Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Definition of Short Story

1.2 History of Short Story

Chapter 2 Elements and Techniques of Short Story

2.1 Elements

2.2 Techniques

Chapter 3 How to Read Short Story

3.1 Look at the Plot

3.2 Analyze the Characters

3.3 Identify the Setting

3.4 Examine the Point of View

3.5 Identify the Themes

3.6 Analyze the Tone

3.7 Discuss Symbolism and Allegory

3.8 Focus on Irony

Chapter 4 Major Critical Approaches

4.1 Foralist Criticism

4.2 Historical Criticism

4.3 Psychological Criticism

4.4 Sociological Criticism

4.5 Feminist Criticism

4.6 Reader-response Criticism

4.7 Cultural Studies Criticism

4.8 Deconstructionist Criticism

4.9 Biographical Criticism

Chapter 5 Selected Readings of English and American Short Stories

5.1 Oscar Wilde and The Happy Prince

5.2 Thomas Hardy and The Son's Veto

5.3 Virginia Woolf and The New Dress

5.4 Katherine Mansfield and The Fly

5.5 James Joyce and Araby

5.6 William Somerset Maugham and The Ant and the Grasshopper

5.7 D.H. Lawrence and The Horse Dealer's Daughter

5.8 H.H. Munro and The Open Window

5.9 Doris Lessing and A Woman on a Roof

5.10 Edgar Allan Poe and The Purloined Letter

5.11 Nathaniel Hawthorne and Young Goodman Brown

5.12 O.Henry and The Gift of the Magi

5.13 Mark Twain and Luck

5.14 Kate Chopin and The Story of an Hour

5.15 Jack London and The White Man's Way

5.16 Sherwood Anderson and Mother

5.17 Willa Sibert Cather and Neighbour Rosicky

5.18 E.Hemingway and Hills like White Elephants

5.19 William Faulkner and A Rosefor Emily

5.20 Bernard Malamud and The Magic Barrel

5.21 John Updike and A＆P

5.22 Alice Walker and Everyday Use for Your Grandmama

Bibliography