Rhetoric of Fiction – How Stories Work

This class is an introduction to the study of written narrative fiction as a mode of information based in personal knowledge and experience. Through close reading and interpretation of various fictive texts, we will explore the rhetorical operations of stories presented in writing with consideration to their possible audiences and examination of narrative fiction's component parts, such as plot, character and setting, narration, point of view, irony, and so forth.

Besides weekly reading, required course work will include several short written analyses, a written midterm, a group oral presentation, and a final written essay.

Learning goals: 1. Familiarity with advanced issues and techniques in the analysis of written narrative fiction. 2. Practice in advanced argumentation (making claims, marshaling textual evidence, etc., in writing and speaking) about narrative texts.

Books:
Seymour Chatman, Reading Narrative Fiction (1993)
Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)
Marilynne Robinson, Gilead (2004)