts

Hitchcock, et al. American Short Stories. 7th edition.
Handouts

schedule (click here to view)