Senior Portfolio Workshop 2017

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This story is very intriguing because it turns the Vampire myth on its head and makes it a source of pain and development for the character’s love story. The reader feels sympathetic to him because he does not desire to be a monster and was shaped by the Western/Eastern Vampire myths. His fear of acting […]

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Karen Russell’s “Vampires in the Lemon Grove” makes several points about the nature of humanity and the mortal expectations of romantic relationships. Russell accomplishes this by implementing the preconceived predatory nature of vampires, as well as through the connections vampires have to the idea of eternity, and how each of these elements impacts Clyde’s relationship […]

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Russel starts out this story in a very dull and monotone way. Her first sentence is a suggestion of excitement, but she quickly negates it with “but of course there is no way for anyone to verify that now.” She then goes on to write a long list of the characteristics that all of the worker […]

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Karen Russell’s writing shows a similar connection between the two stories, “Vampires in the Lemon Grove” and “Reeling for the Empire”. In both of these short stories, Russell’s writing is not complex or outlandish. The writing itself is simply constructed. However, the messages portrayed in these short stories are complex. Looking specifically at “Vampires in the […]

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Many short short stories — so-called “flash fiction” or “sudden fiction” stories  — seem to operate in the manner of poetry, powered by their associative qualities. A particular image or series of images deepens in meaning, growing increasingly nuanced and complex. That’s what George Saunders does with the crossed metal pole in the story “Sticks,” barely more […]

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The story of George Saunders’s Victory Lap is written in a style that makes reading feel more like watching through a slideshow of the events. It has relatively fast paced scenes from beginning to end. There are a lot of changes in point of view, making it almost feel like there is more than one story. Indeed, it […]

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Your responsibilities in the class will include: — writing a weekly blog post — preparing comments and questions and then leading two class discussions of the assigned reading (you should choose reading assignments that are within the genre in which you’re working for your portfolio) — submitting three sections of your portfolio to be workshopped […]

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      To order one of these texts from Amazon, click on the image.

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