LFU:online

Students will be able to discuss the most important features, authors, and literary movements of the American short story. They will be able to analyze short stories in regard to their historical context and their themes and topics. A critical examination of the topic will be encouraged, and students will be able to discuss why a text or author is part the literary canon. Students will be able to situate the short story within the context of American literature in general.

Short stories force authors to keep both their topics and their language short and concise and to concentrate on the essentials. Due to this linguistic and narrative reduction short stories are ideally suited to get a quick impression of an author’s preferred topics and their style. In this course we will discuss some of the most important examples of this genre, ranging from Washington Irving’s “Rip van Winkle” to Joanna Russ’s “The Little Dirty Girl”. Together we will analyze the topics and themes of these stories, and we will situate the texts in their historical and literary context. The texts discussed in the course are all part of the reading list for American literature.

Lecture inputs, presentations, group discussions

Active class participation, student presentations, reading and writing assignments, term paper

As far as possible, course materials and selected secondary sources will be posted on e-campus.

for the Bachelor Program (612): positive completion of compulsory module 10, 
for the Teacher Training Program (Lehramtsstudium: 344): VO2: Introduction to American Literary Studies
for BA Lehramt (344): positive completion of compulsory module 13

BA "old" (2009): PS2: American Literature
Teacher Training Program "old" (2001): PS2: American Literature

Due to substantial differences in the allocation of ECTS-Credits in various curricula (teacher training program - BA/MA English and American Studies), the requirements for this course vary. Information will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the course.