Telling Stories

Full course description

Easy to read on your smartphone, sometimes in just as little as a couple minutes while waiting on your bus or train, short fiction has become increasingly popular over the past years. Yet, this literary genre has a long tradition. In this course, we will dive into the history and genre of the short story, by reading and analyzing several telling stories, as well as telling short stories ourselves. We will look into aspects and concepts such as genre, plot, beginning and endings, character, setting, point of view, narration, texture and pace, style, and reflect on the relationship between the author, the text, and the reader. We will combine academic analysis with the hands-on craft of creative writing, which allows you to gain a deeper understanding of how narratives work and how they produce meanings. By (re)writing stories yourself, you will have a better idea of literary theories and concepts. At the same time, these theories will enable you to become a better writer. Peer and tutor feedback will be a key aspect of this course. The collection of short stories we will look at varies every year, but aims to cover a diverse range of stories and authors. This year, these include for instance Virginia Woolf, Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Chinua Achebe, Bernadine Evaristo, and Sally Rooney.