Overview
A short story contains multiple points of view and myriad narrative strategies. Moreover, as Patricia Hampl notes, the short story is 'acknowledged to be the most exquisite kind of prose fiction, requiring the perfect craft, the form in which the smallest slip can bring the whole contraption—plot, character, narration—down in a crash. A delicate business'. The aim of this unit is to provide students with an opportunity to explore the complexity and delicacy of the short story while developing their text-based interpretative and analytical techniques.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2021
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Unit Evaluation
Textbook
Curated readings will be made available through the eReading list on Moodle from 2021. This will provide students with resources and supporting materials to foster their skills and learning.
Feedback from Unit Evaluation
Moodle site
The refresh of the Moodle site will ensure the information is presented accurately.
Feedback from Unit Evaluation
Participation
Information will be provided to students to clearly outline their obligations with regard to participation in the unit discussion forums.
- interpret, analyse and evaluate selected short stories from the nineteenth and twentieth century using a variety of advanced text-based interpretative and analytical techniques;
- analyse and compare selected short stories within a framework of issues such as ideology, gender, race and the politics of literature;
N/A
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 20% | ||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||
| 5 - Team Work | ||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 20% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
s.butler@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction and Overview
Chapter
John Updike, 'Leaves'; Alice Walker, 'Everyday use', Archie Weller, 'Johnny Blue'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Analysing the short story
Chapter
Kate Chopin, 'Desiree's baby'; Eudora Welty, 'A worn path'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The 19th Century American short story
Chapter
Edgar Allen Poe 'The oval portrait'; Ambrose Bierce, 'An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The 19th century continental short story
Chapter
Nikolai Gogol, 'The overcoat'; Guy de Maupassant, 'A country outing'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The 19th century British short story
Chapter
Charles Dickens, 'The signalman'; Rudyard Kipling, 'At the end of the passage'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
British modernism
Chapter
James Joyce, 'A painful case'; Katherine Mansfield, 'The garden party', Virginia Woolf, 'The mark on the wall'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Franz Kafka, 'A hunger artist'; Thomas Mann, 'Mario and the magician'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
American modernism
Chapter
Ernest Hemingway, 'Hills like white elephants'; Katherine Porter, 'The grave',
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
American postmodernism
Chapter
John Cheever, 'The country husband'; Donald Barthelme, 'At the end of the mechanical age'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Continental postmodernism
Chapter
Alain Robbe-Grillet, 'The shore'; Thomasso Landolfi, 'Gogol's wife', Julio Cortazar, 'Axolotl',
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Jorge Louis Borges, 'Borges and I', 'Everything and nothing'; Fredric Brown, 'Solipsist', Enrique Anderson Imbert, 'Taboo'
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Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Review
Chapter
Re-read stories for Research Essay
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
Amongst other things, the formal elements of the short story genre include:
· A compressed setting and time frame
· A narrative point of view
· A small set of characters revealed through action and dialogue
· A plot-structure beginning in media res, passing through an exposition, complication, climax, and resolution
· figurative and sensual language
Write a short paper (750 words) on how these characteristics support the themes and meanings of one or more of the set stories.
Week 5 Friday (13 Aug 2021) 11:59 pm AEST
ASAP after submission (within two weeks)
The Short Paper will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Understanding of the short story as a genre;
- Ability to interpret the meanings of the particular short story;
- The extent to which your responses reflect an interest in and understanding of unit content.
-
Express yourself clearly (including spelling and grammar); and, acknowledge all your sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.
- interpret, analyse and evaluate selected short stories from the nineteenth and twentieth century using a variety of advanced text-based interpretative and analytical techniques;
- analyse and compare selected short stories within a framework of issues such as ideology, gender, race and the politics of literature;
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
2 Written Assessment
Bennet and Royle (2015, pp. 60-62) recommend the following approaches to analysing the significance of a short story. Apply one approach to one story each week for nine [9] weeks. Choose your best six [6] responses (150-200 words) for inclusion in a Close Reading Journal and upload through Moodle by the due date.
- Who's talking?
- What is the time?
- Ask yourself
- Be alert to effects of intertextuality
- Talk about the plot
- Look out for repetition
- Be suggestible
- Begin with the title
- Think small
A more detailed explanation of these approaches is provided on Moodle. Each answer should be 150-200 words and take the form of a well-constructed paragraph with a "thesis statement". The journal should be submitted on the due date as a Word doc through the Moodle Assignment Submission System. Further guidelines for the assessment item are available on Moodle.
Length: 900-1200 words.
Note: Stories used for Assessment Item 1 cannot be used for this assignment.
Week 9 Friday (17 Sept 2021) 11:59 pm AEST
Journal will be marked and returned ASAP (within two weeks)
The Short Answer Journal will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Ability to apply Bennett and Royle's approaches to the chosen stories;
- Ability to develop a clear argument based on textual analysis and recommended critical concepts;
- Ability to express yourself clearly (including spelling and grammar); and,
- Ability to acknowledge all sources (if any) using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.
- interpret, analyse and evaluate selected short stories from the nineteenth and twentieth century using a variety of advanced text-based interpretative and analytical techniques;
- analyse and compare selected short stories within a framework of issues such as ideology, gender, race and the politics of literature;
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
3 Written Assessment
Address one of the the following topics:
• According to Terry Eagleton (2007, p. 50): ‘The meaning of a narrative is not just the “end” of it, but the process of narration itself.’ In other words, for a critical reader, the genre elements and literary devices of a text are just as important as what happens to the characters. Discuss the implications of the statement in relation to several short stories.
• By focusing on the genre elements of "character" and "setting" trace the evolution of views on personal identity (class, gender, race, and sexuality) as they manifest in a selection of set short stories from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
• Choose at least three set short stories and show how their content (meanings, themes, etc.) and form (genre elements) exemplify aspects of traditional realism, modernism and postmodernism.
• According to Kusch (2016, p. 128) 'literature [the short story] is ‘a space where human experience can be explored through language, and through analysis, we can make a place for ourselves as creators of meaning.’ Compare and contrast three of the set stories in terms of this statement.
Length: 1500 words
Week 12 Friday (8 Oct 2021) 11:59 pm AEST
Essays will be returned as soon as practicable after the end of term.
This assignment will be evaluated on your ability to:
- Demonstrate understanding of the short story as a genre and interpret the meanings of particular short stories;
- Develop a clear argument based on textual analysis using recommended critical concepts;
- Support your argument with references to scholarly secondary sources;
- Express yourself clearly (including spelling and grammar); and, acknowledge all your sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.
- interpret, analyse and evaluate selected short stories from the nineteenth and twentieth century using a variety of advanced text-based interpretative and analytical techniques;
- analyse and compare selected short stories within a framework of issues such as ideology, gender, race and the politics of literature;
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
