F13 - ENGL071D.01 - Core: Short Story in the US

Weekly outline

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  ENGLISH 71D INFO, SYLLABUS, and BLOG

  • summary topics for English 71D Short Story in U.S. File

    These are a list by me of some of the key terms, concepts, and ideas that have come up in discussions of short stories this semester.  Please read these along with the Karen Russell story for Monday.  I'll make time to discuss any of these further if you have questions or comments.  Handed out in class Friday, but here's a copy for Moodle.

  • info regarding the "teacher lesson plan" option for assignment #2 File

    Duplicates the material at the end of the English 71D syllabus.  An option for you as an alternative to writing an analytical paper on a story for assignment #2.  Note that you must discuss your project and my guidelines for it with Prof. Schmidt before you proceed.  But this is your chance to provide help and guidance to real teachers and students on a favorite story from our syllabus!

  • STUDENT COURSE EVALUATION FORM for English 71D File
  • ENGL 71D: THE SHORT STORY IN THE U.S.--course requirements, info, and syllabus: download and/or print this File

    Please download and/or print this file and use it to prepare for each class.

  • Guidelines for Paper #1 File

    Posted Sept. 23.  Please read carefully as you plan your paper.  Questions?  Prof. Schmidt will be happy to speak with you.

  • News forum
  • an example of an A essay (on Hawthorne) File
  • an example of an A essay (on Sui Sin Far) File
  • an example of an A essay (on Faulkner) File
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  September 2 - September 8

  COURSE INTRODUCTION; IRVING; HAWTHORNE.

  For full course description, course requirements, and reading and writing assignments, see the syllabus file above.  Please print and/or download this file and use it to prepare for each MWF class.

  Note:  unless otherwise indicated, authors and stories are available in the print anthology ordered for the course, Major American Short Stories.  Other course materials (such as pdfs and sound files and links) will be posted on this site.
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  September 9 - September 15

  MELVILLE; POE; FROST

  • Edelman essay on Melville's "Bartleby," Occupy Wall Street, and the Humanities File

    Optional reading, but encouraged.  I'll discuss this essay some in class.

  • Gregory Frost, "The Madonna of the Maquiladora" (1999) File

    Print and/or download this pdf; read; then bring to class in one format or another.

    Think of some questions for Prof. Frost, for he'll visit our class!

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  September 16 - September 22

  GILMAN; CHOPIN; SIN FAR

  • Sui Sin Far's story "In the Land of the Free" (c. 1900) File
  • Historical background for "In the Land of the Free" URL

    Wikipedia on the Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1882.

  • Bibliographic info on the Sui Sin Far text Page
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  September 23 - September 29

  JAMES; CRANE; HEMINGWAY
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  September 30 - October 6

  FAULKNER; HURSTON; FITZGERALD

  • Guidelines for Paper #1 File

    Posted Sept. 23.  Please read carefully.  Questions?  Prof. Schmidt would be happy to speak with you.

  • PAPER # 1 DUE, 5pm, Fri. OCT. 4 Assignment

    EITHER uploaded here on this Moodle site OR printed and turned in to the LPAC 206 mailbox

    8-10pp. double-spaced, an analysis of one story from our syllabus so far.  Build on class discussion but add your own well supported ideas and arguments.

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  October 7 - October 13

  WELTY; DANTICAT

  • Welty story "Where is the Voice Coming From?" File

    Eudora Welty imagines the voice and motivations of the man who killed civil rights worker Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi, Welty's and Evers' home town, in 1963.  Published in The New Yorker, 1963.

  • from The New Yorker: background on Welty's "Where Is The Voice Coming From?" URL
  • Danticat story "The Children of the Sea" File
  • Danticat essay "Create Dangerously" File
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  Fall Break
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  October 21 - October 27

  Pair with a classmate and select 4 authors and stories from Major American Short Stories that are not on the assigned syllabus.  Read and discuss these stories in class this week. For one of your 4, you may include the Raymond Carver story uploaded here.  See syllabus for further instructions and suggestions.

  • Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" File
  • Flannery O'Connor's early "Prayer Journal" published: here's a review of it URL

    "The Believer": review of Flannery O'Connor's newly published "Prayer Journal," written in her early 20s when she was a student at the famous University of Iowa program for creative writers.  By novelist Marilynne Robinson.  Includes a great photo of O'Connor from her student days!  New York Times Book Review, Nov. 17, 2013.

