Short Story
Fall 1393
Z. Jannessari Ladani
I. Course Description: This course will try to introduce the short story to students. We will discuss short stories in general and in particular. Students will learn how to read short stories in the first place, since the reading and appreciating of short stories is different from other literary genres. Then, we will discuss a number of literary devices and terms which are essential to the understanding and analyzing of the short story. Then, these literary terms and devices will be practically traced and examined in a range of short stories. Students are expected to follow the instructor’s lectures and take exact notes in class. Students should also have an active participation in class discussions. By the end of the semester, students should be able to recognize literary devices and discuss them in fiction.
II. Bibliography: Introduction to Literature (1) for the Fall Semester 1393 is built around the following materials: students must purchase number (1), because portions that students are assigned to read are all from Perrines’s Literature. Numbers (2) and (3) should serve as supplementary sources for further study.
1) Perrines’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Vol. 1. 9th Ed. By Arp & Johnson. US: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.
2) داستان كوتاه در آيينه نقد. هلن اوليايينيا. تهران: فردا
3) Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1993.
III. Assignments & Grades: Students should study both the theoretical chapters and stories that are assigned to them by the instructor for the following session. Each chapter and story should be read before students come to class. Moreover, the instructor will give tasks and quizzed, each having two points (+2). In case students cannot answer the quizzes or are absent from the quiz, they will receive a zero (-0-). The instructor will also have a midterm exam in case all of the students agree to have one. Otherwise, the mid-term exam will be cancelled. There will also be a final exam. The material of the mid-term exam will be excluded from the final exam if students agree to have a mid-term. Questions will be multiple choice as well as essay type. Students are not allowed to be absent from the class. They will receive one point (+1) for each presence and a minus (-1) for each absence. Thus, each absence will automatically burn one presence. If a student has more than three (3) sessions of absence, s/he will lose the total grade for presences. All these scores will amount to the final grade of 60: quizzes (+4) + presence in all sessions (+15) + mid-term exam (if any) (+21) + final exam (+20) =60. The student’s final score is one third of this total grade (60/3=20).
IV. Week-by-Week Reading Schedule: Please note that this schedule tells students what they need already to have read when they sit down in class in each session. Note also that, once in possession of the Schedule, no one should be in doubt about the assignments.
Week One – Sunday 23 Shahrivar 1393:
Reading the Short Story [pp. 61-7]
Week Two – Sunday 30 Mehr 1393:
Plot & Structure [pp. 103-11]
Week Three – Sunday 6 Mehr 1393:
Quiz on the Plot of “The Most Dangerous Game” [pp. 67-86]
Week Four – Sunday 13 Mehr 1393:
OFF
Week Five – Sunday 20 Mehr 1393:
Characterization [pp.161-66]
Week Six – Sunday 27 Mehr 1393:
“Miss Brill” [pp. 175-79]
Week Seven – Sunday 4 Aban 1393:
Theme [pp. 188-94]
Week Eight – Sunday 11 Aban 1393:
Practice: Class Work on the Theme of “Once Upon a Time” [pp. 220-25]
Week Nine – Sunday 18 Aban 1393:
Point of View [pp. 227-233]
Week Ten – Sunday 25 Aban 1393:
Class Work on the Point of View of “Hills Like White Elephants” [pp. 268-72]
Week Eleven – Sunday 2 Azar 1393:
Class Work on the Point of View of “Paul’s Case” [pp. 234-51]
Week Twelve – Sunday 9 Azar 1393:
Symbol, Allegory, and Fantasy [pp. 274-85]
Week Thirteen – Sunday 16 Azar 1393:
Class Work on the Symbol of “The Rocking Horse Winner” [pp. 285-99]
Week Fourteen – Sunday 23 Azar 1393:
Class Work on the Allegory of “Young Goodman Brown” [pp. 299-310]
Week Fifteen – Sunday 30 Azar 1393:
OFF
Week Sixteen – Sunday 7 Dey 1393:
Humor and Irony [pp. 334-38]; Class Work on “The Kugelmass Episode” [pp. 348-58]