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School of Undergraduate Studies Ambedkar University Delhi Course Outline Course Code: EN13 Title: Modern Short Fiction and Novellas Type of Course: ( Discipline) Cohort for which it compulsory: NA Cohort for which it is elective: Elective for English Major and for all other Programmes No of Credits: 4 Semester and Year Offered: 5th semester Course Coordinator and Team: Diamond Oberoi Vahali Email of course coordinator: [email protected] Pre-requisites: Interest in fiction and the ability to analyze it Aim: This course looks at Fiction as a specific category in literature with its own peculiar characteristics. While the course will delve into the various themes of the stories and novellas listed below, it will also closely study the form as well as the various literary devices and styles employed by the writers. While analyzing the stories, each story will be contextualized in the time, history and locale in which it is written as well as in the biographical and psychic trajectory of the author. The course proposes to undertake an in depth analysis of the stories. The purpose of the course is also to help the students develop a comprehensive understanding of fiction as a distinct genre in literature with its own specific forms of perceiving and registering reality in all its varied manifestations. The selection of stories is especially designed to offer a wide range of themes as well as forms. The themes of the course will range from themes related to Love, passion, desire, struggle, resilience, poverty, marginalization, grief, patriarchy and the struggle of women against it, to themes related to capitalism, consumerism and its impact on the psyche of little children. Some of the stories also include themes related to the partition of the Indian subcontinent and the psychic devastation that it caused, racism, apartheid, hatred, inhumanity and callousness as well as themes related to alienation, nostalgia and the longing for one’s homeland. The stories are selected keeping in mind the need to broaden the perspective of the readers. For this purpose, each story belongs to a different sub-genre and represents different modes of writing. As the writers belong to different countries, hence the present selection almost serves as a window to the literature of various countries. The stories represent Indian Regional literature; Urdu literature, Bangla literature and Hindi literature, European literature: Russian literature, British literature, American literature, Latin American literature, African literature, and writings from the Indian Diaspora. Similarly, the selected stories represent a few specific sub-genres; such as suspense narratives, allegory, satire, epistolary writing, partition narratives, political allegories, autobiographical writings, protest narratives, subaltern literature, among several other forms of writings. Brief description of modules/ Main modules: Module 1: Novellas The first module will deal with two significant novellas. The module will undertake an in depth analysis of the two novellas listed below: Marquez, No one Writes to the Colonel Hemmingway, The Old Man and the Sea Module 11: Short Fiction The second module will undertake an indepth analysis of the nine short stories listed below Dostovesky, “ White Nights” Kafka, “In the Penal Colony” D. H. Lawrence, “The Rocking Horse Winner” Rabindranath Tagore, “A Wife’s Letter” Rasheed Jahan, “A Trip to Delhi” Chekhov, “Grief” Roger Mais, “Blackout” Rassundari Devi, Selection from “Amar Jiban” Maupassant “Forgiveness” Indicative Reading list (Students are expected to select stories from the following list for presentations): Marquez, “The Incredible Tale of Innocent Eriendera and her Wicked Grandmother” Mahasweta Devi, “The Breast Giver” Nikolai Gogol, “The Overcoat” Kamleshwar, “How Many Pakistans” Alice Walker, “The Abortion” Alex La Guma, “The Blanket” Edgar Allan Poe, “The Purloined Letter” Charalotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wall Paper” Jhumpa Lahri, “When Mr. Pirzada came to Dine” Premchand, “Kafan” Gorki, “One Autumn” Ray Bradbury, “The Fog Horn” Bessie Head, “Heaven is not Closed” M.G. Vassanji, “Leaving” Assessment Details with weights: Term Paper and presentation 30%, Class Participation 10%, writing a Journal 30%, analyzing a critical essay related to the art of fiction /Short story 30%