Masterpieces of Short Fiction

Imagine if you could enter a world of imagination and see the things that happen in the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. Imagine if, in the time it takes to run an errand, you could learn about the true nature of humanity, its dark secrets and its saving graces. Imagine if you could do this in an hour. Hide the full description.

There is a jazz club in Harlem. The ball is adorned with borrowed jewels. Confront a criminal on a lonely road. There is a coven of witches in colonial America.

In Masterpieces of Short Fiction, you will learn about two centuries’ worth of great short stories written by some of the acknowledged masters of the genre, including D. H. Lawrence, Flannery O’Connor, and Ernest Hemingway.

Dr. Michael Krasny, Professor of English at San Francisco State University and host of KQED’s award-winning news and public affairs radio program, Forum, guides you deep into 23 renowned works, illuminating the remarkable variety, breathtaking artistry, and profound themes to be found in

The present moment is art.

During the 19th century, the short story became an art form, just in time for the busy age we all live in.

The short story is a unique and rewarding literary form. A world in miniature faithfully captured by the author’s mastery of character, plot, setting, image, and theme is what great short fiction offers. The impact of a short story lasts much longer than the time it takes to read it.

Nadine Gordimer says that short story writers see by the light of the flash. The present moment is the only thing that one can be sure of.

The ordinary and the extraordinary are encountered.

Masterpieces of Short Fiction shows that flash can reveal many different kinds of truths. In The Cask of Amontillado, an embittered nobleman entombs his rival in a crypt, while in Grace Paley’s An Interest in Life, a deserted housewife tries to raise her children.

The extraordinary and ordinary moments of life are encountered throughout the course while you examine the craft of short fiction.

Great authors use short stories to capture the experience of the common man and woman. Short story writers often use their powers of observation to record and celebrate the lives of ordinary people.

You can also sample the exotic and unusual as well, such as the tale of an artist who turns starvation into a work of performance art or the tale of a winged man who falls to Earth.

Every story, whether drawn from everyday life or a richly imagined land of fantasy, offers you an exquisite and unique portrait of humanity.

There is a way to recognize a Masterpiece.

How can short stories have such strong emotional impact? The works in this course are masterpieces. In Masterpieces of Short Fiction, you not only enjoy great literature, but you also develop an appreciation for how these great authors elevate the craft of storytellers into an art form.

Get it immediately. There are masterpieces of short fiction.

Professor Krasny focuses on a single story written by a master of the genre in each lecture. He illuminates each author’s development of character, plot, setting, imagery, theme, and language using examples from the stories themselves. You learn how to recognize and assess these elements as you progress through the course.

You learn about the author’s life and the artistic and historical contexts that helped shape his works.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Puritan upbringing and his guilt about his ancestors’ involvement in the Salem witch trials are reflected in Young Goodman Brown. It’s not like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it Like the main character of the movie, Babel was a Jew who rode with the Cossacks as they undertook violent pogroms in Jewish neighborhoods and villages. It’s not like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it The terse literary style in Ernest Hemingway’s The Killers was developed during the writer’s early stint as a war correspondent. It’s not like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it The depiction of the village in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson shows her feeling of being isolated in a close-minded New England town. It’s not like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it James Baldwin had an evangelical background, which can be seen in his stories like Sonny’s Blues.

Discover the literary form of our age.

Professor Krasny has taught a lot of subjects, including the short story, modern and contemporary American literature, ethnic American literature, and transatlantic modern drama. He gives you a view of the craft of short fiction that is as rare as it is valuable.

Join him as he surveys the works of short fiction from its beginnings in the 19th century to its confrontation with the issues of the late 20th century and discover why this specific genre, in the words of Nadine Gordimer, is the literary form of our age.