Introduction to Literature: Short Story and Poetry VU

Lesson 2

INTRODUCTION TO SHORT STORY

Outline:
Short Story as a Genre
What is a Short Story
Origin/History
Components of Short Story
How to read a Short Story
Activities

Short Story as a Genre:

The word "genre" is French for "type." Applied to literature, "genre" is a general term
used to refer the types of imaginative literature. While there are many types of literature,
the basic genres include short stories, poetry, drama, and novels.

The short story is the most recent genre to appear in Western Literature. Its basic forms,
in fact, come from writers in the 19th century and bear their names: "Maupassant,"
"Chekhov," and "Poe."

What is a Short Story?

A short story is fictional work of prose that is shorter in length than a novel. The format
of short story is often narrative that tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction,
such as novellas (in the 20th and 21st century sense) and novels or books. Usually a short
story focuses on one incident, has a single plot, a single setting, a small number of
characters, and covers a short period of time.

Edgar Allan Poe, in his essay "The Philosophy of Com o i ion," aid ha a ho o
ho ld be ead in one i ing, an he e f om a half ho o o ho . In con em o a
fiction, a short story can range from 1,000 to 20,000 words.

Short Story has been defined in different ways such as:

A piece of fictional writing usually less than 5000 words that contains these basic
elements: characters, setting, plot, conflict, resolution, climax, dialogue,
protagonist, and antagonist.
A short story is a brief work of fiction. The short story resembles the longer novel
but generally has a simpler plot and setting. In addition, the short story tends to
reveal character at a crucial moment rather than to develop it through many
incidents.
This is a form of prose fiction, a creative non-poetic kind of composition.

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Origin/History:
There are many rudimentary forms of short story, including myths, fables, legends, and
parables, and the mediaeval fabliau was a clear progenitor. Boccaccio and Chaucer were
masters of the art, as were such Chinese writers as Tao Qian (4th 5th-c). But the modern
short story began in the mid-19th-c with Edgar Allan Poe, and was confirmed as a major
genre by Maupassant in France and Turgenev and Chekhov in Russia. Many 20th-c
writers (e.g. Kafka, who wrote nearly 80 short stories using a remarkable variety of
length, style, theme, and technique) favoured the form on account of its concentration and
atmospheric potential, such as Dutch writer J M A Biesheuvel.

The evolutionary process of Short Story is as follows:

Short story as a form dates back to the oral tradition of the tale.
Written tales emerge in poetic forms - Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Boccaccio's Decameron (1351-1353) often cited as the precursor of the short story
form, as is the French translation of The Thousand and One Nights (1704).
Short story really begins to emerge as a form in the 19th century.
Grimm's Fairy Tales (1824-1826) an early collection of folk stories that paved the
way for the development of the genre of short stories.
Early and mid 19th century saw the rise of the short story in America for example:
Hawthorne's Twice Told Tales (1842) and Poe's Tales of the Grotesque and
Arabesque (1836) set a standard for one branch of short fiction - the gothic
Mid and late 19th century saw the blossoming of the short story in Britain -
Hardy's Wessex Tales (1888), first major success of a volume of short stories.
The proliferation of literary magazines and journals in the later 25 years of the
19th century created a market demand for short fiction - stories between 3,000 -
15,000 words.
Short story peaks as a form in the mid 20th century and while still respected, it has
become less marketable than its prose cousin, the novel.
Poe (on Hawthorne): he finds "a certain unique or single effect to be wrought out"
and "he then invents such incidents - he then combines such events as may best
aid him in establishing this preconceived effect ... In the whole composition there
should be no word written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to one
pre established design."
Poe on plot: "A short story in which nothing at all happens is an absolute
impossibility."
Thomas Hardy: "A story must be exceptional enough to justify its telling ...
Therein lies the problem - to reconcile the average with that uncommonness
which alone makes it natural that a tale of experience would dwell in the memory
and induce repetition"

Components of Short Story:

A short story may have all the elements of a short novel - complete plot and developed
characters but, because of the lack of space, they tend to be structured quite differently
from novels.
Some of the key components of a successful short story are:

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Introduction to Literature: Short Story and Poetry VU

