Welcome to ENG 121: The Short Story!

First, a confession: I love Lorrie Moore.  Her short story collection Self-Help is the first book of short stories that took my breath away, that made me think, That's exactly what I want to do! I wanted to tell stories of people who were smart and funny and lost, bruised by life, floundering, trying to find their way.  And that's what Lorrie Moore does.

And if you're wondering where the name of my blog came from, it came from her, from one of her stories--"Real Estate"--from her brilliant collection Birds of America.  The section I borrowed it from is in the blog's description, and it's representative of the kind of wit and humor Moore crafts in her work.

So what does that have to do with this class? Well, it's like this: My goal is to knock your socks off this semester, to find a story (or--better yet!--many stories) that will knock your socks off and take your breath away like Lorrie Moore's stories did for me back when I was an undergraduate scuffing through the magnolia petals in front of Fenton Hall at SUNY Fredonia.

I'll be blogging along with you as we work through our four units:

1. Unit #1: A Century of Stories
2. Unit #2: International Stories
3. Unit #3: Flash Fiction
4. Unit #4: Contemporary Stories

Follow along with me, keep up with your own blogging, don't be afraid to ask questions, and really throw yourself into the stories I've carefully selected for us.  There's beauty in all of them, and it's our job to figure out what's made them so beautiful.  

Welcome to the fall semester!