Short Fiction at the Beginning of the 20th Century

Short Fiction at the Beginning of the 20th Century: An Exploration into its Controversial Views on Literature First semester - 2016

Carina Menรกn Cecilia Lasa

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he beginning of the 20th century challenges the forms of constructing a narration. Among the narrative ways of giving shape to language is that of

the “short story�. Economic and intense, these condensed texts pose new conceptions of literature. We will study how these new textual modalities appropriate the realm of the word, how conflicts are stated and solved, and how setting and characterisation contribute to the effectiveness of short stories.

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very Saturday we will meet in Caballito to discuss both Anglophone and Ibero-American texts in about an hour and a half -from 3 pm. to 4.30 pm. As in

previous meetings, you will be provided with specialised and prestigious bibliography. We will also make use of audiovisual material in the midst of a pleasant and encouraging atmosphere with tea, coffee and some delicacies.

What will we read?

March 12th: Saki’s ''The Story teller'' and ''Shredni Vashtar''

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ector Hugo Munro can be considered one of the masters of storytelling, as the short stories we will analyse prove. His texts also introduce a fresh voice in literature: children’s. Kids act as a destabilising factor not only within the plot of the stories but also at the level of narration. → If you want to explore how childhood is appropriated at the beginning of the 20th century in our country, we can meet again next Saturday. If not, you can keep on studying peripheral voices in Virginia Woolf’s short stories in a fortnight.

19 de marzo: ''Cielo de claraboyas'', ''Vestido de terciopelo'' y ''Goce y penitencia'', de Silvina Ocampo

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a menor de las hermanas Ocampo comienza a construir su cuarto propio en un escenario de pesos pesados: su hermana Victoria, mecenas y fundadora de la prestigiosa revista Sur; Adolfo Bioy Casares, quien será su esposo; y el inefable Jorge Luis Borges. ¿Cómo se inserta su escritura en este fértil campo literario? ¿Cómo se narran las historias más macabras desde la voz de un infante? ¿Qué efecto producen estas voces aparentemente ingenuas sobre lo narrado? Sus relatos constituyen una invitación a pensar lo ominoso en relación con la literatura.

April 9th: Virginia Woolf’s ''The Mark on the Wall'' and “Kew Gardens”

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hat are the marks left by literature written by women? What do those marks claim about women, writing and literature?

Virginia Woolf is uninterruptedly offering an invitation to think of those issues with a subtle and at the same time strong literary force. → If you wish to read how those subtle marks Woolf draws turn into monstrous ones through the presence of ominous creatures such as Siamese twins, anthropophagi and paedophiles, we will meet in a week’s time. Otherwise we’ll enjoy an immersion in the stifling context of a paralyzed and paralyzing Dublin on April 23rd.

16 de abril: ''La doble y única mujer'', ''Un hombre muerto a puntapiés'' y ''El antropófago'', de Pablo Palacio

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a inclinación de este ecuatoriano hacia personajes que emergen de los márgenes de lo cotidiano de modo inquietante, absurdamente monstruosos, le ha valido la condena por parte de la crítica y su posterior invisibilización en el canon literario. Se trata de una afirmación contundente acerca de una concepción de literatura que desmitifica no solo una estética, sino además un comportamiento social.

April 23rd: James Joyce’s ''The Sisters'', ''Araby'', ''Evelyn''

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he periphery is now present through the construction of suffocating Irish atmospheres. But suffocation is also a feature of an obsolescent form of writing that these short stories by Joyce expose. Simultaneously they also put forward different techniques of narrations which deploy an altogether distinctive conception of literature. → If you want to meet Felisberto Hernández, a self-taught Uruguayan writer and pianist, whose obsessions are to expose the fascinating holes left by the impossibilities of language, we are expecting you next Saturday. If not, we can meet Henry James in a fortnight.

30 de abril: ''El vestido blanco'', ''Nadie encendía las lámparas'' y “La envenenada”, de Felisberto Hernández

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n la “Dedicatoria” de Filosofía del gángster, el escritor se dirige a sus lectores: “Por otra parte te pediré que interrumpas la lectura de este libro el mayor número de veces: tal vez, casi seguro, lo que tú pienses en esos intervalos sea lo mejor de este libro”. Una poética riesgosa, que se decide por lo indecible, confrontando así la ilusión realista, se hace presente en los tres relatos seleccionados.

