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First of all, what’s the difference? We’ll begin by discussing these labels and the various works these labels might illuminate. Ian McEwan writes of ‘the novella’: Let’s take, as an arbitrary measure, something that is between twenty and forty thousand words, long enough for a reader to inhabit a world or a consciousness and be kept there, short enough to be read in a sitting or two." McEwan promptly goes on to name “The Dead” – 15,000 words – as “the great novella.” Clearly, rules are made to be broken. In this class we’ll read approximately one novella/short novel per week. Students should expect to write a brief critical response every week, and to give two presentations, one on a selection from the syllabus, and one on a selection of their own choosing that they feel exemplifies the label ‘novella.’