In this ongoing seminar exploring how the arts affect us and why they matter, the course this term will consider outstanding examples of the American short story in its first century. Authors will include moderns such as Anderson, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, and Porter; near antecedents such as James, Bierce, Cather, London, and Twain; and ancestors such as Irving, Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe. While the focus will be on the art of fiction in the individual story, the course will also consider developments in subject matter, style, technique, and effect culminating in the modern American short story of the 1920s and 30s. Supplemented as necessary, the text will be the paperback Great American Short Stories, ed. Paul Negri (Dover 2002), available from Amazon for less than $10. The first class will discuss Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” plus a bonus poem, Emily Dickinson’s “To Lose One’s Faith.” For receiving class assignments and supplemental materials, an e-mail address is a must. Limit 20.

Joseph Longino, PhD
10:00—Noon Tuesday, Starts Feb. 18
Westover Hills Church of Christ, Room 203/204
8332 Mesa Drive (78759)