May 7th: Henry James’s ''The Figure in the Carpet''

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here is meaning? Does it lie in the author’s intentions? Is it somewhere hidden in the text? Does the context account for it? In this nouvelle James invites us to look for the figure in the text, though we cannot be sure we will ever find it. → Would you like to embark upon a similar adventure? We can meet next Saturday and explore a major representative of storytelling in our country and in the world. If not, let’s pass onto New Zealand...

14 de mayo: ''Funes, el memorioso'', ''Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote'' ''La forma de la espada'', ''Tres versiones de Judas'' y “Everything and Nothing”, de Jorge Luis Borges

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na de las inquietudes de este escritor anglófilo es cómo dar forma a la palabra y tornarla material narrable. Las ficciones que estudiaremos no solo problematizan estas cuestiones, sino que también configuran un tipo particular de lector… un lector que es capaz de traicionar al propio escritor.

May 21st: Katherine Mansfield’s ''Prelude''

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ansfield polishes the jewel of her writing in a narrative that seems to have forgotten, in the act of making it shine, a plot. In this session we will explore the fascinating magnet underlying this seemingly plotless story. → Last but not least, a migrant is waiting for you next Saturday.

Someone who admires Katherine Mansfield and is inspired by her, but who has been able to give her literature an own, definite identity.

28 de mayo: “Amor”, “La cena” y “Feliz cumpleaños”, de Clarice Lispector

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Qué busca, qué logra, qué lazos teje esta escritora ucraniana emigrada a Brasil al mostrar, cruelmente, la cara más descarnada de personajes que, aunque “comunes”, se vuelven ominosamente amenazadores?

How will you profit from these sessions?  You’ll acquire a deeper and a broader insight into the variety, originality and literary concerns of well-known Anglosaxon and Latin American short narrative writers;  As usual, you’ll receive a virtual folder with the texts to be discussed;  Of course, you’ll count on our guidance and tools to read the stories from profitable theoretical frameworks;  Besides, you’ll be offered suggestions for further reading and help to construct connections among our intercultural corpus;  In addition, you’ll be given assessment, if interested, in harbouring your own reading hypothesis;  Last but not least, you’ll have a little present at the end of the course.

Who will be your tutors?

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arina Menán is a Teacher of English graduated from IES en Lenguas Vivas “Juan R. Fernández”. She also holds a degree as a Teacher of Language and Literature from Universidad de Buenos Aires, where she has specialised in literature by means of a two-year graduate course –adscripción. In 2011 she was granted a scholarship to attend the Globe Cultural Seminar in London by the English Speaking Union. She has finished a postgraduate course -Diplomatura- in Reading, Writing and Education at Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales –FLACSO–. She is working in the area of Literature and Cultural Studies in secondary schools, IS “Daguerre”, ISP “Dr. Joaquín V. González” and IES en Lenguas Vivas “Juan R. Fernández”.

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ecilia Lasa is a Teacher of English graduated from IES en Lenguas Vivas “Juan R. Fernández”. She has specialised in literature by means of a two-year postgraduate course –adscripción– at such an institute as well as through a graduate course – adscripción– at Universidad de Buenos Aires, where she is about to finish her Language and Literature course of studies. She has finished her Specialisation in Reading, Writing and Education at Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales – FLACSO–. She is currently writing her dissertation paper for her Master’s Degree in Literatures in Foreign Languages and Comparative Literatures. She is working as a Teacher of Literature in English in secondary schools and ISP “Dr. Joaquín V. González”, ENS en Lenguas Vivas “Sofía E. B. de Spangenberg” and Universidad de Buenos Aires.

Payment Each session costs $ 280. If more than five sessions are paid in advance, each meeting is $250.

Contact For enrollment -preferably before March 11th- and further information, contact us at cecilia_ev_lasa@hotmail.com and cmenan@hotmail.com.