21st-century tales: the short story now

Aims of the course

This course aims to:
1. Introduce you to a range of 21st stories.
2. Develop your skills in close-reading and your understanding of the short story form.
3. Think about literature in historical and aesthetic contexts.

Content

This course will investigate themes, innovations and experiments in contemporary writing, concentrating on how the short story is faring as a distinct form in the 21st century. After an initial overview of the history of the short story up to our present moment, we will look at (at least) two short stories a day (a few more when they are very short) and focus on the different forms taken by the short story in recent years.

The contemporary short story exists in many generic shapes, from science fiction to metafiction, and has found a new life in flash fiction and online forms of story-telling. Alongside deep dives into stories by leading writers including Percival Everett, Ali Smith, Kanishk Tharoor and Lydia Davis, we’ll consider general questions related to short fiction: how short can a short story be? Does the contemporary short story still centre on the idea of the ‘epiphany’ as the modernist short did? Can literary brevity provide a way to analyse social media and digital culture or is it a capitulation to short attention spans? We’ll think about what Thomas Maschio calls the new ‘story cultures’ made possible by digital fiction and online platforms and study hybrid forms, such as the prose poem.

You will be encouraged to hone their close-reading skills and to enjoy in-depth discussion of individual stories.

Presentation of the course

The course will be taught through a series of short informal lectures, followed by seminar-style discussion and guided close-reading of the stories. Classes will be taught with the assumption that students have read the stories in full.

Class sessions

1. Introduction: The short story now and then
A brief history of the short story and definitions of key terms including metafiction and flash fiction.
Stories by Lesley Nneka Ariman, Ali Smith and Eugene McCabe.

2. Themes and Concerns
In this session, we’ll think about how the short story form has developed as a space for examining urgent 21st century themes, with a focus on the American short story.
Stories by Percival Everett, George Saunders and Nafissa Thompson-Spires.

3. Realism, magic realism and other experiments
This session will consider some examples of short stories which experiment with narrative voice and point of view within their narrative. Stories by Kanish Tharoor and Sarah Hall.

4. Very short short stories
With a focus on the work of Lydia Davis, this session will look at forms of very short fiction, including flash fiction and micro fiction.

5. Digital Tales
hat forms does the short story take in its online and digital forms? In this session, we’ll consider the emergence of new narrative forms coming into being with new technology. How does encountering narrative on our phones or via social media change our ways of readings or our expectations of short stories?

Learning outcomes

1. To demonstrate understanding and appreciation of a range of contemporary short stories.
2. To enjoy discussion of specific examples and wider questions about literary form and style.
3. To demonstrate skills in close-reading of narrative and to be aware of the primary literary techniques and characteristics of contemporary short fiction.

Required reading

The set short stories will be supplied via the VLE for accepted students. You should read them before the class and have a copy with you in printed or on-screen format.

Typical week: Monday to Friday

Courses run from Monday to Friday. For each week of study, you select a morning (Am) course and an afternoon (Pm) course. The maximum class size is 25 students. 

Courses are complemented by a series of daily plenary lectures, exploring new ideas in a wide range of disciplines. To add to the learning experience, we are also planning additional evening talks and events.

Evaluation and Academic Credit 

If you are seeking to enhance your own study experience, or earn academic credit from your Cambridge Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit written work for assessment for one or more of your courses. 

Essay questions are set and assessed against the University of Cambridge standard by your Course Director, a list of essay questions can be found in the Course Materials. Essays are submitted two weeks after the end of each course, so those studying for multiple weeks need to plan their time accordingly. There is an evaluation fee of £75 per essay.

For more information about writing essays see Evaluation and Academic Credit.

Certificate of attendance

A certificate of attendance will be sent to you electronically after the programme.