Miall -- Engl 206: Short Story Projects

Engl 206: The Short Story

Students' Projects April 6-9 2001

Requirement: Offer a theory of the short story, drawing for examples on several of the stories in The Art of Short Fiction (ed. Gary Geddes). This will analyse the characteristics of the genre, placing it in a literary, historical, or cultural context.

Presentation of the projects (click on image to enlarge):

Viewing the project displays, April 6

Presenting Project #3

Presenting Project #6

Presenting Project #7

The Projects (click on image to enlarge)

Project display and my comments

Additional materials

Web of Theory. The theories of four short story writers are presented: Gallant, MacLeod, Mansfield, and Poe. Each is applied to the writer's own story and applied to three or four other stories. Coloured strings lead the reader's eye to these discussions, with the colours coded to indicate the relevance of the theory: agree, disagree, or neutral. For instance, Mansfield's emphasis on the moment is not kept by MacLeod, whose story covers a large span of time. The method allows a number of specific insights to be generated about each story, although some comments seem a little adventitious: e.g., that Mansfield and Poe are similar because both emphasize tone. There are two main limitations with the approach: historical differences between the authors is elided (only the panel on Mansfield bears a date); and there is no overall view of the short story and the value of the theories discussed. No research beyond the anthology is represented.
Michael's comments on Poe's theory

Variations of Theory. The poster supports discussions of four authors: Poe, Conrad, Hemingway, and Woolf, each accompanied by a hand-drawn illustration (two coloured). The treatment of each author is provided on one or two of essay-type pages folded on the poster -- not too easy to read for the class -- but the comments are pithy, and show evidence of research beyond the anthology as well as making brief comments on the anthologized story. The overall theoretical statement is modest, but suggests that features that draw the reader into the story are most important. These include stereotypes, the use of time, and the author's ability to draw on personal experience.

Intense Experience. The focus on "intense experience" is made concrete with discussions of four stories by O'Connor, Laurence, Chopin, and Bierce. Their biographies are also provided in differing amounts of detail; in some cases (especially Laurence) this background helps explain the nature of the story by that author. Varying with the story in question, the fous on experience helps to justify discontinuities, focus on detail, the use of symbolism, etc. The short story in this way is characterized primarily as a psychological experience, one that evokes surprise in the reader. The stories are representative of a claim that could certainly be made about the short story more generally, although not all would fit -- some authors remain more interested in the unfolding and relation of events; they are "tale tellers" in Hanson's scheme (e.g., Poe; Pritchett; O'Faolain). Kathryn Reese's comments on intensity, Chopin and Laurence
Laura on "Good Country People"

Stereotypes. While this approach would be less appropriate for short stories in general, it is used here with significant results to interpret four specific stories by Munro, Laurence, O'Connor, and King. Each story is represented on one panel, including an appropriate picture or diagram. The treatment of Munro, for example, is particularly effective in revealing the various layers of prejudice and stereotyping that underlie the plot. The analyses are helpfully supported by several quotations from published criticism, showing that a good deal of research was carried out. The King account is perhaps the thinnest, but this may reflect the paucity of criticism on a rather recent writer. It would be helpful to historicize the question of stereotyping: it seems of particular relevance to the more recent stories we have examined, rather as if there is nothing beneath the stereotype (as some postmodern critics have asserted).

Short Story vs. Novel. A number of virtues are claimed for the short story over the novel: its singleness, compression, simplicity; its greater challenge to convention (these claims are based primarily on May, who derives some of them from Poe). While the novel seems to get a bad press in this treatment, it does reveal some useful aspects of the short story. The presentation draws on a number of writers (Lawrence, Woolf, Poe, O'Connor, Mansfield, Munro, Joyce), and these are deployed not to offer readings of each story, but to illuminate specific aspects, such as character, male vs. female styles, time, and Gordimer's "Light of the Flash." For example, free indirect discourse is claimed to be primarily a female style, and Hanson is cited in support of this, saying that Mansfield and Woolf were among the first to develop it (historically, perhaps Joyce has priority). Overall, an oppositional stance (these texts are not novels) gives a good impetus to the individual analyses, and these are often rich and interesting. At the same time, it perhaps authorizes a rather loose approach; it isn't clear in the end what is distinctive about the short story, given that character, time, free indirect discourse, etc., must also be considered a significant parts of novels too. Text of Powerpoint presentation

