Paired Stories [Corinne Manning]

Decades after Salinger’s incredible Franny and Zooey proved linked tales go beyond the confines of a short story and somewhere different than a novel, collections of connected stories are everywhere. We’ll read, discuss, and write linked short stories, starting with Rebecca Curtis’s “Toast” (Harpers, February 2014) and “The Christmas Miracle” (New Yorker, December 2013), then moving on to two stories from Joan Silber’s recent story collection, Fools. Exercises and prompts will get students thinking and writing in linked stories. Students will leave class with at least one pair of linked tales.