ENG 239: Slipstream Fiction Preparation for Exam #1 [250 Points]
Part I. Matching [90 Points]
On our first examination, you will match quotations from the stories with story titles and authors. We will have covered thirteen stories and one film by the time that you take the exam; there will be thirty quotations on the matching portion of the exam, each question worth three points. If you have been following my advice and identifying passages that we discuss in class while also being attentive to the issues raised both in study questions and in our class discussions, you should be able to score very well on this portion of the test. Please note: Since there are 15 texts involved and thirty questions, some titles will be the correct answer more than once. Therefore, it will be a waste of time to keep track of whether or not you have already used any single story title as a correct answer.
Here is the matching key that you will use and a couple of examples questions:
A / “Al” by Carol EmshwillerB / “Bay” by David Erik Nelson
C / “Death and the Compass” by Jorge Luis Borges
D / “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges
E / “Heartland” by Karen Joy Fowler
F / “Hell is the Absence of God” by Ted Chiang
G / “Light and the Sufferer” by Jonathan Lethem
H / “The Little Magic Shop” by Bruce Sterling
I / Lulu on the Bridge by Paul Auster
J / “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka
K / “Music Lessons” by Douglas Lain
L / “Pretending” by Ray Vukcevich
M / “The Specialist’s Hat” by Kelly Link
N / “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
_____ 1. [They] were struck, almost simultaneously, with the thought of how their daughter was blossoming into a well built and beautiful young lady….Just from each other’s glance and almost without knowing it they agreed that it would soon be time to find a good man for her.
_____ 2. “You ever know someone who’s cold like that, cold as ice, where their neck meets their throat?”
Part II. Short Answer Section [A Total of 150 Points]
FOR SECTION TWO OF THE EXAMINATION, YOU MUST USE A DIFFERENT STORY IN EACH RESPONSE. THAT IS, YOU MUST DISCUSS A TOTAL OF THREE DIFFERENT STORIES IN THIS SECTION OF THE EXAMINATION.
Short Answer Question #1 [50 Points]
You will discuss how the setting functions to help us understand the point or develop the conflict or a theme in ONE of the assigned stories. Begin your response by introducing your chosen story and its author, then proceed to state a thesis that defines how setting functions in the story to develop a thematic concern or conflict. Follow your thesis statement with a discussion that provides specific examples, including brief quotations that support your thesis. Of course, you may use your books or a print out of a PDF while writing this response.
Short Answer Question #2 [50 Points]
You will discuss how narrative voice functions to help us understand the point or develop the conflict or a theme in ONE of the assigned stories. You will once more begin your response by introducing your chosen story and its author, then proceed to state a thesis that defines how narrative voice functions in the story to develop a thematic concern or conflict. Follow your thesis statement with a discussion that provides specific examples, including brief quotations that support your thesis. Of course, you may use your books or a print out of a PDF while writing this response.
Short Answer Question #3 [60 Points]
Decide which of the assigned stories is, in your view, the best example of slipstream fiction. Of course, in order to respond to question #3, you must first provide a brief preliminary definition of slipstream that establishes your criteria for judging the stories. In other words, relying on information provided in one or more of the assigned essays, present what you believe to be the essential characteristics of a strong slipstream story, then introduce the story and author that you have selected, and discuss how that story conforms to your preliminary definition of this developing genre. Again, you may use your texts when writing this essay.