Ian Reid. The Short Story. London: Methuen, 1977.
A Discussion.
The intrinsic `properties' of the short story have been in debate for well over a century, often to disparate opinion. Ian Reid however, presents an article that is balanced and unprejudiced, but that simultaneously allows his subtle opinions to be easily ascertained. His views are hospitable and refreshingly broadminded, allowing the reader to derive for himself the right `choice'.
Reid incorporates various opinions and approaches in his chapter concerning the `essential qualities' of shorter fiction writing. He is accommodating to the views of previous generations about the conventions of writing shorter fiction and how they began. The strict regimes pioneered by Brander Mathews and Edgar Allen Poe about 'unity of impression' are granted respect, but are gently revealed to be slightly out of date by today's artistic standards. Such limiting doctrines are neatly contrasted with examples of a more liberal approach, which have been equally successful, such as works by Kafka and Chekhov.
A factor covered by Reid is the `moment of crisis', which is manifested in different ways. One is the notion of the writer concentrating on ."..a single character in a single episode..." (56), revealing him at the climax rather than following his development in the tradition of the novel - such as in James Joyce's 'The Dead'. Yet Reid observes this is not a `concrete' rule. He suggests there are many successful examples where the character's personal crisis-point remains ambiguous, often made known only to the reader - inferring that it is not the event that is important, ...
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...aces all mediums of expression within the short story, and appreciating them accordingly.
So it seems apparent that the abstract, open-ended modern narratives are more creative, allowing artistic scope not just in the writer but in the reader also, through his personal interpretation - something which typifies the inherent nature of the short story. As Reid noted, William James believed the impression from reading an abstract short story was analogous to that which we derive from our encounters with people in real life, that ."..their orbits come out of space and lay themselves for a short time along ours, and then off they whirl again into the unknown..." (65). The concept of being left in a state of blissful ignorance of the mystery of the before and after, is the true genius of shorter fiction.
Work Cited
Reid, I. The Short Story. London: Methuen, 1977.
Academic colleagues like, David Greenburg, would have been exasperated, part from envy of McCullough’s ability in not only story telling but to sell and he would object to the approach of this book. The colleagues would tear at the lack of compelling rationale for an overused topic, as well as the scene setting, and meager analysis.
"Unit 2: Reading & Writing About Short Fiction." ENGL200: Composition and Literature. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 49-219. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
It is important to note how each individual story is similar and different, because it allows us to understand how the emotions in the book affect us. ‘The Interlopers’ and ‘Story of an Hour’ are two of my favorite short stories. They are both very different, and have their own unique style. They are, also, somewhat similar. This is because the authors of the book are both similar and different, both in their backgrounds and personalities. In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting both short stories from my own point of view.
“Short Stories." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 127. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010. 125-388. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. VALE - Mercer County Community College. 28 February 2014
Short stories are temporary portals to another world; there is a plethora of knowledge to learn from the scenario, and lies on top of that knowledge are simple morals. Langston Hughes writes in “Thank You Ma’m” the timeline of a single night in a slum neighborhood of an anonymous city. This “timeline” tells of the unfolding generosities that begin when a teenage boy fails an attempted robbery of Mrs. Jones. An annoyed bachelor on a British train listens to three children their aunt converse rather obnoxiously in Saki’s tale, “The Storyteller”. After a failed story attempt, the bachelor tries his hand at storytelling and gives a wonderfully satisfying, inappropriate story. These stories are laden with humor, but have, like all other stories, an underlying theme. Both themes of these stories are “implied,” and provide an excellent stage to compare and contrast a story on.
Studies In Short Fiction 18.1 (1981): 65. Literary Reference Center. Web. The Web. The Web.
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Joseph Palmisano. Vol.
May, C. E. (2012). Critical Survey of Short Fiction: World Writers (4th ed.). Ipswich: Salem Press.
Some of the characteristics of Modernism are: a desire to break conventions and established traditions, reject history, experiment, remove relativity, remove any literal meaning, and create an identity that is fluid. The rejection of history sought to provide a narrative that could be completely up for interpretation. Any literal meaning no longer existed nor was it easily given; essence became synonymous. Narrative was transformed. Epic stories, like “Hills Like White Elephants”, could occur in the sequence of a day. Stories became pushed by a flow of thoughts. The narrative became skeptical of linear plots, preferring to function in fragments. These fragments often led to open unresolved inconclusive endings. This echoes in the short story’s format. The short story functions in fragmented dialogue. Focusing on subjectivity rather than objectivity. Creating characters with unfixed, mixed views to challenge readers.
“In my estimation a good book first must contain little or no trace of the author unless the author himself is a character. That is, when I read the book I should not feel that someone is telling me the story but t...
A successful descriptive narrative displays the necessary information for a reader to explain or develop speculations within the material. Narrating the text of a story, told through one or more narrators, allows the audience to connect with the feelings of the narrator. A description includes imagery for the audience’s recognition. Furthermore, descriptive narratives have a purpose and are there for a reason. “Shooting an Elephant” and “The Lottery” are both descriptive narratives. Descriptive narratives show a clearer understanding of the passage; therefore, the stronger text is “Shooting an Elephant” because of its detail and the plot’s conflict.
Narrative perspective and voice is a major aspect of a novella as Jeremy Hawthorn suggests in Studying the Novel, “[s]ource and medium affect the selection, the authority and the attitude towards what is recounted of the narrative” The narrative perspective can be used to shape or in some cases mis-shape the story. Looking at both Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and George Eliot’s Middlemarch, the narrators of these novellas hold a quality of influence over the reader. Through comparing and contrasting how the two different authors have used the narrative perspective to develop their novels, through voice, linguistic register, free indirect discourse and narrative distance in respect to the intimacy of the information shared with the reader.
Eileen Baldeshwiler’s “The Lyric Short Story” discusses the two different branches of short story—the “epical” and the “lyrical” (231). Baldeshwiler highlights the separate functions of the forms by focusing on their stylistic differences. The epical short story, according to Baldeshwiler, relies heavily on “external action” that is “fabricated mainly to forward plot, culminating in a decisive ending that sometimes affords a universal insight” (231). Further, the plot and characters are “expressed in the serviceably inconspicuous language of prose realism” (Baldeshwiler 231). In other words, the characters, plot, and overall tone of the piece adhere to reality. In opposition to this style, Baldeshwiler explains that the lyrical short story “concentrates o...
The traditional short story is a genre of a prose. It is a fiction work that presents a world in the moment of an unexpected change. The traditional short story obeys some rules, such as the unexpected change and major events with detail. The modern short story is a revolution which is based on the traditional short story. In other words, if the traditional short story is in the first floor, the modern short story is in the second floor. Therefore, the modern short story still obeys some rules that the traditional short story obeys, and breaks some rules that the traditional short story obeys. One rule that the modern short story still uses is the unexpected change. The rules broken by the modern short story are that the major events are not detailed, and that the border between the real world and the fiction world. This paper first talks about the unexcepted change and uses the examples of “Eveline” and “The Open Window.” Then, this paper talks about major events with detail, and uses the examples of “Lottery,” “The Open Window” and “Hills Like White Elephants.” Finally, this paper talks about the meta-literary and the border between the real world and the fiction