FAMOUS SHORT STORY WRITERS Troy University A presentation for

FAMOUS SHORT
STORY WRITERS
A presentation for
Student Support
Services participants
Troy University
Troy, AL 36082
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES
• Provide students with a general overview of
a few short story writers who have greatly
influenced literary culture.
• Encourage students to develop an
appreciation for literacy and literature.
• Encourage students to think critically about
the various themes that writers address in
their creative works.
Short Story . . . What is it?
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Tells about a single event or experience
Fictional (not true)
500 to 15,000 words in length
Has a beginning, middle, and end
Creates an impression on the reader
Prose (Written in sentence and paragraph form,
not in verse)
Slide Source:
http://www.worldofteaching.com/powerpoints/english/how%20to%20write%20a%20short%20story.ppt#257,2,
Definition of a Short Story
Great Short Story Writers
“ . . . are able to use
the elements of the
short story with
such precision that
the reader is caught
up in the action
[activity or
message] of the
story.”
Source: http://www.worldofteaching.com/powerpoints/english/how%20to%20write%20a%20short%20story.ppt#263,10,Short Story Vocabulary
Elements of a Short Story
Setting
Figurative Language /
Tone/ Style
Characterization
Plot Elements
Point of view /
Narration
Theme
Memorable Short Story
Writers’ often focus on Themes
Theme: The story’s
main ideas. The
“message” the writer
intends to
communicate by
telling the story.
Slide Source:
http://www.worldofteaching.com/powerpoints/englis
h/how%20to%20write%20a%20short%20story.ppt#
263,10,Short Story Vocabulary
Ambition
Jealousy
Beauty
Loneliness
Betrayal
Love
Courage
Loyalty
Duty/honor (filial
piety)
Perseverance
Fear
Prejudice
Freedom
Suffering
Happiness
Truth
Key terms in
some common
Literary Themes
FAMOUS
SHORT STORY
WRITERS &
THE THEMES
THEY
COMMONLY
APPLY
AESOP (6th Century B.C.)
“Legendary Greek
source of over 600
fables including The
Tortoise and the
Hare, written from the
oral, have been
translated into English
by many . . .”
Example: “The North
Wind and the Sun”
Some AESOP’s
Common THEMES & Stories
1.
Slow but steady wins the race. -- The Hare and the Tortoise
2.
Birds of a feather flock together. -- The Farmer and the Stork
3.
Look before you leap. -- The Fox and the Goat
4.
Misfortune tests the sincerity of friends. -- The Bear and the Two
Travelers
5.
Those who suffer most cry out the least. -- The Oxen and the AxleTrees
Why use animals to teach about human character?
Perhaps Aesop intended to indicate that people often do not see their own
inhumanity or inhumane behaviors nor can they see that sometimes
they behave as subordinant species and not as one’s with the aptitude /
rational ability to walk as the dominant species in the earth.
Aesop’s Fable
“The North Wind and the Sun”
“The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger.
Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun said: "I see
a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take
off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin."
So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard
as it could upon the traveller. But the harder he blew the more closely did the
traveller wrap his cloak ‘round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in
despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveller,
who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.”
Moral/Theme: Kindness effects more than severity or “Gentle persuasion
works better than aggressive force.; Power of Rhetoric (general subject)
View video adaptation of this fable by clicking here: YouTube Aesop's Fables: The Sun and The Wind or go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7LTG-fy-mc&feature=related
(2 min)
Jakob Grimm (1785-1863)
Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859)
Grimm Brothers (1785/1786)
Fairy Tales (Translated German oral tales)
“Rapunzel”
“Godfather Death”
“Hansel and Gretel”
“Little Red Riding Hood”
“Rumpelstiltskin”
“Cinderella”
“Goldilocks”
Grimms Fairy Tales
Some Themes:
-- Material poverty can lead to spiritual poverty in some humans.
-- Greed can lead to a poverty.
-- Entitlement leads to death.
-- Death does not discriminate.
-- Failure to exercise wisdom leads to disaster.
-- Failure to live an ordered life leads to danger and disaster.
-- Love conquers evil.
-- Love can be blinded by greed.
-- Man’s mistreatment toward fellow man is a tendency.
-- Abuse of others (women, elderly, children, the poor) is a sign of
misplaced or corrupt Western values.
-- Western ideals of beauty have corrupted many minds.
Grimms Fairy Tale
See Goldilocks video
atYouTube - grimms
fairy tale classics at
http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=mS3nN6P
H96Y (5:30 min)
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Credited as the Originator
of the Modern Short
Story and recognized for
his promotion of the
Gothic style.
• “The Tell-tale Heart”
• ““Fall of the House of Usher”
• The Pit and the Pendulum”
Sources: http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/Grattan-25475-short-story-introshortstoryintro-education-ppt-powerpoint/
http://www.online-literature.com/poe/
“Poe’s psychologically thrilling
tales examining the depths of
the human psyche earned him
much fame during his lifetime
and after his death.” He was
also an exceptional poet who
wrote “Annabel Lee” and “The
Raven.”