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  October 28 - November 3

  JACKSON AND BRADBURY; ROTH; ENGLANDER

  Note:  the Roth story is in our anthology

  • Jackson's "The Lottery," plus discussion questions at the end URL
  • New Yorker background info on the aftermath of Jackson's "Lottery" URL
  • Ray Bradbury's "The Veldt" File
  • original illustration accompanying Bradbury's story File
  • Stephen Colbert reads Bradbury's "The Veldt" (Part 1) URL
  • Colbert reads Bradbury (Part 2) URL
  • Colbert reads Bradbury (Part 3) URL
  • Nathan Englander, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank" File
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  November 4 - November 10

  BAMBARA; MOHR; JEN

  • Toni Cade Bambara, "The Lesson" File
  • "Bambara Group" student presentation on "The Lesson" (YouTube) URL
  • Nicholasa Mohr's "The English Lesson" File
  • Gish Jen, "In the American Society" File
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  November 11 - November 17

  CISNEROS and TORRES; DÍAZ, REDDI

  • Cisneros, 2 stories File
  • Torres, "We Wanted More," from _We the Animals_ File
  • Díaz, "Negocios" File
  • Firmat quotation about language, from Díaz's _Drown_. File
  • Rishi Reddi, "Karma" File
  • excellent interview with Rishi Reddi URL
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  November 18 - November 24

  WOLFF; HASLETT; RAYMOND

  • Tobias Wolff reads his story "That Room" File

    aiff audio file  (12 minutes 37 seconds)

  • Wolff's story in mp3 format File
  • pdf of the text of Wolff's "That Room" File
  • Adam Haslett, "The Volunteer" (part 1) File
  • Adam Haslett, "The Volunteer" (part 2) File
  • Jonathan Raymond, "Train Choir" (part 1) File
  • Jonathan Raymond, "Train Choir" (part 2) File
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  November 25 - December 1

  SAUNDERS; PYNCHON

  • Saunders' "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline" pdf File
  • Saunders' 2013 commencement speech, on the importance of kindness URL

    Optional, but well worth your time.  It's not just wise, it's hilarious:

    "Down through the ages, a traditional form has evolved for this type of speech, which is: Some old fart, his best years behind him, who, over the course of his life, has made a series of dreadful mistakes (that would be me), gives heartfelt advice to a group of shining, energetic young people, with all of their best years ahead of them (that would be you)...."

  • Pynchon, the Chums of Chance time travel episode File

    an excerpt from Pynchon's novel Against the Day (2006)

  • Dick Hill reads Pynchon: Against the Day's Chums of Chance and the Time Machine episode (audio files). *Optional.* 31 audio files, c. 3 minutes each = about 1.5 hours. Folder
  • annotations for the Pynchon "time travel" story URL

    Annotations to references in the Chums of Chance excerpt about time travel, from Pynchon's 2006 novel Against the Day.  These are both useful and fun!

    Scroll down and find the annotations, keyed to page #s from your pdf.

    The annotations are from the Pynchon Wiki, a site created by Pynchon's devoted readers.

  • a Chums of Chance reading list URL

    A list of the fictitious boys' adventure novels in the Chums of Chance series mentioned in Against the Day; the site has fun illustrations as well by Harry Grant Dart, whose actual comic strip The Explorigator (1908) undoubtedly inspired Pynchon.

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  December 2 - December 8

  YU; MOORE; EGAN

  • Yu, 2 stories: ""Third Class Superhero" and ""Autobiographical Raw Material Unsuitable for the Mining of Fiction" File
  • optional: Authors@Google event where Yu reads from and discusses his 2010 novel about a time-machine repairman URL
  • The novelist Gary Shteyngart reads Lorrie Moore's "Paper Losses" and discusses her story with the New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman URL
  • Egan, "Emerald City" File
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  December 9 - December 15

  RUSSELL.  And (optional extra class) David EGGERS, "We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better"

  • Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" File
  • short film inspired by "St. Lucy's Home…" URL

    It appears that some students have made a short film of "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves."  It's definitely worth watching and is just as bizarre and beautiful as the story.  But read the story first!  //  It's posted on Vimeo; here's the link.  Thanks, Winnie Ngo!

  • David Eggers' "We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better" URL

    from the New York Times Magazine, Sept. 29, 2013

  • brief article on the history and future of office space design--to go with the Eggers story File

    from Metropolis: Architecture Culture Design magazine, Nov. 2013.

    Might be fun to compare and contrast Eggers' story & how this article links different office designs to different historical moments from the 20th and 21st centuries, including different models of how workers were expected to work together.  Inspired by a recent design competition to imagine the ideal office workspace in 2020.

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  December 16 - December 22

  • PAPER # 2 (or teaching plan project) DUE, 8-12pp., MONDAY DEC. 16, 5pm. Assignment

    Either a second paper, or a teaching lesson plan project.  See the 71D syllabus for further details and consult ahead of time with Prof. Schmidt.  No extensions re this deadline for paper/project # 2.  Either upload your project here OR print it and place in the LPAC 206 mailbox.