Integrity: It should form a coherent whole. This means that everything language,
dialogue, etc should contribute to the overall effect. A novel may ramble, but a short
o can .
Economy: There cannot be a long introduction. The reader has to get involved quickly;
the story's themes and mood need to be established.
Epiphany: Typically, something has to change in the course of the story - either the
character(s) learn something or their lives change decisively, or we (the reader) learn
something or have our perceptions challenged in some way. This moment of "showing" is
what the great short story writer James Joyce called epiphany. A similar idea is the "twist
in the tale."
Ending: A good short story needs to give the reader a feeling of closure, or at least a
sense of having read something complete. Otherwise it's just a sketch.

A Short Story is based on the following components:

Setting
Plot
Conflict
Character
Point of View
Theme

Setting:
The time and location in which a story takes place is called the setting. For some stories
the setting is very important, while for others it is not. There are several aspects of a
story's setting to consider when examining how setting contributes to a story (some, or
all, may be present in a story):

a) Place - geographical location. Where is the action of the story taking place?
b) Time - When is the story taking place? (Historical period, time of day, year, etc)
c) Weather conditions - Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc?
d) Social conditions - What is the daily life of the characters like? Does the story
contain local colour (writing that focuses on the speech, dress, mannerisms,
customs, etc. of a particular place)?
e) Mood or atmosphere - What feeling is created at the beginning of the story? Is it
bright and cheerful or dark and frightening?

Plot:
The plot is how the author arranges events to develop his basic idea; it is the sequence of
events in a story or play. The plot is a planned, logical series of events having a
beginning, middle, and end. The short story usually has one plot so it can be read in one
sitting. There are five essential parts of plot:

a) Introduction - The beginning of the story where the characters and the setting is
revealed.

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b) Rising Action - This is where the events in the story become complicated and the
conflict in the story is revealed (events between the introduction and climax).
c) Climax - This is the highest point of interest and the turning point of the
story. The reader wonders what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or
not?
d) Falling action - The events and complications begin to resolve themselves. The
reader knows what has happened next and if the conflict was resolved or not
(events between climax and denouement).
e) Denouement - This is the final outcome or untangling of events in the story.

It is helpful to consider climax as a three-fold phenomenon: 1) the main character

receives new information 2) accepts this information (realizes it but does not necessarily
agree with it) 3) acts on this information (makes a choice that will determine whether or
not he/she gains his objective).

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Conflict:
Conflict is essential to plot. Without conflict there is no plot. It is the opposition of
forces which ties one incident to another and makes the plot move. Conflict is not merely
limited to open arguments; rather it is any form of opposition that faces the main
character. Within a short story there may be only one central struggle, or there may be
one dominant struggle with many minor ones.

There are two types of conflict:

1) External - A struggle with a force outside one's self.
2) Internal - A struggle within one's self; a person must make some decision, overcome
pain, quiet his/her temper, resist an urge, etc.

There are four dimensions of conflict:

1) Man vs. Man (physical) - The leading character struggles with his physical strength
against other men, forces of nature, or animals.
2) Man vs. Circumstances (classical) - The leading character struggles against fate, or
the circumstances of life facing him/her.
3) Man vs. Society (social) - The leading character struggles against ideas, practices, or
customs of other people.
4) Man vs. Himself/Herself (psychological) - The leading character struggles with
himself/herself; with his/her own soul, ideas of right or wrong, physical limitations,
choices, etc.

Character:
There are two meanings for the word character:
1) The person in a work of fiction.
2) The characteristics of a person.

1). Persons in a work of fiction - Antagonist and Protagonist:

Short stories use few characters. One character is clearly central to the story with all
major events having some importance to this character - he/she is the
PROTAGONIST. The opposer of the main character is called the ANTAGONIST.
2).The Characteristics of a Person:
In order for a story to seem real to the reader, its characters must seem
real. Characterization is the information the author gives the reader about the characters.
The author may reveal a character in several ways:
a) his/her physical appearance
b) what he/she says, thinks, feels and dreams
c) what he/she does or does not do
d) what others say about him/her and how others react to him/her

Characters are convincing if they are: consistent, motivated, and life-like (resemble real
people). Characters can be of different types i.e.
1. Individual - round, many sided and complex personalities.
2. Developing -dynamic, many sided personalities that change, for better or worse, by
the end of the story.

