American Short Fiction: Tentative Schedule

Jan 20	Introduction to course and course policies. Stephen King, “What Ails the Short Story”
22	“Some Precursors” in AS (1-21) and “Early Nineteenth” (25-36). Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle” (AS 36-50); James Hall, “The Indian Hater” ( AS 74-83); Sedgewick, “Cacoethes Scribendi” (AS 83-95).
27	Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” (117) w/ related commentary by Lowell (AS 1394) and May (1401), AS; “The Cask of Amontillado” (SW 1092) w/ related commentary by Poe (SW 1661) Lawrence (SW 1663).
29	Hawthorne, “The Minister’s Black Veil” (AS 104) w/ related by Poe (1438) and “Young Goodman Brown” (SW 526) w/ related by Melville (SW 1499).
Feb 3	Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (SW 197) w/ related by Miller (AS 1411); Davis, “Life in the Iron Mills (AS 256).
5	“Late Nineneenth” (AS 246); Twain, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog” (AS 285) w/ related (AS 1459); Harte, The Luck of Roaring Camp (AS 291). London, “To Build a Fire” (SW 798) w related (SW 946, SW 1491)
10	Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (AS 391) w/ related by Gilbert and Gubar (AS 1352) and Gilman (AS 1354). Jewett, “The Queen’s Twin” (AS 405) w/ related by Cather (AS 1330) and “A White Heron” (SW 623) w/ related (SW 1478); Freeman, “The Revolt of ‘Mother’” (AS 361)
12	Chopin, “Athenaise” (AS 431) w/ related (AS 1333), “Desiree’s Baby” (SW 246) and “The Story of an Hour” (SW 250); Crane, “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” (AS 467) and “The Open Boat” (SW 329) w/ related (SW 1438). Garland, “The Return of the Private,” (AS 347) w/ related ((1344).
17	“Early Twentieth” (AS 481); O. Henry, “The Duplicity of Hargraves” (AS 497) and “The Gift of the Magi” (SW 1123); Wharton, “The Other Two” (AS 515) w/ related (1473) and “Roman Fever” (SW 1334); Cather, “A Wagner Matinee” (AS 509);
19	James, “The Jolly Corner” (AS 555), “The Real Thing” (SW 595); Dreiser “The Lost Phoebe” (AS 594); Glaspel, “A Jury of Her Peers” (AS 607).
24	Paper Groups
26	Paper Groups
Mar 3	Anderson, “Hands” (588) w/ related (AS 1291, 1464). “The Egg” (handout), “Adventure” (handout)
5	Guest Speaker: Rita Copenhaver, relative of Anderson’s third wife.
17	Fitzgerald, “Winter Dreams” (AS 636) w/ related (AS 1449) and “Babylon Revisted” (SW 412). Hemingway, “Soldier’s Home” (AS 682) w/ related (AS 1313) and “Hills Like White Elephants” (AS 540) and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” (handout)
19	Faulkner, “Spotted Horses” (AS 702) w/ related by Welty (AS 1471); “A Rose for Emily” (SW 391) and “That Evening Sun” (SW 398) w/ related (SW 1445). Steinbeck, “The Snake” (AS 756) and “The Chrysanthemums” (SW 1203) w/ related (1528). Hurston, “The Gilden Six Bits” (AS 727) w/ related (AS 1368, 1469)
24	Mid-Twentieth” (AS 789). Jackson, “The Lottery” (AS 923) w/ related (AS 1375). Tillie Olsen, “I Stand Here Ironing” (AS 931) w/ related (AS 1335).
26	O’Connor, “Everything that Rises,” “Good Country People,” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (SW 1005) w/ related casebook; Updike, “A&P” (SW 1282), “Separating” (AS 1120)
31	John Cheever, “The Enormous Radio” (AS 902) and “The Swimmer” (AS 213) w/ related (1425); Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron” (AS 1019); O’Hara, “The Sharks” (AS 1011;
Apr 2	Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues (938) w/ related (AS 1298); Welty “Where is the Voice Coming From?” (AS 1025), “Why I Live at the P.O.” (SW 1317) and “A Worn Path” (SW 1326) w/ related (SW 1564)
7	“Late Twentieth” (1030). Silko, “Yellow Woman” (AS 1111) w/ related (AS 1290); Alexie, “The Only Traffic Signal” (AS 1205) and “Long Ranger” (SW 15) w/ related (SW 1400). Also, “What You Pawn I will Redeem” (handout).
9	Carver, “Cathedral,” “Errand,” “What We Talk About” (SW 168) w/ casebook and New York piece on original story, “Beginners” (w/ edits). Carver, “What’s in Alaska.” (handout)
14	Wideman, “newborn thrown in trash dies” (AS 1199); Banks “Black Man and White Woman in Rowboat” (AS 78) w/ related (AS 1416); Straight, “Mines” (1211). Moody, “Boys” (SW 905).
16	Oates, “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been” (SW 977) w/ related (1646 and 1650). O’Brien, “The Things They Carried” (SW 990 w/ related 1496, 1520); Boyle, “Greasy Lake” (SW 142)
21	Paper #2 due.
23	Guest Speaker: Kurt Rheinheimer. “Calendar Girl, Arrested. Freed.”
28	Wallace, “Incantations” (SW 1313); Ford, “Under the Radar” (SW 454); Saunders, “Brad Carrigan, American” (SW 1147); Johnson, “Car Crash While Hitchhiking” (SW 640).
30	Lahiri, ''When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine'' (SW 726); Packer, “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” (SW 1065); Deborah Eisenberg's ''Someone to Talk To'' (handout). Rash, Ron “Speckled Trout” (handout)
Exam	Show and tell. Your nomination for this year’s O’Connor winner, O’Henry Prize, or “Best.”