Poe’s Tendencies & Themes
•
“Dying and death were part of Poe’s life.“
•
Common Themes:
(a) Death and Violence are directly or indirectly part of human life.
(b) Immortality can be both a human desire and source of torment
(“Tell-tale Heart”).
(c) Love is closely linked with death (especially when love is denied).
(d) Mental illness is part of the human psyche that makes life unlovely.
•
“He is said to have “transmogrified” death in his works.” (Change into something
strange, odd, grotesque)
•
“He used the style of Gothic fiction with a sense of the uncanny.”
(Gothic fiction is a form of Medieval romance with an undertone of
mystery/darkness/fear/supernaturalism. Setting/architecture is very important to
creating a gothic tale full of drama and suspense. Very edgy (ledges and shadows
and looming overhanging) features mark gothic architecture.)
•
His tales were called grotesque, arabesque, and terrifying, with recurring themes of
being buried alive and coming back from the grave.”
Source: http://www.dcmp.org/guides/3236.pdf and http://www.wisegeek.com/what-characterizes-gothic-fiction.htm
Edgar Allan Poe
View “The Fall of the House of Usher” video
adaptation at YouTube - The Fall of the
House of Usher-Vincent Price-Edgar Allan
Poe at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1fS6GGm_A&feature=PlayList&p=62C272E44E91AC81&playnext=
1&playnext_from=PL&index=1
Herman Melville (1819-1891)
Short Stories:
“Benito Cereno”
“Bartleby the Scrivener”
“Billy Budd”
He also wrote the masterpiece novel Moby
Dick.
To listen to an audio recording of
“Bartleby the Scrivener,” go to
http://www.archive.org/details/bartleby_s
crivener_1107_librivox or click on the
following: Internet Archive: Details:
Bartleby the Scrivener
Herman Melville
• Wrote about life as a sea of turbulence
and adventure.
• Wrote about the presence of justice and
injustice in the world
• Wrote about the flawed and unjust
character revealed in humans.
• Wrote about the rhetorical power of
passive resistance and civil disobedience.
Kate Chopin (1850-1904)
Kate Chopin . . . an
American author of short
stories and novels, is often
viewed as an early feminist
writer. She also wrote
about identify and race in
culture.
Images: yahoo.com
Kate Chopin’s Stories
• “Desiree’s Baby” (racism, “passing,” and
interracial marriage, French Creole culture)
• “Story of an Hour” (frustrations of
women/wives in early America)
Famous Novella: The Awakening
Kate Chopin
Listen to “Story of an Hour” (track 17) at
Internet Archive: Details: Kate Chopin —
The Storm, The Story of an Hour, and
Other Stories or go to:
http://www.archive.org/details/KateChopin
_SelectShortStories
Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964)
http://vulpeslibris.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/ss11.jpg
Flannery O’Connor
Short Stories:
• “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (story
collection title also)
• “The Lame Shall Enter First”
• Everything That Rises Must Converge
(short story collection title)
Flannery O’Connor Foci/Themes
• Focused on the language people used in
communities.
• Focused on the conflict between people’s
behaviors and their religious values or
knowledge of right and wrong.
• Focused on The power of self-image and selfdeception.
• One Theme: The more people know, the worse
they behave.
Raymond Carver
Images: yahoo.com
Raymond Carver (1938-1988)
Possibly his most famous collection of short stories is
Cathedrals, which is also the name of one of the most
notable short stories in the collection by the same title.
Another famous Carver short story is “A Small Good
Thing.” Watch video adaptation at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btgU6mcmzYM&feature=related
YouTube - A Small Good Thing - Adapted From Raymond Carver Short
Carver’s Common Themes:
-- Average Americans contend with economic and social struggles to
hold their ground.
-- Humor (laughter) is a survival tool.
-- Work is a drudgery to human life.
Some Other Famous Short Story/
Short Fiction Writers
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Nathanial Hawthorne (“Young Goodman Brown”
Alice Walker (“Everyday Use”)
Toni Cade Bambara (Gorilla My Love)
William Faulkner (Barn Burning; “A Rose for Emily”)
Charlotte Perkins Gillman (“The Yellow Wallpaper”)
Ernest Hemingway (“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”)
Alice Munro
Joyce Carol Oates
Katherine Ann Porter
Zora Neale Hurston
Tim O’Brien
Doris Lessing
Eudora Welty
Chinua Achebe
Jorge Luis Borges
THE END
• Please complete the academic seminar
evaluation form to receive your workshop
credit.
• Return form to SSS staff in 109
Shackelford Hall Annex.
• Thank you for your participation.
Rebecca Money, SPR 2009