SHORT STORY : DEFINITION
WHAT IS A SHORT STORY
A short story may be defined as a story that can be read at a single sitting. Edgar Allen Poe considered the short story as a prose narrative 'requiring from half an hour to one or two hours in its perusal'. Thus brevity is one of the essential characteristics of a short story.
However, a short story is not merely a novel on a reduced scale. The short story has a distinct, well-marked organizational structure different from that of a novel.
Firstly, 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.
Secondly, 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 attending 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, record of things happening, full of incident and accident, swift movement, unexpected development reacting through suspense to a climax and a satisfying denouement".
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF A SHORT STORY:
Length: Short stories typically range from 1,600 to 20,000 words.
Subject: Short stories usually focus on a single subject or theme.
'In medias res': Short stories usually take place in a single setting and begin 'in medias res', which means 'into the middle of things' in Latin.
Limited number of characters: Due to the limitations of the genre, short stories typically focus on just one or a couple characters.
EXAMPLES:
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The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King
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