ENGC 1188 Introduction to Short Story (Hammerbeck)

For this assignement, you will find one short story in the genre of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or mystery/detective fiction to read. You will write a summary and analysis, incorporating how the story uses the themes of the genre.

Encyclopedia Articles - encyclopedia articles give broad overview of topics. These entries will tell you about each genre.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature
From Literary Movements for Students

Fantasy
From the Encyclopedia of Literacy and Cultural Theory

Mystery and Detective Fiction
From American History Through Literature 1870-1920

Horror Fiction
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of English Literature

Development of the Short Story
History of the short story in U.S. Literature. From American History Through Literature 1820-1870.
 

Click through to a list of books at the library that are collected genre short stories.

Online:

LitFinder (Gale Literature)

Also included in Gale Literature. Selected literary texts: poems, plays, short stories, and novels; some literary criticism.

Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Online-only magazine with fantasy and sci-fi stories; browseable by year and issue (choose a year on the right to see issues)

Lists of stories in the Normandale Library:

Fantasy Story Collections
Science Fiction Story Collections
Mystery and Detective Story Collections
Best American Mystery Stories - An annual book anthology with the best American mystery stories published that year
Horror Story Collections

 

These are databases that contain academic articles on literature. The best way to search is by the title of the story/novel/poem. If you get too many results, you can add the author's name.


Gale Literature
Searches all Gale literature databases at once: Gale Literature Criticism, Gale Literature Resource Center, LitFinder, Scribner Writers Series, Twayne's Author Series, Something About the Author, and the Dictionary of Literary Biography.

Salem Literature
Literary analysis of authors, their novels and poetry, and literary themes.

JSTOR
Scholarly articles, ebooks, and primary sources in the social sciences, humanities, earth and biological sciences, and more. Includes image results from Artstor.


Project MUSE
Journal articles and books on literature, history, visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and more.

These are sources on Edgar Allen Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," which is an early example of a detective story.

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue." Short Stories for Students, edited by Sara Constantakis, vol. 34, Gale, 2012, pp. 176-203. Gale eBooks, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX1999400020/GVRL?u=mnanorman&sid=GVRL&xid=8cf9be67. Accessed 30 Oct. 2019.

• This is an encyclopedia entry on "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." On the right side of the page is a table of contents. The section titled "Criticism" includes two essays that are literary analysis of the story.

Martin, Terry J. “Detection, Imagination, and the Introduction to ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue.’” Modern Language Studies, vol. 19, no. 4, 1989, pp. 31–45. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3194774.

• This is an academic article (an article written by a scholar and published in an academic journal) that is a literary analysis of the story, which focuses on the themes of detection and imagination in the story. This is the kind of essay that you will be writing in upper-level literature classes, as well as the kind of source you will be using to research and write your essays.