ENGL 320:  Introduction to the Short Story

Spring 2005  |  Lyman Baker, Instructor

Texts for the Course

Although by far the majority of our reading assignments will be in the Gioia/Gwynn text, some of our required readings will be on the Web.  Almost all of these, though, will be study guides, discussions of certain basic literary critical concepts, and writing assignments.  These will be linked to from the Course Schedule.

In a few cases one of the pieces of fiction we read will come from the Web rather than our text, or from a class handout. 

This will happen in particular at the beginning of our course, in order to make sure that everyone has had an opportunity to acquire the main text before assignments are made in it.

A few words at the outset concerning this text

Our text is quite comprehensive, and yet of course only an introduction to the rich world of short fiction in English (whether originally or in translation).

The disadvantages are obvious:

It is expensive -- $65.95 new, $50.00 used.

It is huge and heavy -- and you are required to lug it with you to class.

But the advantages more than outweigh these two inconveniences.

• Taken together, the books features outstrip anything available in any other introduction to short fiction available on the market.  The best way to get some idea of this is to skim the opening pages (pp. xvii-xxi) of the authors' "Preface."  But you can also get some idea from the publisher's description of the book's features and table of contents.

While you're at it, you might have a look at the Companion Website to the text.  (This compilation for students is under construction, but there's already a lot there for satisfying hungry curiosities.)

• But why not go instead for the Compact Edition of the text, an abridged version that (as the authors say) "contains all the key features of this volume with slightly fewer selections".  Well, to begin with, the selections in the Compact Edition are more than "slightly" fewer.  But since we're not going to be getting through anywhere near all the stories contained in the full edition that we're using, why are we using it?  A good question.

   

  • The answer is that a major goal of the course is designed to convince you to take up a permanent interest in reading short fiction.  For students for whom the course is successful, this text has the virtue of being a valuable resource as a guide to your further explorations in this amazingly various family of genres.  A key measure of the the success of the course, for you, and a measure far more significant than the grade you happen to end up with, is whether, at the end of the semester, you are convinced that you do not want to sell-back your copy (for the pittance you'll be offered for it), but are moved to make it a permanent possession -- and to continue to read (and re-read) in it, for years to come, as well as to share it with your close friends and members of your family.

For this to work, the book needs to be rich enough to invite, and to gratify, a wide range of curiosities.

But also, for this to happen, you should resolve at the outset that you are going to read with a pencil in hand (not a pen, but a pencil, with a good eraser, for quick second-thoughts), and that you are going to be writing notes in the margins as you read (and re-read).  These notes can be cryptic and coded, or they can be copious and detailed.  But they should show up on almost every page you've traversed.  

• questions, confusions, suspense ("motives??" / "inconsist w/ p.X?" / "what now?")
• reactions to characters and their actions ("like Aunt J" / "creep!" / "BS" / "shrewd" / "blind" / "guts")
• speculations as to possible thematic implications
• notable effects and functions (irony / climax / epiphany / TP [turning pt 1, 2, etc./ key image?]
• connections with things elsewhere in the flow (motif / contrasts, changes, foils / materials for answer to an earlier question)
• time/date/place when you finished the story, or a section of it.
• a quick first reaction, looking back, after you've finished your first (or second, or subsequent) reading:  what's something that stands out for you?  what misgivings are you left with?  was something particularly impressive?  disappointing?

The notes you make can be highly interesting to reflect on a decade or so later.  They're also useful in rereading, in the course of the course.  If you find you were barking up a wrong tree, then instead of erasing what you originally though, add another note about your present reflections.   

If you're going to invest this much effort in making tracks in a book, and yet you're going to buy a used copy, it makes sense to pick out one that isn't dog-eared, or broken-spined, or full of desultory underlining by a clueless or bored former reader (maybe someone who's falling asleep, so that the lines wobble across the page).  Other people's notes can be interesting.  (Usually you don't find these in used books, because people who had a good experience with a text are rarely eager to sell it back.)  But in any case you want space for your own notes -- and you want your friends who read something in the book on your recommendation to know when you're reacting, and when someone else is.  (Of course, it makes perfect sense, too, to regard your copy as private and not to be shared out, if that's how you are more comfortable.)

Make a resolution now, at the beginning of the course, to enter the course in this spirit.  Be determined to be interested in using this book to broaden your mind not only during but after the course.  Know in advance that some of the stories in this rich book may leave you cold now, at this moment in your life, but may open up to you in a big way, later on.  Be willing to take bafflement and even initial boredom as a challenge -- a challenge that, sometimes, is better taken up later on in life, when you're more experienced, as a person or as a reader or both.

If you're not moved to feel towards the text this way at the outset, that's understandable, too.  But if you are inclined to look at the text as a load of drudgery to get through as economically as possible, do give some careful consideration as to whether you want to inflict the course on yourself at this time in your life -- and whether you want to inflict yourself, in this frame of mind, on your fellow students, and on the instructor!  Whether you can work up an enthusiasm for the text -- or not -- is a pretty good way of "taking your temperature" about sticking around.  You have a right to your own feelings.  But you should take them seriously:   If you continue a few days to be pissed off at having to shell out for this monster, that's a pretty good sign you should ditch a course for something else before you get stuck in a pickle you can't get out of without paying a price you don't want to pay.  On the other hand, if the text is something you feel positive about, it can compensate for a lot -- even (may Fortune forfend!) an infuriating instructor, or disappointing discussions in class!

  Suggestions are welcome.  Please send your comments to lyman@ksu.edu .

  This page last updated 09 January 2005.