3 Credits
Professor Uehling
MWF 2:00-2:50 pm
Cross-listed with HIST 492 BX
Fulfills diversity requirement.

In this seminar, we will examine a range of short fiction that represents significant themes from twentieth and twenty-first century American life. The course aims to provide some coverage of major figures (e.g., Welty, O’Connor, Faulkner) as well as in-depth work with collections of short stories by individual writers. Some, like Alice Munro’s Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, represent collected new work; others, like Robert Olen Butler’s A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain, are linked in various ways so that they have individual value and also larger, collective meaning.

Among the issues raised in these texts for our discussion are the following: family relationships; friendship; the value of work; the presence or absence of religious faith; ideas of community; the search for an authentic voice and identity; death, dying, and other forms of loss; and humor as an answer to most problems. Such themes have not been invented in our lifetimes, of course, but they are distinctly shaped by modern and contemporary circumstances and attitudes. We will also consider the craft with which writers tell their stories, and we will look at differences in narrative strategy.

Texts may include:
James Nagel, ed. Anthology of the American Short Story
Robert Olen Butler. A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain
Alice Munro. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
Richard Russo. The Whore’s Child and Other Stories
Andre Dubus II. Selected Stories

Course Requirements:
Your grade will come from a midterm and a final exam and from a research paper of 12-15 pages. Attendance and participation are essential. More than 3 absences will lower your grade; strong participation will raise it.