Department of English

We'll do close readings of short stories by a number of 19th and 20th century writers, amony them: Hawthorne, Poe, Crane, Kafka, Joyce, Wolfe, Mansfield, Wharton, London, Forster, Lawrence, O'Hara, McCullers, Faulkner, Hemingway, Thurber, Shaw, and Roth. The approach will emphasize the various elements of fiction -- Plot, Character, Symbolism, Theme, and Point of View -- but the stories will be discussed freely, openly, and in detail. The objective is to make us better, more careful, and more appreciative readers of fiction.