The Art of the Short Story
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A.Rajamani,
Assistant Professor of English,
Hajee Karutha Rowther Howdia College,
Uthamapalayam
A short story may be defined as a story that
can be read at a single setting
Edgar Allen Poe considered it as a prose
narrative requiring from half an hour to one
or two hours in its perusal
The brevity is one of the essential
characteristics of a short story
However, it is not merely a novel on a
reduced scale
It has a distinct, well-marked organisational
structure different from that of a novel
The theme of a short story must be one that
can effectively be developed within the
prescribed limits
The story should impress the reader as clear
in outline and well proportioned
It should not give the impression of crowding
This does not mean that the story must
necessarily be confined to a single incident
It only means that even when the story
covers a wide field of time and large
sequence of events, it should give a
concentration of interest
Most of the stories of Maupassant and
Washington Irving’s famous story ‘Rip Van
Winkle’ illustrate this point
A short story should have unity which means
unity of purpose, of motive, of action and of
impression
A short story should contain only one
informing idea and it should be worked out
with singleness of purpose
No scattering of attention is allowed in a
short story as it may be allowed in a novel
Writers and critics hold different opinions on
the art of the short story
Edgar Allen Poe thought that a short story
should present only a ‘slice of life’
suggestively
It should have neither a beginning nor an end
However, the modern story writer and
novelist Somerset Maugham thinks that ‘ a
short story should be a finished product of
art with a beginning, a middle and an end’
Another critic compares the short story with
a horse race in which the start and the finish
count most
Such contradictory definitions are more or
less reconciled in what Hugh Walpole says –
“A short story should be a story, a record of
things happening, full of incident and
accident, swift movement, unexpected
development reacting through a suspense to
a climax and satisfying denouement”
A short may deal with any motive and
material
Poe’s story ‘Gold Bug’ turns on a puzzle
whereas Stockton’s ‘The Lady and the Tiger’
is contrived to give a dramatic surprise at
the end
Most stories of O’ Henry are interesting
because of their unexpected surprise endings
Short stories of Chekhov, Maupassant, Tolstoy
and Hemingway illustrate the wide variety of
themes and motives that can be successfully
employed by a short story writer
W.H. Hudson says: “A dramatic incident or
situation; a telling scene; a closely
coordinated series of events; a phase of
character; a bit of experience; an aspect of
life; a moral problem-any of these, and
innumerable other motives which might be
added to the list, may be made the nucleus
of a thoroughly satisfactory story”.
R.L. Stevenson speaks of three kinds of short
stories – the story of plot, the story of
character and the story of impression
However, to most story writers, the idea of a
story comes something like an abstract
thought or impression and later they work it
up into the shape of a story inventing the
required plot, character and incidents
A short story is a concise narrative that captivates readers with a focused theme and structured plot. This literary form demands unity of purpose and a single informing idea, distinguishing it from a novel. Various perspectives exist on the composition of a short story, with debates on its length, structure, and narrative scope. From Poe's advocacy for suggestive slices of life to Maugham's preference for a complete narrative arc, the essence of a well-crafted short story lies in its ability to engage and resonate within limited confines.
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Presentation Transcript
LITERARY FORMS- THE SHORT STORY A.Rajamani, Assistant Professor of English, Hajee Karutha Rowther Howdia College, Uthamapalayam
A short story may be defined as a story that can be read at a single setting Edgar Allen Poe considered it as a prose narrative requiring from half an hour to one or two hours in its perusal The brevity is one of the essential characteristics of a short story However, it is not merely a novel on a reduced scale It has a distinct, well-marked organisational structure different from that of a novel
The theme of a short story must be one that can effectively be developed within the prescribed limits The story should impress the reader as clear in outline and well proportioned It should not give the impression of crowding This does not mean that the story must necessarily be confined to a single incident
It only means that even when the story covers a wide field of time and large sequence of events, it should give a concentration of interest Most of the stories of Maupassant and Washington Irving s famous story Rip Van Winkle illustrate this point
A short story should have unity which means unity of purpose, of motive, of action and of impression A short story should contain only one informing idea and it should be worked out with singleness of purpose No scattering of attention is allowed in a short story as it may be allowed in a novel
Writers and critics hold different opinions on the art of the short story Edgar Allen Poe thought that a short story should present only a slice of life suggestively It should have neither a beginning nor an end However, the modern story writer and novelist Somerset Maugham thinks that a short story should be a finished product of art with a beginning, a middle and an end
Another critic compares the short story with a horse race in which the start and the finish count most Such contradictory definitions are more or less reconciled in what Hugh Walpole says A short story should be a story, a record of things happening, full of incident and accident, swift movement, unexpected development reacting through a suspense to a climax and satisfying denouement
A short may deal with any motive and material Poe s story Gold Bug turns on a puzzle whereas Stockton s The Lady and the Tiger is contrived to give a dramatic surprise at the end Most stories of O Henry are interesting because of their unexpected surprise endings Short stories of Chekhov, Maupassant, Tolstoy and Hemingway illustrate the wide variety of themes and motives that can be successfully employed by a short story writer
W.H. Hudson says: A dramatic incident or situation; a telling scene; a closely coordinated series of events; a phase of character; a bit of experience; an aspect of life; a moral problem-any of these, and innumerable other motives which might be added to the list, may be made the nucleus of a thoroughly satisfactory story .
R.L. Stevenson speaks of three kinds of short stories the story of plot, the story of character and the story of impression However, to most story writers, the idea of a story comes something like an abstract thought or impression and later they work it up into the shape of a story inventing the required plot, character and incidents