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3. Static -Stereotype, have one or two characteristics that never change and are
emphasized e.g. brilliant detective, drunk, scrooge, cruel stepmother, etc.

Point of View:
Point of view is defined as the angle from which the story is told. i.e.

1. Innocent Eye: The story is told through the eyes of a child (his/her judgment being
different from that of an adult).
2. Stream of Consciousness: The story is told so that the reader feels as if he is inside
the head of one character and knows all their thoughts and reactions.
3. First Person: The story is told by the protagonist or one of the characters who
interacts closely with the protagonist or other characters (using pronouns I, me, we,
etc). The reader sees the story through this person's eyes as he/she experiences it and
only knows what he/she knows or feels.
4. Omniscient: The author can narrate the story using the omniscient point of view. He
can move from character to character, event to event, having free access to the thoughts,
feelings and motivations of his characters and he introduces information where and when
he chooses. There are two main types of omniscient point of view:
a) Omniscient Limited: The author tells the story in third person (using pronouns they,
she, he, it, etc). We know only what the character knows and what the author allows
him/her to tell us. We can see the thoughts and feelings of characters if the author
chooses to reveal them to us.
b) Omniscient Objective: The author tells the story in the third person. It appears as
though a camera is following the characters, going anywhere, and recording only what is
seen and heard. There is no comment on the characters or their thoughts. No
interpretations are offered. The reader is placed in the position of spectator without the
author there to explain. The reader has to interpret events on his own.

Theme:
The theme in a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight. It is the
author's underlying meaning or main idea that he is trying to convey. The theme may be
the author's thoughts about a topic or view of human nature. The title of the short story
usually points to what the writer is saying and he may use various figures of speech to
emphasize his theme, such as: symbol, allusion, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or irony.
Some simple examples of common themes from literature, TV, and film are:
- Things are not always as they appear to be
- Love is blind
- Believe in yourself
- People are afraid of change
- Don't judge a book by its cover

Quick Checklist of Narrative Elements:

The major elements of a narrative are as follows:

Setting is the "where" and 'when" of the story or novel.

Characters are the "who."

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Conflict is the "what." (What is the problem?)

Plot is the "how." (How is the conflict developed and resolved (also known as the
resolution)?)
Theme is the "why." (The author's message and one of the reasons why the author
wrote the story or novel.)

How to Read a Short Story:

S e a egie c ide

Ease into the story.

Think about the title and author
Look at the back of the book for any biographical information about the author.
Look at any illustrations and consider their connection to the title.
Read the first page and pause.
Consider what you know so far about the characters, setting, conflict, and point of
view.

Get involved in the story.

Be an active reader by asking questions about what is happening.
Make predictions about what might happen.
Put yourself in he cha ac e hoe .
Form opinion about what is going on.
Picture the events and setting in your mind.
Write down your favorite quotations as you read.
Make connections with what you already know.

Write about the story.

Make jot notes to focus your thinking while you read.
If possible, annotate a copy of the story to: highlight, underline, circle, connect
with arrows, add questions, definitions, or make comments/notes in the margins.
Underline any unfamiliar vocabulary.
Star important passages that connect thematically.
Perhaps draw wed diagrams to keep track of the characters.
Sketch the setting.

Activity:

1. Define he e m gen e .
2. When did Short Story flourish as a formal art of writing?
3. How is a Short Story different from other narrative forms?
4. What are the key elements of a Short Story?
5. Discuss the scope of the development for a Character in Short Story?
6. Can a Short Story be written without having any Plot? Comment.
7. What role does conflict play in weaving the plot of a Short Story?

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8. How far the Theme of a Short Story is different from the Plot?
9. Differentiate between Climax and Anti-climax.
10. What points should be kept in mind while reading a Short Story.
11. What type of character you would like to assume/play if you were the part of a
Short Story?
12. Who is your favourite Short Story Writer?
13. If you were to write a Short Story, what will be your selection of the Theme?

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