A Short History of the Short Story

A seminar focused on the short story as a genre, beginning with myths and legends of the pre-modern world, to the split between realism and romanticism in the nineteenth century, then through some of the major figures and modes of the twentieth century (naturalism, modernism, domestic, magical, "dirty" and other forms of realism, identity and multiculturalism, etc). Writing will include interpretive story annotations and creative work in various genres, culminating in a final research-based paper or your own short story.