I.
Book List
A.
Required Texts:
Carver,
Raymond What
We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Gill,
Brendan Here at the New Yorker
Kincaid, JamaicaAnnie
John
Salinger,
J.D. Nine Stories
Each
Weekly Issue of The New Yorker (beginning with the issue for the
currentweek
and continuing through the final week of class)
Anthology
of New Yorker fiction
and poetry: Details to be announced
B.
Background and "Reserve" Texts:
Adler, RenataGone:
The Last Days of The New Yorker
Corey,
Mary. The
World Through a Monocle: The New
Yorker
at Midcentury.
Grant,
Jane Ross, The
New Yorker and Me
Kahn,
E.J., Jr. About
The New Yorker and Me
Kramer,
Dale Ross
and The New Yorker
Kunkel,
Thomas Genius in Disguise:
Harold Ross of The
New
Yorker
Ross,
Harold. Letters from the Editor:
The New Yorker's Harold
Ross
Mehta, Ved.
Ross, Lillian. Here But
Not Here Remembering Mr. Shawn's New
Yorker.
Thurber,
James The
Years With Ross
Yagoda,
BenAbout
Town
C.
Suggested Text:
Strunk
and White The
Elements of Style
II.
Course Description and Objectives
The
New
Yorker short story probably “causes more debate, and results in more
distemper, than anything else about the magazine," observes Dale Kramer
in Ross and The New Yorker. One of
the major reasons for this debate is the denial by many (among them New
Yorker editors and staff members through the years) of the existence
of "a New Yorker story." In this seminar we will read and
discuss stories and poems by writers from each of these categories: (1)
those whose work has appeared regularly in the magazine and who are by
reputation New Yorker writers, (2) those who have published stories
or poems in The New Yorker but who are not known as New Yorker
writers, and (3) writers who publish regularly in the magazine but whose
stories or poems seem at first glance odd choices for the magazine given
its audience. Against these three groups we will place the fiction
writers and poets whose work happens to appear in the current issues of
The
New Yorker during the semester. One major objective will be to
determine if there is such a thing as "a New Yorker story" (or poem)
and if it makes sense (particularly in light of
recent and obvious changes in the magazine) to talk about The
New Yorker school of fiction; in much the same way, we will also examine
whether there is a New Yorker school of poetry, reading and discussing
poems published in the magazine from 1925 to the present.In
the course of the semester we will also be examining historical details
about the magazine, including the editorial principles upon which Harold
Ross founded it in 1925 and the degree to which William Shawn carried Ross's
vision into the 1980's.
III.
Assignments
A.
Assigned readings, including short stories, poems, and background readings.
Participation
in seminar discussions of readings and Blackboard postings.5%
of grade.
B.
10-minute report, historical and anecdotal. 10%
of grade (5% for the presentation, 5% for the short written report).Paper
is due two weeks after you have given your oral report.
C.
Bibliography and Prefatory Note. 15% of grade.
D. A 15-20- minute oral report
on your work in progress as your research develops on the author you have
chosen (for C above and for your final paper). Not graded, since
results will show up in your final paper.
E.
Final paper: a paper of approximately 20 pages in which you explore
an original thesis about the short fiction of the author you have chosen.
70% of course grade.
IV. Expanded Notes on the
Assignments
A.Seminar
Participation. 5% of course grade.In
addition to the readings and seminar discussions, you are to post a minimum
of five substantive responses to questions and topics that I will post
on Blackboard.
B.Historical/Anecdotal
Talk and Paper: 10% of course grade.
This talk is designed to
acquaint the class with some item related to The New Yorker--generally
historical and generally from the years with Ross and Shawn. A list
of possibilities will be given to you, and each of you will select one
of them. You will turn in a written paper that grows out of this
report (three or so pages, with bibliography). I
expect this to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the research that
you willdo in the course.
The work you will do will fill in gaps for other members of theseminar.
In the talk itself, be sure that you focus your topic sharply enough thatyou
can present it in a ten-minute report. Create a context for your
topic for theclass and
clearly organize the material that youpresent.
Your paper will give you a chance to crystallize your ideas and perhaps
elaborate on things you were not
able to present in class. Document your paper, using footnotes and
abibliography.
