The Short Story An Introduction

by March-Russell, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780748627745
• ISBN10: 074862774X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-31
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

This new general introduction emphasises the importance of the short story to an understanding of modern fiction. In twenty succinct chapters, the study paints a complete portrait of the short story - its history, culture, aesthetics and economics. European innovators such as Chekhov, Flaubert and Kafka are compared to Irish, New Zealand adn British practitioners such as Joyce, Mansfield and Carter as well as writers in the American tradition, from Hawthorne and Poe to Barthelme and Carver. Fresh attention is paid to experimental, postcolonial and popular fiction alongside developments in Anglo-American, Hispanic and European literature. Critical approaches to the short story are debated and reassessed, while discussion of the short story is related to contemporary critical theory. In what promises to be essential reading for students and academics, the study sets out to prove that the short story remains vital to the emerging culture of the twenty-first century. Key Features *A contemporary and theoretically informed survey *Comprehensive coverage of the short story from its folktale origins to the present day *Twenty clear topic-based chapters covering British, American and world fiction *Further reading in each chapter together with an extensive, up-to-date bibliography of primary and secondary works

Author Biography

Paul March-Russell is Honorary Lecturer in Comparative Literature at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vi
Illustrations	p. vii
Preface	p. viii
Origins: From Folk-Tale to Art-Tale	p. 1
Riddles, Hoaxes and Conundrums	p. 12
Memory, Modernity and Orality	p. 22
Poe, O. Henry and the Well-Made Story	p. 32
Economies of Scale: The Short Story in England	p. 43
Brought to Book: The Anthology and Its Uses	p. 53
Between the Lines: Dissidence and the Short Story	p. 66
Enclosed Readings: The Short Story and the Academy	p. 77
Modernism and the Short Story	p. 88
The Short Story Cycle	p. 103
Character Parts: Identity in the Short Story	p. 120
Localities: Centres and Margins	p. 134
Tales of the City	p. 150
Romance and the Fragment	p. 165
Ghost Stories and Other Hauntings	p. 179
Popular Short Fictions	p. 191
The Experimental Text	p. 210
Postmodernism and the Short Story	p. 222
Minimalism/Dirty Realism/Hyperrealism	p. 235
Voyages Out: The Postcolonial Short Story	p. 246
Bibliography	p. 260
Index	p. 283
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Excerpts

The Short Story:An IntroductionPaul March-RussellThis new introduction emphasises the importance of the short story to an understanding of modern fiction. In twenty succinct chapters, the study paints a complete portrait of the short story - its history, culture, aesthetics and economics. European innovators such as Chekhov, Flaubert and Kafka are compared to Irish, New Zealand and British practitioners such as Joyce, Mansfield and Carter as well as writers in the American tradition, from Hawthorne and Poe to Barthelme and Carver. For the first time attention is paid to experimental, postcolonial and popular fiction, while developments in Anglo-American, Hispanic and Arabic literature are also explored. Critical approaches to the short story are debated and reassessed, while discussion of the short story is related to contemporary critical theory. In what promises to be essential reading for students and academics, the study sets out to prove that the short story remains vital to the emerging culture of the twenty-first century.Key Features* Comprehensive coverage of the short story from its folktale origins to the present day* Twenty clear topic-based chapters covering British, American and world fiction* Further reading in each chapter together with an extensive and up-to-date bibliography of primary and secondary works Paul March-Russell is Honorary Lecturer in Comparative Literature at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

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Excerpted from The Short Story: An Introduction by Paul March-Russell
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