Another Collection of Collections (In-person)
Fall (14 hours or more) | Registration opens 7/29/2025 12:00 AM EDT
Somewhere on the ground between the novel and the short story lies the collection. With its own integrity and structure, the short story collection is so much more than the name suggests; it is a book unto itself with themes and variations, with narrative arc and tone. With this statement I introduced the original, Winter of 2024 version of this course; in this new version we will test its validity with a close look at four new texts: Bad Dirt by Annie Proulx (2006), Dear Life by Alice Munro (2012), The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck (2024), and Island by Alistair MacLeod (not literally a collection, rather collected stories written between 1969 and 1999). We will spend two weeks on each author (6-8 stories per week and 110-215 pages of reading, depending on the book), a course load that you will find rich and engaging. Discussion and your ideas will propel our classes; my part will involve steering and context.
This course will consist of discussions between the Study Leader and participants.
Required Books:
Island - Alistair MacLeod (ISBN-13: 978-0393341188)
The History of Sound - Ben Shattuck (ISBN-13: 978-0593490402)
Bad Dirt - Annie Proulx (ISBN-13: 978-0743260145)
Dear Life - Alice Munro (ISBN-13: 978-0307743725)
Jon Stableford
Jon holds degrees from Williams College and Wesleyan University and for 43 years taught secondary school English, the last 34 of them at Phillips Academy, Andover, MA. In 2010, he and his wife Cindy retired to South Strafford, VT and have ever since had a close relationship with Osher at Dartmouth. He writes occasional pieces for The Valley News.