Students will read a wide range of short fiction (using a course reader) from different countries, in different formats, ranging from traditional storytelling to experimental. The class will also study how other forms of storytelling convey message from film to plays to radio drama. What is the reader's responsibility to a text? What is the writer's responsibility to his or her own text and/or the reader?

Assignments will include weekly response papers to the reading, collaborative group discussion in organizing and leading a discussion of the stories in class, and a longer essay that compares and contrasts literary forms.