“In the twentieth century the short story in the United States continues to serve the insatiable appetite of the American reader for tales of the marginalized.”

--Joseph Urgo, Studies in Short Fiction


This intensive 4.5 week course will focus on modern and contemporary writers of serious short fiction whose tales question conventional narrative themes and formats. Stories read and discussed will be approached from a variety of critical and theoretical viewpoints, and students will be expected to learn and practice those approaches.

Essential to course success is weekly course attendance and engaged participation, as this course meets weekdays for 2+ hours for almost 5 weeks. Weekly oral and written assignments, as well as objective and essay examinations are the other bases for the overall course grade.

The course syllabus will be distributed and discussed on the first day of the quarter, and all details of the course as well as questions about it will be discussed with enrolled students that day.

Charters, The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction, Compact 7th edition
Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual, 4th edition