Short Story

The course has the following objectives:

• to introduce students to the specifics of the literary genre of the short story
• to study the development of the short story throughout history (socio-historical contextualisation) and to illustrate this development with examples from world and Slovenian literature
• to train students to read and interpret selected texts critically and analytically and to identify the fundamental characteristics of the short story
• to become familiar with the different possibilities of the short story - the short story can have both a more classical, stricter form or freer forms. We will look at different options/ realizations.

There are no enrolment or degree requirements for the course.

The course examines the short story from its origins in the early 19th century to its present form. We will look at the different forms of the short story, which are characteristic of different time periods and different national contexts. Areas of focus include:
- the history/development of the short story as a prose form
- we will learn about the main characteristics of the genre and outline the differences between various short fiction genres (novella, parable, short story, anecdote, etc.)
- the short story as a reflection of social and cultural movements over time (Romanticism, Realism, Modernism, Postmodernism)
- the use of this prose form as a means of personal expression and identity of the writer
- the reading will include authors from different national and cultural backgrounds, both key figures in the development of the genre (the classics of the short story) and contemporary names who shape the genre today and lay the foundations for future variations
- among the authors who will be highlighted are: Poe, Maupassant, Chekhov, Joyce, Kafka, Borges, Lahiri, Munro, Jančar, Kumerdej and others.

Students learn to:
- read, analyse and write about short fiction,
- become more active and critical readers through close reading and analysis,
- distinguish between different genres of short fiction and the specific features of the short story, as it has developed in different parts of the world
- evaluate selected works as expressions of values in a specific historical, cultural and social context
- evaluate short fiction in a cross-cultural context (multicultural perspective)

Basic:

• Blatnik, Andrej. Pisanje kratke zgodbe: od prvopisa do natisa. Ljubljana: Literarno-umetniško društvo Literatura, 2020.
• Boddy, Kasia. The American Short Story Since 1950. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2010 Catalogue
• Gunesekera , Romesh, “The Art of the Short Story”. Wasafiri, 31:1, 5-8, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39325-0_5
• Perić Jezernik, Andreja. Minimalizem in sodobna slovenska kratka proza. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2011. Catalogue
• Smith, Jennifer J. American Short Story Cycle. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2018. E-version
• Zupan, Simon. “Recepcija slovenskih prevodov kratkih zgodb Edgarja Allana Poeja v 19. in 20. stoletju.” Primerjalna književnost letnik 38. številka 1 (2015) str. 121-144, 235. E-version
• Žbogar, Alenka. “Slovenska kratka pripovedna proza po letu 1980”. Slavistična revija, Letnik: 57, Številka: 4. E-version

Additional:

• The Penguin book of the contemporary British short story. London: Penguin Books, 2019. E-version
• A companion to the American short story. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

Selection of short stories
Main list:

• Brez milosti: antologija sodobne slovenske kratke proze. Novo mesto: Goga, 2023
• Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Fall of the House of Usher” E-version
• Čehov, Anton Pavlovič. Novele. Ljubljana: Beletrina, 2020 Catalogue
• Joyce, James. Ljudje iz Dublina. Ljubljana: Karantanija, 1993 Catalogue
• Kafka, Franz. Pismo očetu in druga kratka proza. Ljubljana: Študentska založba, 2010
• Carver, Raymond. Kolesa, mišice, cigarete. Novo mesto: Goga, 2002
• Borges, Jorge Luis. Izmišljije. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, 1984
• García Márquez, Gabriel. Dvanajst potohodnikov. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 2018
• Lahiri, Jhumpa. Tolmač tegob. Maribor: Hiša knjig, Založba KMŠ, 2009
• Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. The thing around your neck. London: 4th Estate, 2017, cop. 2009
• Munro, Alice, Preveč sreče: zgodbe. Dob pri Domžalah : Miš, 2010
• Cankar, Ivan. Podobe iz sanj. Ljubljana: Beletrina, 2018. Catalogue
• Jančar, Drago. Mnoga življenja: izbrane novele in kratke zgodbe. Ljubljana: Beletrina, 2018.

Additional list:

• Maupassant, Guy de. The necklace and other stories : Maupassant for modern times. New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2016.
• Cheever, John. Collected stories. London: Vintage, 2010. E-version
• Blatnik, Andrej. Saj razumeš? Ljubljana: LUD Literatura, 2009.
• Bračič, Ajda. Leteči ljudje. Ljubljana: LUD Literatura, 2023
• Kumerdej, Mojca. Temna snov. Ljubljana: Beletrina, 2017.
• Lemaić, Vesna. Dobrodošli. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, 2018.

