English 4

Dr. Murphy

Web Publishing and the Art of Story

85 Points

“Unlike the novel, the short story may be, for all purposes, essential”

--Jose Luis Borges

Edgar Allan Poe took writing to be a moral task that worked not through teaching lessons, but in simultaneously stimulating his readers' mental, emotional, and spiritual faculties through texts of absolute integrity. He also loved the short story because all of these issues begin to be stirred in one sitting. One wonders about short fiction today: is Poe’s “single effect” still of central importance? Is short fiction getting shorter? How much space does an author need to create an authentic aesthetic experience? Think about these things as you re-read your featured short story.

Primary Texts

From The Art of Story

1)  Saro-Wiwa: "Africa Kills Her Sun" (519)

2)  Banks: “My Mother’s Memoir, My Father’s Lies…” (64)

3)  Danticat: “The Night Women” (196)

4)  Cisneros: "Never Marry a Mexican" (179)

5)  Huong: “Reflections of Spring” (227)

6)  Diaz: “Ysrael” (211)

7)  Huelle, “Moving House” (331)

8)  Wolff: “The Night in Question” (637)

9)  Willams, “The Farm” (608)

Goal: The Assignment

The main goal is to review and refine our knowledge of the elements of fiction/literature as they appear in shorter fiction. What literary devices do authors use to tell stories and convey meaning? What other components contribute to both writing and (critical) reading of short stories? Together with your colleagues, you will discuss these matters and publish your findings on a website. Your assignment, then, is to comprehensively respond to one of the above short stories through the medium of an original website. Models for this assignment—both positive and negative (and remember, negative examples can be uniquely instructive)—will be posted on the class blog.

Process: Content, Journey, and Schedule

The plan is that you collaborate in a variety of areas. You will have time to discuss your featured story together, time to locate and discuss the literary elements of the story, time to design (visualize, organize, sketch, mock-up) your website, and time to execute your plan. We have plenty of library time; still, you may need to work at home. It’s all about organization, communication, creativity, and, of course, a sturdy/reliable work ethic.

Schedule:

Friday, 1/21: Receive Assignment

Friday-Monday, 1/21-1/24: Imagining, researching, communicating (do you have contact info for your team?)

Monday, 1/24: In C-Lab. (Tutorial on creating a PBWIKI); Vocab. 18 on your own.

Tuesday, 1/25: Vocabulary test (15-16); in C-Lab (at work)

TR, 1/27: In C-Lab (at work)

Friday, 1/28: In C-Lab (at work)

Monday, 1/31: In C-Lab (at Work); Vocabulary 17

Tuesday, 2/1: Laptops (room 2)

TR, 2/3: In library (at work)

Friday, 2/4: In Class SSR (Poisonwood Bible)

Monday, 2/7: In Library (at work)

Tuesday-Thursday, 2/8-2/10-presentation of Web Pages (This is a central component! More on this later--there is a format.)

Friday, 2/11 Quest© on all Terms!

Your Web Pages: The Elements of Literature (and More!)

Each of your pages (which, together, will comprise your website) should be roughly 100 words in length (sometimes more, sometimes less.) The first thing we need to see when we click on any given page is a definition of the term or concept (and be sure to cite properly.) Then, you move on to the examples from your story (and be sure to cite properly.) Most of the time the pages will be purely textual; however, there are plenty of opportunities for you to mix your media. For example, is there a call for an audio component or two? Something of a video nature? Other visual imagery? Other media? You decide: you will be rewarded for a judicious and a creative use of all available media.

Mandatory Elements:

  1. Main Page: Make it Pop. Include title, author, year of publication, and a superb synopsis (of the story and, if you want, what you hope to accomplish in your site and/or a brief description of your approach.)
  2. About the Author (important biographical facts, etc)
  3. Vocabulary from the story (at least 10 words people are less likely to know.)
  4. Point of View (Narrative voice)
  5. Setting
  6. Conflict(s)
  7. Antecedent Action
  8. Plot/sub-plot
  9. Character(s) (flat, stock, round, protagonist, antagonist, etc)
  10. Characterization
  11. Climax
  12. Resolution
  13. Themes (3-5)
  14. Notable Quotes/Excerpts/Passages (be comprehensive; be bold)
  15. Essential Questions (4-6 multidimensional discussion questions)
  16. Style (research/apply this well)
  17. Mood
  18. Tone
  19. Imagery
  20. Symbol (be specific: literary, conventional, universal, etc.)

Optional Elements

  1. Cross-Disciplinary Connections (As discussed in class, this page is a chance to show additional content. If skateboarding is a topic, create a page describing it as a phenomenon; if the main character is a cellist, maybe a page on the cello; a character is reading a book on the Dalai Lama…you get the picture.)
  2. Foil
  3. Antihero
  4. Editorial omniscience
  5. Neutral omniscience
  6. Limited omniscience
  7. In media res
  8. Flashback
  9. Stream of consciousness
  10. Unreliable narrator
  11. Naïve narrator
  12. Irony (verbal, situational, etc.)
  13. Sarcasm
  14. Allegory
  15. Exposition
  16. Initial Incident
  17. Rising Action
  18. Turning Point (catastrophe)
  19. Falling Action
  20. Allusion
  21. Archetype
  22. Epiphany
  23. Foreshadowing
  24. Hyperbole
  25. Genre
  26. Metaphor (synecdoche, metonymy)
  27. Parody
  28. Recognition
  29. Satire
  30. Persona

All of the above terms—both “mandatory” and “optional”—will appear on your Quest©; they need not appear, except, of course, for the “mandatory,” on your web page.

Note: You may use any source for term definitions; again, you are looking for the literary definitions of these terms. Cite properly. Here’s a pretty good site: http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/general/glossary.htm

It’s made by college undergrads, and there are better ones out there, but what the heck?

There is (as you know well) also the link to the Literary Terms Glossary on our Class Eb Page.

AND: Why not use a book source from the library. Superb sources are here at your finger tips!

Cite Properly

Assessment/Accountability

There is no “I” in “team.” This is a group project—not four sub-projects where the mini-bits are grafted together in a Frankensteinian fashion; and you will be graded not only on the excellence of the final version your website, but on the style, method, and character of your working community. For example, there are ways for your instructor to verify your labor hours on Wikispaces. More on this in due course More on this in due course.

EXCELSIOR