OFFICE HOURS: Tues-Thurs.12:30-2:30 PM
& by appt.
ML 224, x.3297

Sadoff, English 353

THE AMERICAN SHORT STORY
email isadoff@Colby.edu

Class 1
Sept. 3RD

Introduction and History
Carson McCullers, "The Jockey" (handout)

Class 2
Sept. 8

Hawthorne, "The Birthmark," p.500 "Young Goodman Brown"p.526
Supp. The MinisterÕs Black Veil" http://www.bnl.com/shorts/veilhawt.html
http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/
"The Maypole of Merrymount" http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/145/

Class 3
Sept. 10

Poe, "William Wilson,"
http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/poewilson.html

 "Tell Tale Heart" http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/poetelltale.html
Supp. "The Purloined Letter," p.1181

Class 4 Sept. 15th Bibb, "Conjuration," 

http://vi.uh.edu/pages/mintz/25.htm
Frederick Douglass

"Cowardice Departed, Bold Defiance Took Its Place"
http://vi.uh.edu/pages/mintz/31.htm
Supp. "Chopin, "DesireeÕs Baby," p.306 Craft Memoir, excerpt (reserve)

Class 5
Sept. 17

Gilman, "Yellow WallpaperÉ"
http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/gilmanwallpaper.html
Chopin, "A Respectable Woman," http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/chopinrespectable.html
Supp Jewett, "A White Heron," P.647
Reserve: Showalter, THE FEMALE MALADY (Intro, And Chapter 6."Feminism And Hysteria) Dickinson poem, " "I cannot Dance" #326
Class 6
Sept. 22
Herman Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener"p.898
Class 7
Sept. 24
Anderson, "Hands," p. 13,
Fitzgerald links
-- http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~tdlarson/fsf/links.htm
Fitzgerald, "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/bernice/index.html-
Supp. Anderson, "The Egg,"p.6 "I Want to Know Why,"
http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/andersonknowwhy.html
further Anderson stories on http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/
Class 8
Sept. 29
Fitzgerald, "Winter Dreams," "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz."
http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/winterd/index.html
http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/diamond/index.html
Supp. "The Ice Palace," http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/icepalace/index.html
http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/head/index.html

Class 9
Oct. 1st

Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place," "Cat in the Rain"
Hemingway Links http://home.eol.ca/~command/hem.htm
http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/hemingwaycleanplace.html
http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/hemingwaycat.html

Class 10
Oct.6
Hemingway "The Killers," "Hills like White Elephants," Links
http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/hemingwaykillers.html
http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/hemingwayhills.html
"Big Two Hearted River, parts 1 & 2p.543,549
Class 11
Oct.8th
Hughes, "The Slave on the Block" (reserve)
Hurston. "ÕMember Youse is a Nigger," http://i.am/zorahurston 'member yousea nigger
Supp. Hurston, "The Gilded Six-Bits," ""Sweat," p.575
Chestnutt, "The SheriffÕs Children," http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/chesnuttsheriff.html
Class 12
Oct.13th

OÕConnor, "Everything that Rises Must Converge," p.1064
Good Country People," p.1076
Class 13
Oct. 15
OÕConnor, "A Good Man is Hard to Find"p.1091
"The Life You Save May Be Your Own" p.1103
Other OÕConnor Stories, "ParkerÕs Back," "Revelation"

Oct.20 FALL BREAK
Class 14
Oct.22nd
Updike, "Separating," p. 1260
"The A& P," http://www.tiger-town.com/whatnot/updike/
Supp. Wife-wooing," p. 1268
"Pygmalion," http://www.geocities.com/su_englit/updike_pygmalion.html
Class 15
Oct.27
Cheever, "The Wrysons," (reserve)
"The Enormous Radio," p.243
"The Five Forty-Eight" p.251
other Cheever, " "The Lowboy," "The Country Husband,"

Class 16
Oct.29
Baldwin, "SonnyÕs Blues,"p.71
Supp. Wright, "The Black Good Man," p.1385
"The Man Who was Almost a man" p. 1385
Alice Walker, "1955"p.625
Bambara, "RaymondÕs Run," p.46

