REEE 334 - The Art of Storytelling: Theory and Practice

FC ARHU CD

4 credits
“When you have finished writing a short story, you should delete the beginning and the end” - thus Anton Chekhov advised beginning writers. Apart from its being a concise narrative form, what else distinguishes a well-made short story? This seminar will acquaint students with the masterpieces of the short story genre in Russian and other literary traditions. Delving into short writings by Poe, Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Kafka, Cortázar and others, we will also look at the landmark works in literary theory and criticism that dissect the art of storytelling from a variety of angles, providing us with an essential toolkit of interpretative approaches to reading literature and other forms of art. Students will also have the opportunity to practice storytelling, playing with the classical literary devices-or inventing their own. All readings and discussion are in English.

This course is cross-listed with CMPL-334