A Brief History of the Short Story

Forerunners of the Short Story Parables

Fables Folk Tales

Ballads

Development of the Modern Short Story

Carefully contrived literary form

Dates from the 19th century

Closely related to the rise of these and other popular periodicals

Washington Irving (1783-1849) 1st important

American short story writer

Laid the foundation for the development of the short story

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

Influential in the development of the short story

One of America’s most important writers

Wrote more than 100 short stories and sketches

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) Gave 1st definition

of short story Clearly laid the

basic principle of all art – the principle of artistic unity

Click these links to hear Christopher Walken read “The Raven” and other audio choices

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Poe and Artistic Unity

Poe’s essential characteristics of the short story: brevity unity intensity

Poe’s definition of artistic unity:

That condition of a successful literary work whereby all its

elements work together for the achievement of its central purpose.

In an artistically unified work nothing is included that is irrelevant

to the central purpose, nothing is omitted that is essential to it, and the parts are arranged in the most effective order for the achievement of that

purpose.

Equation of Literary Elements

Plot + Setting +

Characterization + Title +

Point of view + Symbol = ____________

THEME

Common Themes of Modern Short Stories (19th -20th

Century) Anxiety Doubt Frustration Restlessness Modern war Space exploration Computer

technology Social Criticism

Psychological Maladjustment

Breakdown of human relationships

Philosophical searching

Unhappy people - lost guideposts of conduct and morality

Main Theme of Modern American Short Stories

The impact of harried American society on inner lives of its people

Main theme of postmodern short stories (1960-1980’s)

Deconstruction by R. Skoracki

Deconstruction Overturning of accepted definitions

of and values about existing systems of education, religion, legislation, economy, or any other aspect of life and society.

Two stories with postmodern themes Graham Greene’s “The Destructors” Eudora Welty’s “Everyday Use”