Class 17 Nov.3rd Roth, "The Conversion of the Jews,"
Malamud, "The Magic barrel,"
http://www.geocities.com/su_englit/roth_conversion.html
http://www.geocities.com/su_englit/malamud_barrel.html
supp. Ozick,"The Shawl,"p.516
supp. Sherman Alexie, "This is What it MeansÉ" p.21
Class 18 Nov.5

OÕBrien, "The Things They Carried," p.501
Leavitt, "Territory," p.411
Supp. Canin, "The Year of Getting to Know Us" p.193

Class 19 Nov.10 Carver, "Cathedral," p.182
"What We Talk AboutÉ"(reserve)
Supp. "Errand," "The Neighbors," "Popular Mechanics," "Vitamins"
http://www.geocities.com/su_englit/carver_popular.html
http://www.geocities.com/su_englit/carver_vitamins.html

Class 20 Nov.12

Carver continued  

plus "WhatÕs in Alaska," (reserve)
Supp. Joy Williams, "Taking Care," p.659 Vaughn, "Able, baker, Charlie, Dog," p.612

Class 21 Nov.17

Erdrich, "Saint Marie,"p.276
Bloom, "Silver Water," p.159
Supp. Baxter, "Gryphon" p.131
Sherman Alexie, "This is What it MeansÉ" p.21

Class 22 Nov.19 Banks, "Sarah Cole: a Type of Love Story," p.53
Kincaid, "Girl," p.409

CLASS 23. Nov.24th Oates," "How I Contemplated the WorldÉ" p. 1037
Supp. Oates, "Shopping," p.1049 "Ghost Girls," p.488
Braverman, "Tall tales from the Meikong Delta," p.167<
  THANKSGIVING
Class 24
Dec.1stPostmodernism
Paley, "A Conversation with my Father," p.1147
Barthelme, "Me and Miss Mandible,"
http://www.coldbacon.com/writing/barthelme-mandible.html
Supp. Paley, "The Loudest Voice,"p.1151, Barthelme, "Basil in the garden," p.101

Class 25
Dec.3rd
Barth, "Lost in the Funhouse," http://www.colby.edu/~isadoff/ss/barth.doc
http://www.barksdale.latech.edu/Engl 308/
Websites for stories include:
www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/
Expectations: I direct the class as a discussion group, a community of learners, so students are expected to prepare the poems before coming to class, including bringing questions to stimulate interchange among students. Always bring your texts to class (print outs too): we'll refer to them all the time. Class discussion counts as part of class grade. Students are expected to attend and contribute to all classes; you'll be permitted two unexcused absences during a semester.

Requirements: You'll write two 6-7 page papers comparing and contrasting two stories by the above authors (NOT discussed in class), and one final take-home synthesizing paper. Each of these papers will count 25% of your grade. Students will be allowed one extension if they give at least 48 hours advance notice. Unexcused late papers will be penalized. I will not accept any papers after the last day of class.

Additionally, every Monday by 9 A.M. students will write a paragraph on our class forum, responding to a question that will create a dialogue and help structure thinking about stories under discussion. Students should respond to one another, argue, quote freely from texts; if you respond early you might check the forums to see if you want to supplement your earlier responses. The responses will not be graded individually, but collectively will be worth 25% of your grade. If you miss more than one forum response, your grade will suffer. If your early responses donÕt respond sufficiently with specificity to the text, I will probably email you with advice or ask you to come in for conference so I can help. Late responses, because the work will have been discussed in class, cannot be counted.

http://www.colby.edu/info.tech/forums/clogin/?confId=1&forumId=115

make sure you log off the thread when youÕre finished so someone else can enter the dialogue.

For those of you steeped in theory, you can substitute one longer 12-15 page paper for the shorter ones: for such an ambitious project, I will want to see a thesis paragraph well in advance of the due date.

This syllabus is a course plan, but inevitably, as issues are raised in class, and as time grows short, assignments will change; if you miss class discussion, check with other class members about potential changes.