The short story holds a pivotal position in the history of American literature, emerging as the nation’s most uniquely American literary form. The arrival of movies in the early 20th century created an entirely new way of storytelling. Examining the same narrative in both genres can pose a deeper understanding yet also prove occasionally frustrating. This course will consider both the original stories and the short film adaptations, focusing on works such as Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” Ambrose Bierce’s "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” and Flannery O’Connor’s “The Displaced Person.”