Story Rounds and Blogging

By the end, we will all have read 3 stories from each of the five authors. For those authors that have more then three stories listed, you may choose as a group which ones you want to read. Here are the authors and their stories:


T.C. Boyle

Termination Dust, pp. 1-20
She Wasn't Soft, 21-42
Killing Babies, 43-65
Captured by the Indians, 66-81
Key Themes:
-self-delusion, solipsism, and evil
-social critique
-Realism

Flannery O'Connor

Good Country People, 271-291
The Enduring Chill, 357-382
Everything that Rises Must Converge, 405-420
Key Themes:
-Self delusion, sin and Christian realism
-Generational tension, etc. (see class notes)

Tim Gautreaux

Welding with Children, pp. 1-20
Misuse of Light, 21-38
Good for the Soul, 40-60
Easy Pickings, 61-78
Key Themes:


-God's pursuit of us (Hound of Heaven)
-Generational Tension; communal bonds
-Light, truth, and Grace


Raymond Carver

Bicycles, Muscles, Cigarettes, 21-31
Feathers, 332-355
A Small Good Thing, 376-405
Key Themes:
-A tough world; tenuousness of goodness
-The quiet presence of beauty and wonder
-realism

Andre Dubus

Miranda Over the Valley, 1-19
Killings, 47-64
Rose, 198-232
Key Themes:
-The beauty and fragility of love
-Human proclivity toward violence
-The possibilities and obstacles to
Personal redemption