American Short Stories

AUTUMN 2007 - you may join the class for either term or both
dates of classes	author click on an underlined name to go to a website about the author		novel click on an underlined title to go to a website about or containing the novel	publisher/edition
27 September	selections from Francois Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel (trans. Urguhart, 1653 ed.) the website link for the novels is a full-text version		for the class selection from Gargantua and Pantagruel (Book II, Chs. 32-34), CLICK HERE.
4 October	*Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, The History of Don Quixote,* Part I (1605) and Part II (1615) (trans. Shelton, 1612/1620); Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling** (1749) the website links for the novels are full-text versions		for the class selection from The History of Don Quixote (Book II, Ch. 10), CLICK HERE for the class selection from The History of Tom Jones (Book One, Chs. 3-5), CLICK HERE.
11 and 18 October	Laurence Sterne		The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, to Tristram's birth: Vols I-III (1759-61); optional: on Tristram's naming: Vol. IV, Chs II, VIII, X, XII, XIV, XVI-XVII; on Tristram's accidental circumcision: Vol. V, Chs XVII-XX, XXIII, XXVI-XXVIII, XXXIX; Vol. VI, Ch. XIV.	Wordsworth Classics, Penguin Classics, Everyman's Library Classics, Norton Critical Edition
25 October and 1 November - NO CLASS
8, 15 and 22 November	William Makepeace Thackeray		Vanity Fair a Novel without a Hero (1848) full-text website	Penguin Popular Classics, Penguin Classics, Wordsworth Classics, Oxford World's Classics, Norton Critical Edition, Everyman's Library Classics
29 November	E.F. Benson		*Mapp and Lucia* (1930)	Penguin Modern Classics
6 December	P.G. Wodehouse		Right Ho, Jeeves (1934) - notes on the novel	Penguin Books
13 December	selections from Mark Twain and James Thurber
WINTER 2008 - you may join the class for this term only
dates of classes provisional	author click on an underlined name to go to a website about the author		novel	publisher/edition
10 January	Stella Gibbons		Cold Comfort Farm (1932)	Penguin Classics
17 January	Evelyn Waugh		*Scoop: A Novel about Journalists* (1938)	Penguin Modern Classics
24 and 31 January and 7 February	Joseph Heller		*Catch-22* (1961)	Vintage
14 February - READING WEEK: NO CLASS
21 and 28 February	David Lodge		*Changing Places* (1975)	Penguin Books
6 March	selections from Ring Lardner and Dorothy Parker
13 March	Janet Evanovich		*One for the Money* (1994)	Penguin Books, St Martins
20 March	selections from James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) and Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow (1973) - CLICK HERE for the Joyce selection; CLICK HERE for the Pynchon selection
for information about the author on the world wide web click on an underlined author name
this syllabus is on the World Wide Web at www.cowbeech.force9.co.uk/comicfictions.htm - updates will be added
web links and internet book purchase LINKS TO WEBSITES ABOUT AUTHORS AND NOVELS Links to websites about authors or novels are indicated by underlined names and underlined titles. There are other websites - even many other websites - for an individual author or title than those provided here. I've linked to a variety of sites - academic, author society, personal, interview, encyclopedia, publisher, reading guides and reading group notes (some commercial) with questions to ask yourself, and other commercial sites. Some webpages contain the beginnings of essays which you have to register to read the rest of (at a price). Search for other author and novel sites. Jack Lynch's literary references on the net is a useful starting point for literary web-searching. Entering the author's name (within double inverted commas) or the title of the novel (within double inverted commas) into Google or other search engines will provide lists of links to author or title websites - but also to other sites including booksellers and films of the novel. If the novel is out of copyright - and sometimes even if not - the site may offer the entire text. INTERNET BOOK PURCHASE I recommend www.amazon.co.uk (for new books and links to used books) and www.abebooks.co.uk. If you purchase �15 worth of new books from Amazon, there is no charge for posting (providing you choose the free delivery option). Used books can be cheaper but note the postal charges, which can be �3 for each book.
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