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 - 2024
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 Student discussions
Clarity of learning materials
Ensure learning materials remain up to date and aligned with the assessment strategies in this unit.
- 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
Scope of the Short Story: a Global Form
Chapter
Chinua Achebe, 'Dead man's path'; Isabelle Allende, 'And of clay we are created'; Jorge Luis Borges, 'Borges and I' &/or 'Everything and nothing'; Jamaica Kincaid, 'Girl'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Significance of the Short Story: Poetics and Politics
Chapter
Kate Chopin, 'Desiree's baby'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Origins of the Short Story I: The 19th Century American Form
Chapter
Nathaniel Hawthorne, 'The minister's black veil'; Edgar Allen Poe, 'The fall of the house of Usher'; Ambrose Bierce, 'An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Origins of the Short Story II: The 19th Century Continental Form
Chapter
Nikolai Gogol, 'The overcoat'; Guy de Maupassant, 'A country outing'; Anton Chekhov, 'The lady with the pet dog'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Origins of the Short Story III: The 19th century British Form
Chapter
Charles Dickens, 'The signalman'; Rudyard Kipling, 'At the end of the passage'; Thomas Hardy, 'The withered arm'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The Short Story as a Modernist Intervention in Britain
Chapter
James Joyce, 'A painful case'; Katherine Mansfield, 'The garden party'; Virginia Woolf, 'The mark on the wall'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The Short Story as a Modernist Intervention in Europe
Chapter
Colette, 'The other wife'; Franz Kafka, 'A hunger artist'; Thomas Mann, 'Mario and the magician';
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The Short Story as a Modernist Intervention in America
Chapter
Ernest Hemingway, 'Hills like white elephants'; Katherine Porter, 'The grave'; John Cheever, 'The country husband'; Eudora Welty, 'A worn path'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Postmodern Responses in America
Chapter
John Updike, 'Leaves'; Donald Barthelme, 'At the end of the mechanical age'; Alice Walker, 'Everyday use'; David Foster Wallace, 'Suicide as a sort of present'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Postmodern Responses in Continental Europe
Chapter
Alain Robbe-Grillet, 'The shore'; Thomasso Landolfi, 'Gogol's wife'; Julio Cortazar, 'Axolotl'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Australian Stories
Chapter
Herb Wharton, 'Boat people-big trial'; Jared Thomas, 'The healing tree'; Tara June Winch, 'Wantok'; Archie Weller, 'Johnny Blue'; Michael Wilding, 'The words she types'; Mandy Sayer, 'The birthday present'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Review & Writing on the Short Story
Chapter
Celena Kusch, ‘Analytical Writing’ (2016, pp. 132-142)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
It is widely acknowledged that typical formal elements and genre conventions of the short story include:
- A compressed setting and time frame;
- A particular narrative point of view;
- A small set of characters revealed through action, dialogue and epiphany;
- A plot-structure beginning in media res, passing through exposition, complication, climax, and resolution;
- Use of figurative and sensual language.
Choose one [1] of the set stories (from any weekly module) and develop a 10-minute AV presentation discussing how the formal elements support or relate to the story's meanings, themes, and broader significance. In producing its meanings how does the text conform to or subvert the typical formal characteristics?
Audiovisual presentations must take the form of a narrated PowerPoint presentation, which can be delivered live or online via Zoom. To do this, students must create PowerPoint slides paying attention to the timing of the narration and change between slides. At the end of the presentation, you must submit a PDF of your notes and PowerPoint slides through Moodle. The presentation should consist of 750-1000 words.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)Within this assessment, the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents is as follows:
• No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.
Week 5 Friday (9 Aug 2024) 11:59 pm AEST
Marked assessments will be returned ASAP
ASAP after submission (within two weeks)
The AV presentation will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Understanding of the formal elements and conventions of the short story genre;
- Ability to interpret the meanings and broader significance of the particular short story;
- The extent to which your responses reflect an understanding of unit concepts and issues.
- Ability to express yourself clearly (including spelling and grammar in the PowerPoint slides and verbal and non-verbal skills in the oral presentation); and, acknowledge all your sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents is as follows:
• No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.
Length: 750-1000 words
Important information about Word Count:
The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.
- 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
According to Celena Kusch (2015, pp. 60-62) close reading is 'a method of analysis that considers each word horizontally as it relates to the other words and sentences around it and vertically as it relates to the history and development of the word’s meanings’. In developing your pieces begin with Bennett and Royle's (2015, pp. 60-62) recommendations for interpreting a short story.
- Think small
- Begin with the title
- Be suggestible
- Look out for repetition
- Talk about the plot
- Effects of intertextuality
- Ask yourself
- What is the time?
- Who's talking?
Apply one approach to one [1] story each week for nine [9] weeks. Focus on a short passage or a small set of quotations and perform a "close reading" in order to interpret the story's significance. Consider how the part you focus on relates to the whole story in your response.
Each piece should be 150-200 words and take the form of a well-constructed paragraph with a clear "thesis statement" or summarized argument. Choose your best six [6] responses for inclusion in the Close Reading Journal and upload it to Moodle by the due date. Bonus marks may be awarded to students that post their responses to the weekly discussion forum. Further guidelines for this assessment item are available on Moodle.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents is as follows:
• No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.
Length: 850-1200 words
Important information about Word Count:
The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.
Week 9 Friday (13 Sept 2024) 11:59 pm AEST
Marked assessments will be returned ASAP
The Close Reading Journal will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Ability to apply Bennett and Royle's approaches to the chosen stories;
- Ability to interpret the meanings and significance of the stories through close reading;
- Ability to summarize your findings in a clear thesis statement clearly; and,
- Ability to express yourself clearly (including spelling and grammar), and 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
Write a scholarly essay addressing one [1] of the the following topics:
• According to Rohrberger (1979, p. 3): 'Everything in a short story tends to stand for something else, and because it does meanings can multiply even though the story is usually limited to a single major character involved in a single action'. Discuss this statement using textual analysis of at least three set short stories to support your interpretive argument.
• For 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.
• Focusing on the interaction of genre elements (character, setting, plot, point of view, language, etc) 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 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.
• For Lukács (1974, p. 51): ‘The short story is the most purely artistic form; it expresses the ultimate meaning of all artistic creation as mood, as the very sense and content of the creative process, but it is rendered abstract for that very reason’. Consider this view in relation to Poe’s influential “unity of effect” approach as elaborated in his ‘Philosophy of Composition’. Discuss these ideas using textual analysis of at least three set short stories to support your interpretive argument.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents is as follows:
• No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.
Length: 1500-2000 words
Important information about Word Count:
The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.
Week 12 Friday (4 Oct 2024) 11:59 pm AEST
Marked assessments will be returned ASAP
This assignment will be evaluated on your ability to:
- Interpret the meanings and broader significance of the chosen short stories;
- Develop a clear thesis statement 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?
