kTHE NINETEENTH-CENTURY EUROPEAN SHORT STORY

125
Literary Narrative
Reid
Spring 2010
WIH 022B
 2:00-3:15
 Office:  WIH 357
Office Hours:  T/R 3:30-5:00
Knock any time
 438-7894
E-Mail: jhreid@ilstu.edu
Reid Homepage:  http://lilt.ilstu.edu/jhreid/


     This course will give you a chance to explore a few of the many great nineteenth-century European short stories and novellas.  They represent major trends in nineteenth-century literature :  realism, the psychological novel, and the fantastic. 
     Realist narratives reconstructed and commented upon mostly typical dramas of contemporary life, society, politics, and commerce, placing them in realistic settings.  
     The psychological novel explored the neurotic and even  psychotic minds of central characters.  The fantastic created an atmosphere of uncertainty about whether the events it narrated were real or supernatural, rational or irrational. 
    All of these movements reflect the complex nature of thought in the nineteenth century, when the bourgeoisie was challenging and, in some countries, replacing the dominance of the aristocracy in society and politics, when science, technology, the industrial revolution and commerce were growing rapidly, and when authors and artists reacted both positively and negatively to the resulting, rapid changes in everyday life. 

The general objectives of this course are to: 

1) explore the short narrative form

2) study how they reflect upon social and cultural issues of the nineteenth century.

3) practice and refine skills of thoughtful and reflective reading.


APPROXIMATE SCHEDULE (After each date are the assignments to be completed before class.  This schedule may change according to the pace of the class.  Changes will be announced in class)

Jan. 12 Introduction to course

Jan. 14 Honoré de Balzac, The Girl with the Golden Eyes, Buy book,  (Critical Reading Guide) CRG BalzacGolden I

Jan. 19 The Girl with the Golden Eyes continued, CRG BalzacGolden II

Jan. 21 Balzac, The Princess of Cadignan, Copy from on-line: online text (Click on 1st download, 140 KB, under Handcrafted files), CRG BalzacPrincess I



Jan. 26 The Princess of Cadignan continued, CRG BalzacPrincessII
Jan. 28 Gustave Flaubert A Simple Heart. Buy book, Three Tales. CRG FlaubertSimple I


Feb. 2 A Simple Heart continued, CRG FlaubertSimple II

Feb. 4 Flaubert, The Legend of St. Julian, in Three Tales, CRG FlaubertJulian I


Feb. 9 The Legend of St. Julian continued, CRG FlaubertJulian II

Feb. 11 Guy de Maupassant, Copy from on-line:  Useless Beauty, copy on-line text. CRG MaupassantUselessBeauty


 Feb. 16 The Conservatory, The Signal, and The Necklace. Copy all three from the online Milner e-reserves for this class. On the Milner homepage, click on "find course reserves." Pick my name and the course identification, LAN 125, then search.  CRG Maupassant II

Feb. 18 Heinrich von Kleist, The Marquise of O.   Buy book. CRG KleistMarquise I


Feb. 23 The Marquise of O continued, CRGKleistMarquise II

Feb. 25 Anton Chekhov, Ward Six.  But book or copy on-line text; GLC ChekhovWard6 I


Mar. 2 Ward Six continued, GLC ChekhovWard6 II

Mar. 4, Midterm exam


Mar. 9, 11 Spring Break


Mar. 16 Chekov, A Nervous Breakdown.  CRG Nervous Breakdown Copy from on-line text.

Mar. 18 Franz Kafka, In the Penal Colony, find on e-reserve, CRG Penal Colony [For e-reserve, go to Milner homepage, click on "course reserves" at the upper right of the page, put in my name and the course number (125 under LAN).]

