This course is designed to sharpen the critical eye of passionate readers of fiction, and to introduce the various elements of craft and technique employed in creating fiction.  In other words, students will be writing about short fiction as well as crafting their own short stories.  Class time will be devoted primarily to in-depth discussions of short stories by acclaimed writers, but at least five classes will be reserved for the "workshopping" of student fiction exercises.  Discussions will focus on elements of craft, including narrative perspective, dialogue, character development, language and style, openings and endings.  As writers, we will consider ways in which autobiography may be used in fiction, how seeds from the writer's own life may be carried on the winds of imagination to germination as fictional "truth."

Readings will include stories by James Baldwin, Toni Cade Bambara, Gina Berriault, Raymond Carver, John Cheever, Kate Chopin, Louise Erdrich, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Amy Hempel, Shirley Jackson, James Joyce, Jamaica Kincaid, Maxine Kumin, Tim O'Brien, Flannery O'Connor, and Eudora Welty.  While we will focus primarily on stories in the realist mode, several examples will incorporate elements of experimentation.  In addition to readings from an assigned anthology, a collection of stories by a single author will also be discussed.  We will look closely at how the masters of this distinctly modern form have managed to render, with precision, economy, and what Rick Moody has called "poetical density," a genre of lasting literary value.

Writing and revision will be a significant part of the semester's enterprise.  Assignments will include two short critical essays, a series of creative writing exercises, at least one full-length story, and revisions.  Active class participation is essential.  There will be no final or mid-term examinations.