Saturdays: April 11, 18, 25 and May 2, 2026; 9:30 a.m.–noon
Week One: Beginnings of the modern short story in Russia and France
Reading: A chapter from George Saunders, A Swim in the Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life (2021)
Anton Chekhov, “In the Ravine” (1900)
Guy de Maupassant, “The Necklace” (1884)
In class: History, form, and influence of the Russian and French short story. Discussion of Saunders, Chekhov, and de Maupassant.
Week Two: From Russian Masters to Jewish American Writers
Reading:
Abraham Cahan, “Circumstances”
Anzia Yezierska, “The Fat of the Land”
Grace Paley, “Conversation with my Father”
In class: Historical context for American Jewish short stories, influenced by Russian authors as well as writers of the European Yiddish Renaissance. Historical contexts for Cahan and Yezierska (1880s to 1930s) and Paley (late twentieth century). Short stories and the spread of literacy through newspapers and magazines.
Week Three: Reinvention of the Short Story in Modern America
Reading:
Charles Chesnutt, “The Goophered Grapevine”
Zora Neale Hurston, “Sweat”
Flannery O’Connor, “Good Country People”
Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants”
In class: Adaptation and innovation in the short story by American writers from 1887 to 1955. Discussion of various contexts, including racial injustice in the post-Civil War period and changing social norms after WWI.
Week Four: The Contemporary Short Story Across Borders
Reading:
Clare Kegan, “The Forester’s Daughter.”
Jhumpa Lahiri, “Interpreter of Maladies”
Ha Jin, “A Tiger Fighter is Hard to Find”
Alejandro Zambra, “Reading Comprehension Text No. 2” (Granta 134 Feb 2016).
In class: Late- 20th- and 21st-century experiments with the short story form by Irish, Indian-American, Chinese, and Chilean writers.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Dr. Mary Wood is a semi-retired Professor of English at University of Oregon, where she has taught American Literature for over thirty years. She teaches a Jewish Writers course every year for UO undergraduates and regularly includes Jewish writers in her courses on 19th- and 20th-century American literature, American modernism, and memoir and autobiography. She has directed several dissertations and honors theses on 20th- and 21st-century Jewish American writers. She has published two scholarly books on memoir, fiction, and mental illness—The Writing on the Wall (University of Illinois Press, 1994) and Life Writing and Schizophrenia (Brill, 2013)—as well as several articles on American fiction writers, including Jewish American writers. She is currently working on a project that connects short stories by Jewish writer Grace Paley to writing by early 20th-century Jewish labor activists.
ABOUT CONTINUING EDUCATION SEMINARS
These courses are for people eager to engage in a studious seminar format. Each in-person only seminar meets weekly, over four sessions. The seminars are led by current and retired professors who provide formal study guides and lead college-level discussions, with participants actively contributing to each session. Seminars are noncredit and ungraded but include challenging homework.
Participation is open to all adults; no previous affiliation with UO is required. Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) membership is not required, however, active OLLI members may register at a reduced fee.
