The New Yorker has played a prominent role in the development and fostering of literary short fiction in America and beyond. The magazine has created a searchable digital archive that includes all of the fiction published in the magazine since its inception in 1925, a vast treasure trove of short stories.
Over time, the magazine and its fiction editors have had a profound effect in shaping what a short story could be. Numerous famous and upcoming writers have published short stories in the magazine. Many of these writers became important novelists, but continued to produce short stories, often published in The New Yorker. Not infrequently, their short stories are considered to be better and more enduring than their novels.
This class will meet weekly for eight weeks. Two or three short stories selected from The New Yorker’s digital archive will be assigned each week to be read as homework and discussed at length in class. The selected stories will be available for reading or printing from the class Google Drive folder. Reading packets will be available for those who need or prefer printouts. For those who want to use the digital archive (not required), a short tutorial will be given in the first class.