• seminar paper 40 %
• oral exam 60 %

Associate Professor Leonora Flis 's work focuses on literary theory, contemporary English and American literature, film (especially in relation to literature), graphic novels and literary journalism. She also writes book and film reviews, translates and writes fiction. She published her first collection of short stories Upogib časa in 2015 and her second book of short stories, titled Enakozvočja, in 2022. In 2011, she was awarded a Fulbright Research Fellowship and was a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York. She also writes radio programs with literary content and hosts discussions on literature, film and literary journalism. In 2010, she published a scholarly monograph, Factual Fictions: Narrative Truth and the Contemporary American Novel.
She has attended several international conferences and symposia, and has publishes scholarly and professional articles in Slovene and foreign journals and books.

• FLIS, Leonora. Nan Shepherdʹs holistic world - an intimate triangle : nature, body and mind in the living mountain. V: DUŢU, Carmen (ur.). Representations, scenes and scenarios of intimacy in women’s writing. Bucureşti: Pro Universitaria, 2023. Str. 81-95. ISBN 978-606-26-1415-7. https://repozitorij.ung.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=8312. [COBISS.SI-ID 159100419]
• FLIS, Leonora. The narrative of social (in)justice, feminism, and migration in Slavenka Drakulić's selected works. Dve domovini : razprave o izseljenstvu. [Tiskana izd.]. 2023, [št.] 58, str. 127-144. ISSN 0353-6777. https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/twohomelands/article/view/13203/11576, http://www.dlib.si/details/URN:NBN:SI:doc-VFRV4BE6, DOI: 10.3986/2023.2.07. [COBISS.SI-ID 160461571], [SNIP, Scopus]
• FLIS, Leonora. Factual fictions: narrative truth and the contemporary American documentary novel. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2010. XII, 254 str. ISBN 9781-4438-24130-2. ISBN 1-4438-2413-5. [COBISS.SI-ID 44359522].
• FLIS, Leonora. Med leposlovjem in poročanjem. Sodobnost. okt. 2021, letn. 85, št. 10, str. 1279-1292. ISSN 0038-0482. [COBISS.SI-ID 84567555]
• FLIS, Leonora. Social engagement and multiculturalism in Louis Adamic's literary journalism and documentary prose. Dve domovini : razprave o izseljenstvu. [Tiskana izd.]. 2020, št. 51, str. 59-75. ISSN 0353-6777. DOI: 10.3986/dd.2020.1.04. [COBISS.SI-ID 45984557].
• FLIS, Leonora. Grafične pripovedi in pripovednost. Primerjalna književnost. [Tiskana izd.]. maj 2020, letn. 43, št. 1, str. 51-74, ilustr. ISSN 0351-1189. DOI: 10.3986/pkn.v43.i1.03. [COBISS.SI-ID 18156803].
• FLIS, Leonora. Družbeni angažma v literarnem novinarstvu Louisa Adamiča. V: DAUGUL, Larisa (ur.). Strpnost ni dovolj: prispevki s konference Iz mnogih dežel: ob 120. obletnici rojstva Louisa Adamiča, (Borec, ISSN 0006-7725, letn. 70 (2018), št. 751-753). Ljubljana: Sophia. 2018, [Letn.] 70, št. 751/753, str. [140]-149, 217-218. [COBISS.SI-ID 36010333].
• FLIS, Leonora. Joe Sacco in literarno novinarstvo v podobi stripa - žanrski preplet literature, stripa, novinarstva in zgodovine. V: ZORMAN, Barbara (ur.), et al. Literatura in gibljive slike : tematski sklop = Literature and moving images : thematic section. Ljubljana: Slovensko društvo za primerjalno književnost, 2014. Letn. 37, št. 2, str. 195-225, [245], ilustr. Primerjalna književnost, letn. 37, št. 2. ISSN 0351-1189. [COBISS.SI-ID 55123042].
• FLIS, Leonora. Profiling war : managing trauma in reporting horror : the case of Boštjan Videmšek. V: JOSEPH, Sue (ur.). Profile pieces : journalism and the "human interest" bias. New York; London: Routledge, cop. 2016. Str. 226-239. Routledge research in journalism, 13. ISBN 978-1-138-93805-2. [COBISS.SI-ID 4114171]