Section 1:
Using provided academic materials and your own independent research, investigate the either the horror or detective fiction genre. Write an overview of this genre that includes its key characteristics and historical context. (200 words)
Section 2:
Using provided academic materials and your own independent research, investigate the author of the horror or detective fiction short story studied in class, as well as the story itself. Write a brief summary of the history and context of this writer and their work. The short story needs to correspond with your chosen genre discussed in section 1 of this portfolio. (200 words)
Section 3:
This section requires a scholarly interpretation of your chosen text as discussed in section 2 of this portfolio.
By doing a close reading of the selected short story and using provided academic material as well as your own independent research, explain why the short story is considered an example of the horror or detective fiction genre.
This answer requires the use of at least two secondary sources used in class and one academic source from your own research. (400 words)
Reference:
Yes, academic sources are needed to complete the task. Secondary sources will be made available on vUWS or in tutorials, but you’ll also need to use sources from your own independent research. Use in-text citations and create a reference list. We will accept the Harvard or MLA Style Guide, as long as it is consistently used throughout.
Marking criteria
This assessment will be assessed on:
response to the questions (20%)
analysis of primary text to support your response (30%)
the use of secondary sources to support your response (20%)
Written expression (20%)
Referencing (10%)
3A essay compare it to 3B
3A essay Written by Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle, ‘This This Called Literature’ is a threepart book that describes the meaning and importance of literature. It guides the reader on
essential strategies to use in the analysis of literature such as novels.
Chapter 3 provides an
analysis of the nature of novels and what features capture the reader’s attention from the beginning of the novel to the end. The chapter is analytic and descriptive and makes suggestions to the reader on how they can better examine a novel. The chapter incorporates examples of novels from famous novelists such as ‘Never let me go’ by Kazuo Ishiguro, Jane Austen’s novels, and Aldous Huxley (Bennet & Royle, 2014). Excerpts from various novels are used asexamples to convey the author’s message due to the precise nature of the text and the short
paragraphs.
Diverse vocabulary is explored by the authors but the chapter still maintains its
simplicity and coherency. A quote that would describe the short fiction form is, ‘partly, for this reason, the novel is almost infinitely malleable: it is highly diverse in its form, in its subjectmatter and its style (Bennet & Royle, 2014).’ Through the quote, a reader can observe the diverse vocabulary and the simplicity of the text that the author strives to maintain.
The short story by Robert Boswell published in The Atlantic very interesting to read. The author narrates the exhibition of unintended consequences in the lives of several
subjects chosen by the narrator.
The unintended consequences arise from flight delays at La Guardia due to a threat of an improvised explosive device in the airport (Boswell, 2020).The story interesting and intriguing because of the author’s ability to explore the thoughts of the subjects of the short story.
Through the short story, a reader can derive themes of love, hate,
jealousy, and politics. The author carefully combines all the perspectives and themes into a complex interesting plot. These features made the short story interesting and captured my attention throughout the text.
References
Bennett, A. & Royle, N. (2014). This Thing Called Literature. Routledge, London & New York
http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/53166
Boswell, R. (2020, January 10). O: A Short Story by Robert Boswell. Retrieved from
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/10/o/497540/
