Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Most other theoretical discussions, however, were predicated in one way or another on Edgar Allan Poe’s thesis that stories must have a compact unified effect. In his The Lonely Voice (1963), the Irish short story writer Frank O’Connor attempted to account for the genre by suggesting that stories are a means for “submerged population groups” to address a dominating community. Analysis of the genreĪs a genre, the short story received relatively little critical attention through the middle of the 20th century, and the most valuable studies of the form were often limited by region or era. None of these constitutes a short story as it has been defined since the 19th century, but they do make up a large part of the milieu from which the modern short story emerged. Throughout history humankind has enjoyed various types of brief narratives: jests, anecdotes, studied digressions, short allegorical romances, moralizing fairy tales, short myths, and abbreviated historical legends. But although in this sense it may seem to be a uniquely modern genre, the fact is that short prose fiction is nearly as old as language itself. Despite its relatively limited scope, though, a short story is often judged by its ability to provide a “complete” or satisfying treatment of its characters and subject.īefore the 19th century the short story was not generally regarded as a distinct literary form. The form encourages economy of setting, concise narrative, and the omission of a complex plot character is disclosed in action and dramatic encounter but is seldom fully developed. The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant episodes or scenes. Short story, brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!Īnalyze short fiction elements evidenced in “The Gift of the Magi,” “The Necklace,” and “The Magic Shop” See all videos for this article.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians. COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.
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