Interdisciplinary Arts 0253 - Short Story Collections

In this fiction workshop, we will consider contemporary short story collections as well as 'story cycles' or 'novels-in-stories.' In our readings, we will ask: what 'makes' a collection? how does one story build on the next, even when the characters and settings are different? how can telling multiple stories about one event complicate readers' understanding of the fictional world? how do authors' aesthetic and ethical concerns carry over or change across stories? In addition to written reading responses and intensive in-class writing aimed at helping students to discover their own writerly voices, students will produce two to three distinct pieces of fiction that 'speak' to each other, either by taking place in the same world or taking up similar questions or concerns. Some of the authors we'll consider are: Louise Erdrich, Edward P. Jones, Lorrie Moore, Z.Z. Packer, Sherman Alexie, Ramona Ausubel, Karen Russell, Shelley Jackson and Alice Munro.

Independent Work In this course, students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time. This time includes reading, writing, and research.