Islamic University-Gaza Short Story

Faculty of Arts ENGL 2347

English Department Sep. 2012 Dr. Sami Breem

Description of module and its aims:

This module aims to give students a general background about the development of the English Short story. Its objectives are to sensitize students to different kinds of analysis that are needed to explain the complex functioning of language and to develop the students’ interpretative skills. Emphasis throughout will be on critical thinking and analytical writing. The approach also constitutes the study of the short story through an integration of language and literature. The major issues are introduced and explored in the different topics which make up the course.

Topics to be covered:

  • Why study of literature? Language model, culture model, personal growth model.
  • definitions- why study literature, short story, historical background, short story first appearance, text and context).
  • character
  • events/action/plot
  • theme
  • narrative structure
  • narrator/point of view
  • setting
  • deixis
  • symbolism
  • intertextuality
  • speech and thought presentation
  • The Language of the text (e.g. pronouns, definite and indifinite articles, the title, deixis, cohesion, figures of speech).
  • Figurative language (metaphor, simile, personification, irony….etc.)
  • Writing about literature (paragraphs an essays on different narrative features)

Texts of Short Stories from :

  • The Star Alasdair Gray
  • Strange Animal Alexander McCall Smith
  • The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin
  • A Rose for Emily William Faulkner
  • The Use of Force William Carlos Williams
  • Verbal Transcription-6 a.m. William Carlos Williams
  • The Man with the Scar W. Somerset Maughm
  • Sodier’s Home Ernest Hemingway
  • At the Barber’s Anton Chekhov
  • Araby James Joyce
  • The Bird Leo Tolstoy
  • Boons of Life Mark Twain
  • The CAlif Omar Allan Ramsay
  • Achild’s dream of a Star Charles Dickens
  • The Dead Wife Andrew Lang
  • A Fable Mark Twain
  • Faith and Half Faith and no Faith at all R. L. Stevenson
  • A Fruitless Assignmet Ambrose Bierce

References:

  • Breem, S (compiled) (2012) Handout (theory+ short story texts).
  • Collie, J. and Slater, S. (1993) Short Stories for Creative Language Classrooms, Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.
  • Abrams, M., H. (1993) A Glossary of Literary Terms, New York: HarcourtBraceCollege Publishers.
  • Short, M. (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose, Harlow: Longman.
  • Allen, G. (2000) Intertextyality, London: Routledge.
  • Coles, R. (2004) Teaching Stories, New York: modern Library.
  • Kay, J. and Gelshenen, R. (2011) Discovering Fiction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Milne, I. R. and Sisler, T. (ed.) (2005) Short Stories for Students, New York: Thomson Gale

Assessment:

  • final Exam (60%)
  • mid-term (20%)
  • class participation, written assignments, presentations, quizzes (15%)
  • Attendence (5%)