Literary Eras. The focus on literary eras, which could have been rather too broad, is focused helpfully on some specific features: the unconscious, the inner world, and the epiphany. While it isn't clear what historical changes are at issue, there was some attempt to relate these to the culture of the times in which the stories were written during the presentation (unfortunately truncated for lack of class time). Attention is mainly given to Poe, Lawrence, Laurence, Gallant, and MacLeod. While the analyses of the stories are often effective, the treatment of postmodernism is perhaps the least satisfactory -- understandably, given its wide and often contradictory features, and the attempt to apply it to writers as different as Laurence and Gallant (it works much better with Gallant, who evidently fulfils the prescription of Hanson more closely).
Penelope's comments on Romantic period and Poe

Male vs. Female Style. An impressive, professional quality poster in addition to a brief Powerpoint display that gave the summary headings: Iceberg vs. Needle, Abstract vs. Concrete, etc. The poster provides an overview of the theoretical issues, authored by Omar. This is partly persuasive -- it's a little difficult to see Laurence and Hemingway in the same category, if Hemingway's iceberg model is taken as representative of the male writer. The treatment of the female writers is more effective, given that the examples chosen are Chopin, Mansfield, and Woolf. Five stories are given specific critical discussions, each by a different student. Each in its various way relates critical insights to the details of the story, including the occasional critical quotation. The treatment of the stories is not often related to the theoretical generalizations, so the male-female distinction tends to be sidelined, although available by inference. But some conclusions can be drawn about the use of time, the effects of style, etc.: in particular, there may be a distinctive female style of the short story if we limit ourselves to the modernist genre from which these examples come. Shouldn't the title read "perspective on the short story" (not of)?
Text of Powerpoint slides

Theoretical overview

to Miall home page

Document prepared April 10th 2001


Viewing the project displays, April 6	Presenting Project #3	Presenting Project #6	Presenting Project #7

