Admission requirements
No extra requirements.
Description
This course examines short stories produced by authors writing in English from the 1870s to the 1950s, and in particular will explore the representation of nationality, identity, the supernatural, language, the family, money, romantic love, sexual desire, friendship and art. The course will employ an eclectic theoretical framework to contextualise the works we will discuss, from Freud to Kierkegaard, Klein to Cavell, Weil to Benjamin. We will also investigate the generic opportunities and limitations of the short story, relate the form to its place in the literary marketplace, and will endeavour to position the works and their representation of their protagonists within their cultural and historical context.
Of the twelve writers studied in this course, three were born in Ireland, one in what has been called ‘the Polish Ukraine’, one in New Zealand, one in India, one in Denmark, two in America, one in Scotland, and two in England.
Course objectives
This course will extend and deepen the power of students’ literary critical analysis through in-depth consideration of texts. Students will explore critical debates surrounding the representation of reality in the short story. Regarding literary works, the course will also aim to extend the students’ skills in the reading of narrative and the understanding of the relationship of a text to its cultural/social context. Students will be encouraged to share analytical and critical views on the texts ascribed in class discussion, including short presentations, and will focus research skills in the writing of a final research paper. This paper will be on a relevant subject of their own choice within the parameters of the course.
Timetable
Tuesday 15.00-17.00
The timetable will be available by June 1st on the website.
WEEK ONE: Sheridan Le Fanu, ‘Green Tea’, ‘The Familiar’ and ‘Carmilla’ from In A Glass Darkly (Oxford World’s Classics).
WEEK TWO: Henry James, ‘Daisy Miller’, ‘The Lesson of the Master’, ‘The Real Thing’, ‘Greville Fane’, ‘The Middle Years’, ‘The Death of the Lion’, ‘The Figure in the Carpet’, ‘The Real Right Thing’, and ‘The Jolly Corner’, from Selected Tales (Penguin Classics).
WEEK THREE: Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘A Scandal In Bohemia’, ‘A Case Of Identity’, ‘The Red Headed League’, ‘The Man With The Twisted Lip’, ‘The Speckled Band’, ‘The Blue Carbuncle’, ‘The Copper Beeches’, from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) and ‘Silver Blaze’, ‘The Greek Interpreter’, ‘The Naval Treaty’, and ‘The Final Problem’, from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) (published together in Penguin Classics).
WEEK FOUR: Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows’, ‘Lispeth’, ‘Beyond the Pale’, ‘The Man Who Would Be King’, ‘The Head of the District’, ‘The Courting of Dinah Shadd’, ‘The Man Who Was’, ‘Without Benefit of Clergy’, ‘On Greenhow Hill’, ‘The Miracle of Purun Bhagat’, ‘“They”’, ‘Mary Postgate’, ‘The Wish House’, ‘The Gardener’, from Selected Stories (Penguin Modern Classics).
WEEK FIVE: M. R. James, ‘Canon Alberic’s Scrap Book’, ‘The Mezzotint’, ‘Number 13’, ‘Count Magnus’, ‘“Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come To You, My Lad”’, ‘Casting the Runes’, ‘An Episode of Cathedral History’, ‘The Neighbour’s Landmark’, and ‘A Warning to the Curious’, from Casting the Runes and Other Ghost Stories (Oxford World’s Classics).
WEEK SIX: Joseph Conrad, Typhoon and Other Tales.
WEEK SEVEN James Joyce, Dubliners.
WEEK EIGHT: D. H. Lawrence, ‘The White Stocking’, ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’, ‘The Prussian Officer’, ‘England, My England’, ‘The Horse Dealer’s Daughter’, ‘The Blind Man’, ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’, ‘The Man Who Loved Islands’, and ‘Things’, from Selected Stories (Penguin Classics).
WEEK NINE: Katherine Mansfield, ‘At The Bay’, ‘The Garden Party’, ‘The Daughters of the Late Colonel’, ‘Mr and Mrs Dove’, ‘The Young Girl’, ‘Life Of Ma Parker’, Marriage à la Mode’, and ‘Miss Brill’ from The Garden Party, and Other Stories (Penguin Classics).
WEEK TEN: Elizabeth Bowen, ‘Daffodils’, ‘The Shadowy Third’, ‘The Visitor’, ‘The Back Drawing Room’, ‘The Good Girl’, ‘The Cat Jumps’, ‘Her Table Spread’, ‘Summer Night’, ‘In the Square’, ‘Sunday Afternoon’, ‘The Demon Lover’, ‘The Happy Autumn Fields’, ‘Ivy Gripped The Steps’, ‘Green Holly’ and ‘Mysterious Kor’, from Collected Stories (Vintage).
WEEK ELEVEN: Izak Dinesen [Karen Blixen], Winter’s Tales.
WEEK TWELVE: Flannery O’Connor, ‘A Stroke of Good Fortune’, ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’, ‘The Life You Save May Be Your Own’, ‘The Temple of the Holy Ghost’, ‘The Artificial Nigger’, ‘Good Country People’, ‘Everything That Rises Must Converge’, ‘Revelation’, ‘Parker’s Back’, ‘Judgment Day’, in Complete Stories (Faber & Faber).
Mode of instruction
Seminar (2 hours per week)
Assessment method
The final mark is based on active class participation and either two final essays (roughly 2000-2500 words) or one final essay (4000-5000 words).
Blackboard
Blackboard is used to inform students and to post questions and responses.
Reading list
Sheridan Le Fanu: In a Glass Darkly (Oxford World’s Classics).
Henry James: Selected Tales (Penguin Classics).
Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (published together in one volume by Penguin Classics).
Rudyard Kipling: Selected Stories (Penguin Modern Classics).
M. R. James: Casting the Runes, and Other Ghost Stories (Oxford World’s Classics).
Joseph Conrad: Typhoon, and Other Tales (Oxford World’s Classics).
D. H. Lawrence: Selected Stories (Penguin Classics).
James Joyce: Dubliners (Penguin Modern Classics).
D. H. Lawrence: Selected Stories (Penguin Classics).
Katherine Mansfield: “The Garden Party” and Other Stories (Penguin Classics).
Elizabeth Bowen: The Collected Stories (Vintage).
Izak Dinesen [Karen Blixen]: Winter’s Tales (Penguin).
Flannery O’Connor: Complete Stories (Faber & Faber).
Registration
Students should register through uSis. Exchange students cannot register through uSis, but must see the director of studies and register with her. If you have any questions, please contact the departmental office, tel. 071 5272144 or mail: english@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
Exchange and Study Abroad students, please see the Study in Leiden website for information on how to apply
Contact information
Departmental Office English Language and Culture, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 102C. Tel. 071 5272144; or mail: english@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
Studentcounsellor Bachelor: Ms T.D. Obbens, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 103B.
Coordinator of Studies Master: Ms T.D. Obbens, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 103B.
Remarks
BEFORE THE FIRST CLASS, YOU MUST SHERIDAN LE FANU’S STORIES, ‘GREEN TEA’, ‘THE FAMILIAR’ AND ‘CARMILLA’ FROM IN A GLASS DARKLY.