Robert DiYanni received his B.A. from Rutgers University in 1968 and his Ph.D. from the City University of New York in 1976. He has taught at Queens College of the City University of New York, at New York University in the Graduate Rhetoric Program, at Harvard University in the Expository Writing Program, and most recently at Pace University. He has written articles and reviews on various aspects of literature, composition, and pedagogy. He is also the author of numerous books and frequently lectures and participates in writing and literature workshops.
INTRODUCTION: READING (AND WRITING ABOUT) LITERATURE Reading Literature The Pleasures of Reading Literature The Pleasures of Fiction The Dog and the Shadow Learning to Be Silent *Reading the Parable in Context The Pleasures of Poetry Robert Frost, Dust of Snow *Reading Frost''s poem in Context The Pleasures of Drama Understanding Literature: Experience/ Interpretation/ Evaluation Writing About Literature Reasons for Writing about Literature *Reading a play in Context Ways of Writing about Literature The Writing Process Drafting Revising Editing PART ONE: FICTION CHAPTER 1: READING STORIES Luke, The Prodigal Son The Experience of Fiction The Interpretation of Fiction *Reading in Context The… Evaluation of Fiction John Updike, A&P The Act of Reading Fiction Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour Chapter 2: TYPES OF SHORT FICTION Early Forms: Parable, Fable, and Tale Aesop, The Wolf and the Mastiff Petronius, The Widow of Ephesus The Short Story The Nonrealistic Story The Short Novel Chapter 3: ELEMENTS OF FICTION Plot and Structure Frank O''Connor, Guests of the Nation Character Kay Boyle, Astronomer''s Wife Setting Bobbie Ann Mason, Shiloh Point of View William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily Language and Style James Joyce, Araby Theme Eudora Welty, A Worn Path Irony and Symbol D. H. Lawrence, The Rocking-Horse Winner Chapter 4: WRITING ABOUT FICTION Reasons for Writing about Fiction Informal Ways of Writing about Fiction Katherine Anne Porter, Magic Formal Ways of Writing about Fiction Student Papers on Fiction Questions for Writing about Fiction Suggestions for Writing Chapter 5: THREE FICTION WRITERS IN CONTEXT Reading Edgar Allan Poe, Flannery O''Connor, and Sandra Cisneros in Depth *Edgar Allan Poe in Context *Poe and Journalism / Poe and The Horror Story / Poe and The Detective Story / The Dimension of Style/ Timeline Edgar Allan Poe: Stories: *The Black Cat *The Cask of Amontillado *The Fall of the House of Usher *The Purloined Letter *Edgar Allan Poe: Letters, Essays *Critics on Poe Flannery O''Connor in Context *Southern Gothic / The Catholic Dimension / O''Connor''s Irony/ Timeline Flannery O''Connor: Stories: Good Country People A Good Man is Hard to Find Everything That Rises Must Converge *The Life You Save May Be Your Own Flannery O''Connor: Letters, Essays Critics on O''Connor *Sandra Cisneros in Context Culture and Identity / Literature of the American Southwest / The Feminist Dimension/ Timeline *Sandra Cisneros: Stories: *Barbie Q *Eleven *There was a Man, There was a Woman *Woman Hollering Creek *Sandra Cisneros on Herself *Critics on Cisneros Chapter 6: A COLLECTION OF SHORT FICTION Classics *Chinua Achebe, Marriage is a Private Affair *James Baldwin, Sonny''s Blues Jorge Luis Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths *Anton Chekhov, The Kiss translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT Ralph Ellison, Battle Royal *F. Scott Fitzgerald, Babylon Revisited Gabriel Garcia Marquez, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings translated by GREGORY RABASSA Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown *Ernest Hemingway, Soldier''s Home *Zora Neale Hurston, Spunk James Joyce, The Boarding House James Joyce, The Dead *Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis translated by ALEXIS WALKER Katherine Mansfield, Bliss Tillie Olsen, I Stand Here Ironing Luigi Pirandello, War Katherine