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Maritime Short Stories explores how the short story as a genre represents life at sea – not only as setting, but as a cultural space that shapes plot, character, and meaning. After a brief introduction to central features of short fiction (e.g. compression, ambiguity, narrative perspective, epiphany, symbolism), we will apply these concepts to a selection of Anglophone maritime stories from different periods and traditions. Across the semester, we will examine how nautical worlds are constructed through themes, motifs, imagery, and narrative voice, and how the sea functions as a testing ground for human experience. Maritime fiction frequently negotiates danger and survival, labour and seamanship, comradeship and isolation, adventure and myth, as well as beauty, loss, and the ethics of encounter. Particular attention will be paid to the relationship between maritime environments and character development: what does the sea enable, demand, or reveal – and why is it such a productive space for short-form storytelling? Students will study and discuss ten short stories, e.g. E.A. Poe's 'A Descent into the Maelström'. Many authors discussed in this seminar also appear on the department’s Reading List in Anglophone Literature. Several texts are suitable for classroom use, making the course especially relevant for Lehramt students interested in teaching short fiction, narrative analysis, and cultural perspectives in secondary education. There will also be two research sessions to help students prepare class presentations and term papers, i.e. a practical toolkit for academic research and analysis. |