C. Bibliography and Prefatory Bibliographical
Note: 15% of course grade
.Select
the New Yorker author you wish to study in detail. Do a job
as thorough as possible of compiling a bibliography which has the following
headings: (1) Novels by (2) Poems by (3) Essays by (4) Short Stories
by (annotated to include, when possible, subsequent reprintings
of each story) (5) Books about (6) Articles about. This will ultimately
be the bibliography for your end-of-term paper. The bibliography
is due two weeks before end of the semester with first draft of final paper.The
purpose of the bibliography and note is to acquaint the reader with the
number and kinds of writings by the author and with the amount of critical
work that has been done on the author. I recognize several variables
that will affect the completeness of your bibliography, and ask only (or
mainly) that you demonstrate in it an honest attempt to explore the resources
available. If a bibliography (book-length) is available, list it
in your own bibliography and describe its strengths and weaknesses.
Is it outdated, for example? Does it seem complete based on your
own spot checking of a few of its entries? If there are useful selected
bibliographies contained in other books, list them. On the other
hand, if there appears to be no bibliography available for your author
(available to you, anyhow), your own bibliography will include only those
things that you have been able to locate yourself. If this is the
case, be sure to say so in your note. In any case, do the following
in your bibliography:
1.
Avoid duplicating someone else's bibliography. Simply refer the reader
to it.
2.
Place an asterisk by those works that you actually consulted, leaving withoutan
asterisk
those works you know of only second-hand.
3.
Include a bibliographical note (probably before the bibliography proper)
which
describes
the procedures you followed and the problems you encountered in
researching
your author. Don't overdo this note: your efforts will usuallyshow.
4.
Follow the MLA or Chicago Style consistently in your entries.
5.
We will discuss documentation of electronic resources in class.
D. 15-20 Minute
Oral Report: This
report should have two purposes: to acquaint the class with your
author (through giving bibliographical details) and to introduce the class
to the author through a close analysis and discussion of one of his or
her works. To accomplish this last purpose you should select a New
Yorker story or poem by your author. We will arrange for copies
of it to be available to everyone one week before your report. Everyone
will read the story or poem, and you will briefly introduce us to the author's
themes, style, etc. through comments about the specific work. Here
the object is to have you give other seminar members benefit of your research
on the author you have chosen to work with, using a specific story or poem
by that author.In each case, everyone
will receive a copy of the work that you will use and read it before the
class during which you are to lead the discussion.
E.Final
Paper.70% percent of course grade.I
would like for you somehow to relate your thesis to The New Yorker even if
this means that you will simply restrict your discussion to the author's
New
Yorker stories (or poems); or you will, perhaps, want to compare
The
New Yorker stories with stories from other magazines. If all
this fails, see me. Some of you have spoken to me about modifying this
final paper to focus on poetry rather than short fiction.This
will be fine (and I’ve built in that option in the preceding descriptions).We
will discuss this in more detail in class.While
the main focus of our concern is with the New Yorker school of fiction,
this focus by one or more of you on the poetry will add a rich dimension
to our course. A rough draft of the paper will be due approximately two
weeks before the end of class.I
will read the drafts and return them.Then
the final paper will be due on the final day of class. .
You are free to choose any writer who has
published a story (or poem) in
The New Yorker as a subject for your
research. Some authors will be better suited to this study than others.
For example, the more "contemporary" an author, the less likely you are
to have to pour through volumes of criticism, etc.--not to mention the
greater likelihood that you will be able to "break new ground" with your
study. Above all, select a writer you care about.
As
you write the paper you might want to keep the things below in mind.
I know that many of the questions and comments address issues with which
you are thoroughly familiar. I want to underline here my own feeling
that they are the foundation of a good paper. The grade that you
receive on the paper will be based primarily on how well your paper demonstrates
your concern with the basic principles below.
1.
Is the paper unified by a central thesis, and does it develop the thesis
in
well-organized, fully developed paragraphs?
2. Is
the thesis original? Is it provocative? Does it make the reader
want to see
itexplored?
3.
Is the paper coherent? Does it flow smoothly from one idea to the
next, from
one sentence to the next, from paragraph to paragraph? Are its conclusions
andprogressions
logical?
4.
Area the ideas supported with concrete details from the texts of the author's
works?
5.
Are ideas from outside sources properly and fully documented using the
MLAstyle
or the Chicago
style consistently?
6.
Does the paper conform to accepted rules of grammar, usage, etc. set forth
in
theStrunk and White.