CHRISTMAS STORIES will be held at the Carmelite Community Centre in Dublin City on December 16, 10am to 4:30pm. The 200 euro tuition fees will be donated to Brumby Safaris Queensland for the rescuing and rehoming of neglected brumby horses.
Claire will not be collecting fees so we will ask that you donate them directly to the foundation. Please send no money to Claire’s account to make a booking for this course.
All bookings are made through Lorraine Decker, secretary for the foundation: brumby.safaris@gmail.com
Here is the link to the anthology Christmas Stories, edited by Jessica Harrison. Claire will be choosing some of these stories for discussion on December 16th. The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories: From Hans Christian Andersen to Angela Carter (Penguin Clothbound Classics) https://amzn.eu/d/iWCmQYF
Carmelite Centre, Aungier Street, Dublin 2, from 10am to 5pm
Tuition: 300 euro
To book or for more information, please email clairekeeganfictionclinic@gmail.com
The short story has been a staple of American literature since the American Revolution. Charles Brockden Brown, the first American to earn his living writing of strange phenomena and political conflict, wrote “Somnambulism” in 1805. Shortly after, Washington Irving popularized the form with “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” both of which created iconic American characters. Since then, American writers have been changing the form, testing its limits. And questioning what America really means. During this weekend, we will look at a series of short stories, examine the forms, critique the contexts, and understand the many variations of the short story in America.
Reading List
Classic American Renaissance Tales
“My Kinsman, Major Molineux,” Nathaniel Hawthorne (1832)
“Bartleby the Scrivener,” Herman Melville (1853)
The Harlem Renaissance
“Blood Burning Moon,” Jean Toomer (1923)
“Story in Harlem Slang,” Zora Neale Hurston (1942)
Money ad Manhood
“A Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” F. Scott Fitzgerald (1927)
“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” Ernest Hemingway (1933)
Faces of the Thirties
“Theft,” Katherine Anne Porter (1930)
“Here We Are,” Dorothy Parker (1931)
African American Writing and Civil Rights
“Sonny’s Blues,” James Baldwin (1957)
“Everyday Use,” Alice Walker (1973)
New American Classics
“Where I’m Calling From,” Raymond Carver (1983)
“Brokeback Mountain,” Annie Proulx (1997)
Mary McCay, Professor Emerita, has taught several weekend seminars in Ireland, including Southern Writers and W.B. Yeats. During the pandemic, she taught three Zoom classes to Claire Keegan’s groups: African American Voices, James Joyce, and Feminist Writings. Mary McCay was Claire Keegan’s advisor and professor during her time at Loyola University and is responsible for her introduction to and initial studies of literature. She is vaccinated and will be in Ireland in November to meet with students interested in the American Short Story.
