The contemporary global short story

Aims

This course aims to: 

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

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 two short stories a day 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 Lin Ma and Jhumpa Lahiri we’ll consider general questions related to short fiction: how short can a short story be? Does the short story feel particularly suited to our current era of speedy communication and what Thomas Maschio calls the new ‘story cultures’ made possible by digital fiction and online platforms. Students will be encouraged to hone their close-reading skills and to think about the short story as a form of writing which can be appreciated across different cultures whilst often drawing on specific national literary histories. We’ll explore how ‘big’ 21st century concerns, political and personal, are often deftly fitted into small narrative space.

Presentation of the course 

The course will be taught through short lectures which outline key terms and contexts followed by seminar style-discussion. All of the short stories to be discussed will be made available via the VLE and students are asked to read them in full before the class.

Course sessions

1. Introduction: Nam Le, `Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice' (2008) ***
    
2. Communication: Arinze Ifeakandu, ‘Mother’s Love’ (2022), ‘There is Also Beauty in Alienation’ by Cristina Rivera-Garza (2008)
    
3. Family: Sayaka Murata, ‘A Magnificent Spread’ (2022), Jumpa Lahiri, ‘Heaven-Hell’ (2008)
    
4. Histories: Kevin Barry, ‘Who’s Dead-McCarthy’ (2020); Jamil Jan Kochi, ‘The Haunting of Hajji Hotak’ (2022) *** *
    
5. Experience: Lin Ma, ‘Office Hours’ (2023); Tony Birch ‘The Promise’ (2014) ***

These stories have been chosen with care, but all are written for adults, so often discuss politics, sexuality and traumatic events as noted using the key below:

Warnings – some of the stories contain: 

*brief strong language

***brief descriptions of violence

Learning outcomes

You are expected to gain from this series of classroom sessions a greater understanding of the subject and of the core issues and arguments central to the course. 

The learning outcomes for this course are:

• to demonstrate understanding and appreciation of a range of contemporary short stories from around the world
   
• to enjoy discussion of specific examples and wider questions about literary form and style
   
• 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

All the stories which are required reading for the course will be made available via the VLE. Please read the supplied stories in full before the class and come prepared to discuss them.

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 your 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.