DR. jirousek

DR. JIROUSEK

Email: LJirouse@nyit.edu Phone: (212) 261-1726

Office: 402A Main Building Office Hours: M/W

Website: http://iris.nyit.edu/~ljirouse 1-2:00, T 3:45-4:45

Required Text:

Charters, Ann. The Story and Its Writer. Compact 7^th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2007.

ISBN 0-312-44271-8
Course Description:

In this course, you will have the opportunity to explore a popular and accessible form of writing known as the short story. We will examine works written within the last 200 years by a variety of authors. Our study will focus on how stories are put together and what effects they can have. We also will look at critical commentaries, many by the authors themselves, to help us understand and discuss the fiction. Together, we will discover how fiction offers both a window into ourselves and a gateway into the world around us.

Requirements include 2 exams (50%), 2 discussion questions/presentations (20%), frequent in-class or homework writing assignments or quizzes (15%), and participation in discussion (15%). This is a discussion-based class requiring your active involvement, and participation is therefore a significant part of your grade. Good participants prepare for class, attend class consistently, arrive on time, and contribute productively and enthusiastically to class activities and discussions. Keep up with the readings. Read actively, taking notes, thinking through the texts, asking questions to yourself, and preparing to discuss your ideas in class.

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  Attend class faithfully; as per college-wide policy, missing more than 2 times in a class that meets once a week is grounds for withdrawal from the course or automatic failure.
  
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  Do not leave the classroom during class, unless you have a genuine emergency; in such a rare case, gain my permission before leaving. I will incorporate a brief break about midway through each class.
  
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  Arrive on time; 3 times late = one absence. Late arrivals also apply to returning from the class break.
  
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  If you must miss a class, you are responsible for finding out what you missed and catching up; contact me or consult a classmate.
  
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  Cell phones/beepers/radios must be switched off and out of sight in my classroom at all times.
  
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  No food in the classroom unless you receive permission from the professor.
  
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  Bring your course book to class every day.
  
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  Bring only materials/objects appropriate for class work
  
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  Disruptive behavior is unacceptable
  

Taking someone else's published or unpublished words and turning them in as your own is plagiarism (cheating) and violates NYIT’s Student Code of Conduct. If you are caught plagiarizing, you will face serious consequences, which may include any and all of the following: failure in the course, failure on the assignment, a lowered participation grade, referral to the dean for further disciplinary action. Do not plagiarize!

If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation in this course or have questions about physical access, please inform the professor as soon as possible.

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  The schedule is subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances. You are responsible for knowing about and abiding by any changes, which will be announced in class.
  

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  com.=commentary/commentaries
  

Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” (handout)

(1039-59); Poe “The Cask of Horror and Suspense

Amontillado” (698-704) and

com. (907-910); Bierce

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek

Bridge” (74-81)

and com. (880-84); Hurston “Sweat” Storytelling

(354-63) and com. (873-77, 930-31)
9/28 4. Appendix 3 (1060-69), Faulkner Conflict in Community Life;

“A Rose for Emily” (285-92) and History of the Short Story

com. (866-67); Hawthorne “Young

Goodman Brown” (338-48) and

com. (889-92)
10/5 5. Mansfield “The Fly” (505-509) and Dealing with Grief;

com. (846-51); Mukherjee “The Writing About Fiction

Management of Grief” (564-77);

Appendix 4 (1070-82 only)

and com. (910-15); Hemingway

“Hills Like White Elephants” (349-

53); Wolff “Say Yes” (807-11)

Erdrich “The Red Convertible” Discuss Exam

(277-84); Olsen “I Stand Here

Ironing” (670-76)

and com. (877-80); Cheever “The

Swimmer”(132-41) and com.

(854-56)
11/9 10. Melville “Bartleby, the Scrivener” Viewing Others

(530); Welty “A Worn Path” (799-

806) and com. (931-34)

(884-85); Divakaruni “Mrs. Dutta

Writes a Letter” (250-64); Jen

Who’s Irish?” (372-80)

Lahiri “When Mr. Pirzada Came

to Dine” (479-91)
12/7 13. Wright “The Man Who Was Growing Up

Almost a Man” (812-22) and com.

(934-35); Updike “A & P” (782-

87); Cisneros “The House on Mango

Street” (161-63)
12/14 14. Carver “Cathedral” (87-98) and Unexpected Encounters

com. (956-57); O’Connor “A Good

Man is Hard to Find” (622, 648-59)

and com. (972-75, 987-88)