Anne Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall Isaac Bashevis Singer, Gimpel the Fool translated by SAUL BELLOW Jean Stafford, Bad Characters *Eudora Welty, Why I Live at the P.O. Contemporaries *Sherman Alexie, Indian Education *Julia Alvarez, The Kiss *Margaret Atwood, Happy Endings Toni Cade Bambara, The Lesson Raymond Carver, Cathedral *Anita Desai, Diamond Dust *Nathan Englander, The Tumblers *Ursula Hegi, To the Gate Mary Hood, How Far She Went *Gish Jen, Who''s Irish Ha Jin, Taking a Husband Jamaica Kincaid, Girl *James Alan McPherson, Why I Like Country Music *Bharati Mukherjee, The Tenant *Alice Munro, An Ounce of Cure *Edna O''Brien, Long Distance Tim O''Brien, The Things They Carried *Annie Proulx, The Bunchgrass Edge of the World Leslie Silko, Yellow Woman Amy Tan, Rules of the Game Alice Walker, Everyday Use *Louisa Valenzuela, I''m Your Horse in the Night *John Edgar Wideman, Damballah PART TWO: POETRY Chapter 7: READING POEMS The Experience of Poetry Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays *Reading in Context The Interpretation of Poetry Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening *Reading in Context The Evaluation of Poetry Adrienne Rich, Aunt Jennifer''s Tigers The Act of Reading Poetry Theodore Roethke, My Papa''s Waltz Chapter 8: TYPES OF POETRY Narrative Poetry Lyric Poetry Chapter 9: ELEMENTS OF POETRY Voice: Speaker and Tone Stephen Crane, War is Kind Robert Browning, My Last Duchess Muriel Stuart, In the Orchard Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend" Anonymous, Western Wind Henry Reed, Naming of Parts Jacques Prevert, Family Portrait Diction William Wordsworth, I wandered lonely as a cloud Edwin Arlington Robinson, Miniver Cheevy William Wordsworth, It is a beauteous evening Robert Herrick, Delight in Disorder Adrienne Rich, Rape Imagery Elizabeth Bishop, First Death in Nova Scotia William Butler Yeats, The Lake Isle of Innisfree Robert Browning, Meeting at Night H.D., Heat Thomas Hardy, Neutral Tones Figures of Speech: Simile and Metaphor William Shakespeare, That time of year thou may''st in me behold John Donne, Hymn to God the Father Robert Wallace, The Double-Play Louis Simpson, The Battle Judith Wright, Woman to Child Symbolism and Allegory Peter Meinke, Advice to My Son Christina Rossetti, Up-Hill William Blake, A Poison Tree Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken George Herbert, Virtue Emily Dickinson, Because I could not stop for Death Syntax John Donne, The Sun Rising Thomas Hardy, The Man He Killed William Butler Yeats, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death Robert Frost, The Silken Tent e.e. cummings, "Me up at does" Stevie Smith, Mother, Among the Dustbins Sound: Rhyme, Alliteration, Assonance Gerard Manley Hopkins, In the Valley of the Elwy Thomas Hardy, During Wind and Rain Alexander Pope, Sound and Sense Bob McKenty, Adam''s Song May Swenson, The Universe Helen Chasin, The Word Plum Rhythm and Meter Robert Frost, The Span of Life George Gordon, Lord Byron, The Destruction of Sennacherib Anne Sexton, Her Kind William Carlos Williams, The Red Wheelbarrow Structure: Closed Form and Open Form John Keats, On First Looking into Chapman''s Homer Walt Whitman, When I heard the learn''d astronomer e.e. cummings l(a e.e. cummings, [Buffalo Bill''s] William Carlos Williams, The Dance Denise Levertov, O Taste and See Theodore Roethke, The Waking *Christine Kane Molito, Reflections in Black & Blue C.P. Cavafy, The City translated by EDMUND KEELEY AND PHILIP SHERRARD Theme Emily Dickinson, Crumbling is not an instant''s Act Chapter 10: TRANSFORMATIONS Revisions William Blake, London William Butler Yeats, A Dream of Death Emily Dickinson, The Wind begun to knead the Grass D.H. Lawrence, Piano *Langston Hughes, Ballad of Booker T. Parodies William Carlos Williams, This is Just to Say Kenneth Koch, Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams Gerard Manley Hopkins, Carrion Comfort Gary Layne Hatch, Terrier Torment; or, Mr. Hopkins and his Dog William Shakespeare, Shall I comp