English literature boasts some of the most powerful, beautifully crafted short stories in world literature. In this class, we will use the short story as a path for understanding the craft of writing: how writers use language to present a vividly imagined world in a short number of pages. We will also examine the importance of genre: how, for example, a detective short story differs from a slice of life story. This is a lecture course, but will involve substantial student discussion.