Cengage Learning Reading and Writing about Short Fiction

READING AND WRITING FICTION provides an introduction to writing and an introduction to fiction with an anthology of eight-six stories. Review Preface. 1. READING AND WRITING. Reading Fiction. Reading for Writing. Cynthia Ozick, The Shawl. From Reading to Writing. Topic and Thesis. Considering Your Audience. Expository Prose. Informational. Analytic. Persuasive. Writing the College Essay. The Discrete Paragraph. Chronology. Spatial Sequence. Comparison and Contrast. Enumeration. Order of Climax. Writing Assignment: A Paragraph. The Essay. The Beginning. Middle Paragraphs. The Conclusion. Sample Essay: "The Meaning of Powerlessness." Writing Assignment: An Essay. Writing to Rewriting. Unity and Coherence. Proofreading and Titling. 2. FICTION/THEME. The Realm of Fiction. Fact and Fiction. Fiction and the Written Word. What's the Big Idea? Theme Versus Moral. Articulating Fiction's Themes. Summary Suggestions: Understanding Theme. Writing on Theme. General Writing Assignments. James Thurber, "The Owl Who Was God." James Thurber, "The Unicorn in the Garden." Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, "The Doctor's Heroism" (Translated by Roger B. Goodman). Elizabeth Taylor, "The First Death of Her Life." Stephen Crane, "The Snake." Langston Hughes, "On the Road." Mikhail Zoshchenko, "What Good Are Relatives?" (Translated by Sidney Monas). Yukio Mishima, "Swaddling Clothes" (Translated by Ivan Morris). Hernando Tellez, "Just Lather, That's All" (Translated by Angel Flores). Jorge Luis Borges, "Theme of the Traitor and Hero" (Translated by Anthony Kerrigan). 3. PLOT/SITUATION. Plot as Causal Sequence. Means and Ends. Plot and the Other Elements of Fiction. Conflict and Happy Endings. Summary Suggestions: Understanding Plot/Situation. Writing on Plot/Situation. General Writing Assignments. Anton Chekhov, "The Lottery Ticket" (Translated by Constance Garnett). Somerset Maugham, "A String of Beads." Edgar Allan Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart." Dylan Thomas, "After the Fair." John O'Hara, "Sportmanship." Zora Neale Hurston, "Book of Harlem." James Thurber, "The Night the Bed Fell." Grace Paley, "A Conversation with My Father." Julio Cortazar, "Continuity of Parks" (Translated by Paul Blackburn). Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Bitterness for Three Sleepwalkers" (Translated by Gregory Rabassa). D.H. Lawrence, "Smile." 4. CHARACTERIZATION. Fiction's People. Modes of Characterization. Types of Character. Character and Theme. Summary Suggestions: Understanding Characters. Writing on Characters. General Writing Assignments. Warren Miller, "Chaos, Disorder and the Late Show." Edward Proffitt, "Like It Is." Katherine Mansfield, "Miss Brill." Katherine Mansfield, "Late at Night." Grace Paley, "Wants." Jesse Stuart, "Love." Anton Chekhov, "After the Theatre" (Translated by Ronald Hingley). Angelica Gibbs, "The Test." Isaac Babel, "My First Goose" (Translated by Walter Morison). Richard Brautigan, "The World War I Los Angeles Airplane." Jorge Luis Borges, "The Waiting" (Translated by James E. Irby). 5. NARRATION/POINT OF VIEW. The Narrator. Modes of Narration. First-Person Narration. First-Person Credible. First Person Unreliable. Third-Person Narration. Third-Person Omniscient. Third-Person Subjective. Third-Person Objective. Narrator, Author, and Story. Summary Suggestions: Understanding Narration. Writing on Narrators and Narration. General Writing Assignments. Dorothy Parker, "You Were Perfectly Fine." Mikhail Zoshchenko, "A Confession" (Translated by John W. Strahan and Rosalind Zoglin). H.H. Munro, "Sredni Vashtar." E.M. Forster, "Mr. Andrews." Katherine Mansfield, "Six Years After." Isaac Babel, "The Sin of Jesus" (Translated by Walter Morison). William E. Barrett, "Senor Payroll." William March, "Personal Letter." Anton Chekhov, "At Sea: A Sailor's Story" (Translated by Ann Dunnigan). William Carlos Williams, "The Buffalos." Samuel Beckett, "Stories and Texts for Nothing, 4." William Car