Mar. 19 Paper I due (on any story discussed before the mid-term)

Mar. 23 In the Penal Colony continued, plus Kafka, The Judgment, on e-reserve, CRG Judgment

Mar. 25 Barbey d’Aurévilly, The Crimson Curtain in Les Diaboliques, Buy book. CRG Diaboliques I


Mar. 30 Crimson Curtain continued, CRG Diaboliques II

Apr. 1 E. T.A. Hoffmann, The Sandman, Copy from on-line text.  GLC Sandman


Apr. 6; Sigmund Freud, The Uncanny, Copy from on-line text.  GLC Uncanny

Apr. 8 Todorov, The Fantastic (on-line reserve), GLC The Fantastic

 
Apr. 13 Maupassant, The Horla, Book unavailable, copy from on-line text; GLC The Horla I

Apr. 15, The Horla continued, GLC The Horla II

 

Apr. 20 Henry James, The Turn of the Screw, Buy Book.  GLC TurnofScrew I

Apr. 22 The Turn of the Screw continued, GLC TurnofScrew II

Apr. 23 Paper II due (on any story discussed after the mid-term)
 

Apr. 27 The Turn of the Screw continued, GLC TurnofScrew III

Apr. 29 The Turn of the Screw continued, on-line text:  Kafka stories, GLCReportHunger


May 6 Thursday, 3:10 p.m.  Final Exam
 

REQUIRED TEXTS (to be brought to class when they are discussed)

 Chekov, Anton.  Ward 6. in The Essential Tales of Chekhov.  New York:  Harper Perennial, 2000.
D’Aurévilly, Barbey.  Les Diaboliques.  Ernest Boyd trans.  New York: Dedalus, 2000.
Flaubert, Gustave.  Three Tales. A. J. Krailsheimer, trans.  New York:  Oxford UP, 2009. 
Maupassant, Guy de.  The Horla.  Charlotte Mandell, trans.  New York:  The Art of the Novella, 2005.
James, Henry.  Turn of the screw and other short novels.  New York:  Signet classes, 2007.
Kleist, Heinrich von. The Marquise of O and other stories, Kleist.  Nigel Reeves, trans.  New York:  Penguin Classics, 1978.
Balzac, Honoré.  The Girl with the Golden Eyes.  New York:  Book Jungle, 2007. 

 All other texts will be found on-line.  You must copy them and bring them to class.
 ON RESERVE

Freud, Sigmund.  The Uncanny.  trans. David McLintock.  New York:  Penguin, 2003.
Todorov, Tzvetan. The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre.  Ithaca:  Cornell UP, 1975.


PARTICIPATION

Participation will be graded on a 0-10 scale, 0 for absences.  The grade will be based primarily on voluntary participation, although each class I will choose two or more students to summarize the story.  This summary will constitute the major part of those students' participation grade for that day.  Good summaries do not list all events and actions.  They list those actions and events that are critical to the interpretation of the story.

Each day's participation grade will count for 2/3 of a percentage point of your final grade.

Remember that the exams will be based on class notes and your thoughtful analyses of the stories outside and in class.


CRITICAL READING GUIDES

Critical Reading Guides, with three or four questions on the reading will be found on the on-line syllabus.  They should be copied and brought to class.  I highly recommend, but do not require, that you answer the questions thoughtfully before coming to class. This will enable you to better understand lecture and discussion and help you prepare for papers and the two exams.


PAPERS

You will turn in two 4-5 page papers. 


EXAMS

The midterm exam will cover all material read and discussed in class during the first half of the semester. The final exam will cover all material read and discussed during the second half of the semester.  Both exams will require short essays that take into account questions that we have raised and discussed in class.


EVALUATION

1. Class Participation 20%
2. Two 4-5 page papers 30%
3. Midterm Exam 25%
4. Final Exam 25%
 

Students are expected to behave in a manner consistent with being in a professional environment. Open discussion and disagreement are encouraged if carried out in a respectful manner. Open hostility, rudeness, and incivility or any disruption of class are discouraged and will result in appropriate action. Mechanical disruptions (cell phones, pagers, electronic toys, music players, etc.) are also strongly discouraged.

Students acting in a disruptive or uncivil manner may be dismissed from the class for the remainder of the class period and the following class.  If necessary, referrals may be made to Community Rights & Responsibilities for violations of the Code of Student Conduct.

Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contract Disability Concerns at 350 Fell Hall, 438-5833 (voice) or 438-8620 (TTY).