SLAVIC 188: Classics of Short Fiction: Reading the Novella

Since Wednesday, September 2 will follow a Monday schedule, our first class meeting will be on Wednesday, September 9. 

Here is the full syllabus, which we will go over briefly in class on Wednesday.

Reading the Novella

Form and Suspense in Short Fiction

Prof. Jonathan Bolton
Wednesdays 3-5 p.m.
Barker 373
Fall 2026

Short enough to read in a single sitting, but more complex and absorbing than short stories, novellas give us some of our most intense reading experiences. In this discussion seminar, we will read some of the enduring classics of the novella from around the world, including works by Anton Chekhov, Henry James, Herman Melville, Bohumil Hrabal, Katherine Anne Porter, Leo Tolstoy, James Joyce, Eileen Chang, and others; we will also consider how the novella’s compression and acceleration of plot make it ideal for horror, suspense, and other forms of "genre” fiction. We will pay close attention to form, suspense, plotting, and the way that different narrative modes allow authors to pose philosophical and political questions.

Reading a novella in one sitting offers a vastly different (and better) aesthetic experience from reading it in five or six different sessions in as many different places. To paraphrase John Gardner, novellas are generally built around a single flow of action, focused on a single character, building through a series of increasingly dramatic moments toward a final resolution. When you are reading them, it makes sense to preserve this unity of impression. Therefore, one of the goals of this seminar will be to help you read in an attentive, focused manner, without distractions, so that you can give each text the greatest opportunity to "work" on your mind and aesthetic sensibilities. To that end, I will ask you to pay close attention to the conditions of reading, to set aside focused and secluded time each week, and to read each novella as far as possible in a single sitting, 

This seminar will be run as a discussion, with our main activity being close reading together in class. Assignments will include attendance and active participation at all class sessions, a weekly journal, two short essays, and a final essay or project, which will ask you to investigate several novellas on your own, based on your own interests in genre and method, and to write an essay on one of them.

Please note that the use of generative AI is not permitted in this class. You will submit a weekly journal that should help you develop your own ideas over the course of the semester in a low-stress format. Please plan to meet with me frequently (at least two one-on-one meetings during the semester) to discuss the class and talk about your final project.

READINGS

Readings marked with an asterisk will be provided on the website.

Sept. 9      Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) and "A Gossip on Romance" 

Sept. 16    Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886)

Sept. 23    Anton Chekhov, “The Duel” (1891)

Sept. 30    Henry James, The Turn of the Screw (1898)

Oct. 7        *Katherine Anne Porter, “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” (1939)

Oct. 14      *Junichiro Tanizaki, “Portrait of Shunkin” (1933)

Oct. 21      Eileen Chang, “Love in a Fallen City” (1943)

Oct. 28      *Bohumil Hrabal, Closely Watched Trains (1966)

Nov. 4       Rachel Ingalls, Mrs. Caliban (1982)

Nov. 11     Jane Smiley, Ordinary Love (1989)

Nov. 18     Aleksandar Hemon, “Blind Jozef Pronek & Dead Souls” (2000)

Nov. 25     Thanksgiving Break — No class

Nov. 28     *Claire Keegan, Foster (2010) and Denis Johnson, Train Dreams (2011)

Reading Period: *James Joyce, "The Dead" (1914)

Here are the editions and translations we will be using for the course:

Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, trans. Pevear and Volokhonsky (Vintage, 2012, 978-0307951335)

Anton Chekhov, The Complete Short Novels, trans. Pevear and Volokhonsky (Vintage, 2005: 978-1400032921)

Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Oxford UP, 2008: 978-0199536221)

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw, ed. David Bromwich (Penguin, 978-0141441351, 2011)

Eileen Chang, Love in a Fallen City, trans. Kingsbury (NYRB Classics, 2006; 978-1590171783)

Rachel Ingalls, Mrs. Caliban (New Directions, 2017; 978-0811226691)

Aleksandar Hemon, The Question of Bruno (Vintage, 2001; 978-0375727009)

Jane Smiley, Ordinary Love & Good Will: Two Novellas (Anchor, 2007: 978-0307279095)

Denis Johnson, Train Dreams (Picador, 2012; 978-1250007650)