21L.000/21W.041  Writing About Literature

In this course, we’re going to focus on the brevity, tautness, and focus of the short story and consider how so few words can add up to so much. We’ll read a variety of stories by writers including Jamaica Kincaid, Raymond Carver, Kate Chopin, Zora Neale Hurston, and Junot Diaz. Reading stories for the sheer pleasure of it is one thing; thinking about how they do what they do is another; expressing those thoughts in writing is still another. In this class, we’ll be doing all three. My hope is that you learn to enjoy reading and understanding stories more fully and that you become more confident in your ability to express yourself effectively, efficiently, and gracefully.