Project display and my comments	Additional materials
Web of Theory. The theories of four short story writers are presented: Gallant, MacLeod, Mansfield, and Poe. Each is applied to the writer's own story and applied to three or four other stories. Coloured strings lead the reader's eye to these discussions, with the colours coded to indicate the relevance of the theory: agree, disagree, or neutral. For instance, Mansfield's emphasis on the moment is not kept by MacLeod, whose story covers a large span of time. The method allows a number of specific insights to be generated about each story, although some comments seem a little adventitious: e.g., that Mansfield and Poe are similar because both emphasize tone. There are two main limitations with the approach: historical differences between the authors is elided (only the panel on Mansfield bears a date); and there is no overall view of the short story and the value of the theories discussed. No research beyond the anthology is represented.	Michael's comments on Poe's theory
Variations of Theory. The poster supports discussions of four authors: Poe, Conrad, Hemingway, and Woolf, each accompanied by a hand-drawn illustration (two coloured). The treatment of each author is provided on one or two of essay-type pages folded on the poster -- not too easy to read for the class -- but the comments are pithy, and show evidence of research beyond the anthology as well as making brief comments on the anthologized story. The overall theoretical statement is modest, but suggests that features that draw the reader into the story are most important. These include stereotypes, the use of time, and the author's ability to draw on personal experience.
Intense Experience. The focus on "intense experience" is made concrete with discussions of four stories by O'Connor, Laurence, Chopin, and Bierce. Their biographies are also provided in differing amounts of detail; in some cases (especially Laurence) this background helps explain the nature of the story by that author. Varying with the story in question, the fous on experience helps to justify discontinuities, focus on detail, the use of symbolism, etc. The short story in this way is characterized primarily as a psychological experience, one that evokes surprise in the reader. The stories are representative of a claim that could certainly be made about the short story more generally, although not all would fit -- some authors remain more interested in the unfolding and relation of events; they are "tale tellers" in Hanson's scheme (e.g., Poe; Pritchett; O'Faolain).	Kathryn Reese's comments on intensity, Chopin and Laurence Laura on "Good Country People"
Stereotypes. While this approach would be less appropriate for short stories in general, it is used here with significant results to interpret four specific stories by Munro, Laurence, O'Connor, and King. Each story is represented on one panel, including an appropriate picture or diagram. The treatment of Munro, for example, is particularly effective in revealing the various layers of prejudice and stereotyping that underlie the plot. The analyses are helpfully supported by several quotations from published criticism, showing that a good deal of research was carried out. The King account is perhaps the thinnest, but this may reflect the paucity of criticism on a rather recent writer. It would be helpful to historicize the question of stereotyping: it seems of particular relevance to the more recent stories we have examined, rather as if there is nothing beneath the stereotype (as some postmodern critics have asserted).
Short Story vs. Novel. A number of virtues are claimed for the short story over the novel: its singleness, compression, simplicity; its greater challenge to convention (these claims are based primarily on May, who derives some of them from Poe). While the novel seems to get a bad press in this treatment, it does reveal some useful aspects of the short story. The presentation draws on a number of writers (Lawrence, Woolf, Poe, O'Connor, Mansfield, Munro, Joyce), and these are deployed not to offer readings of each story, but to illuminate specific aspects, such as character, male vs. female styles, time, and Gordimer's "Light of the Flash." For example, free indirect discourse is claimed to be primarily a female style, and Hanson is cited in support of this, saying that Mansfield and Woolf were among the first to develop it (historically, perhaps Joyce has priority). Overall, an oppositional stance (these texts are not novels) gives a good impetus to the individual analyses, and these are often rich and interesting. At the same time, it perhaps authorizes a rather loose approach; it isn't clear in the end what is distinctive about the short story, given that character, time, free indirect discourse, etc., must also be considered a significant parts of novels too.	Text of Powerpoint presentation
Literary Eras. The focus on literary eras, which could have been rather too broad, is focused helpfully on some specific features: the unconscious, the inner world, and the epiphany. While it isn't clear what historical changes are at issue, there was some attempt to relate these to the culture of the times in which the stories were written during the presentation (unfortunately truncated for lack of class time). Attention is mainly given to Poe, Lawrence, Laurence, Gallant, and MacLeod. While the analyses of the stories are often effective, the treatment of postmodernism is perhaps the least satisfactory -- understandably, given its wide and often contradictory features, and the attempt to apply it to writers as different as Laurence and Gallant (it works much better with Gallant, who evidently fulfils the prescription of Hanson more closely).	Penelope's comments on Romantic period and Poe
Male vs. Female Style. An impressive, professional quality poster in addition to a brief Powerpoint display that gave the summary headings: Iceberg vs. Needle, Abstract vs. Concrete, etc. The poster provides an overview of the theoretical issues, authored by Omar. This is partly persuasive -- it's a little difficult to see Laurence and Hemingway in the same category, if Hemingway's iceberg model is taken as representative of the male writer. The treatment of the female writers is more effective, given that the examples chosen are Chopin, Mansfield, and Woolf. Five stories are given specific critical discussions, each by a different student. Each in its various way relates critical insights to the details of the story, including the occasional critical quotation. The treatment of the stories is not often related to the theoretical generalizations, so the male-female distinction tends to be sidelined, although available by inference. But some conclusions can be drawn about the use of time, the effects of style, etc.: in particular, there may be a distinctive female style of the short story if we limit ourselves to the modernist genre from which these examples come. Shouldn't the title read "perspective on the short story" (not of)?	Text of Powerpoint slides Theoretical overview