University of M’sila Level: 1st Year License – Groups 4, 5, 6

Module: Literary Texts Lecturer: Dr. A. Ahmed Kadi

Lecture 03: The Short Story and its Types

The Short Story as a Literary Genre:

A short story is a brief work of fiction that typically focuses on a single character or (a limited number
of characters), event, or theme and is characterized by its brevity. It is a narrative form designed to convey
a complete tale within a limited word count, often ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand words. In
this sense, Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a short story as "an invented prose narrative shorter than a
novel usually dealing with a few characters and aiming at unity of effect and often concentrating on the
creation of mood rather than plot."
Many renowned authors, such as Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Anton Chekhov, and Ernest
Hemingway, have made significant contributions to the genre of short stories.

The Origin and History of the Short Story:

Short-form storytelling can be traced back to ancient legends, mythology, folklore, and fables found
in ancient civilizations such as Egypt, India, and Greece, there were short prose and poetic narratives that
can be considered precursors to the modern short story. For example, Aesop's fables in ancient Greece are
collections of short moral stories featuring animals as characters. Many of these stories were passed down
through oral traditions. By the 14th century, the most well-known stories included One Thousand and One
Nights (Middle Eastern folk tales by multiple authors, later known as Arabian Nights) and Canterbury
Tales (by Geoffrey Chaucer).
Arabian Nights (One Thousand and One Nights) is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales and stories,
compiled over centuries, is an important early example of the short story form. It features a frame story
about Scheherazade, who tells a new story each night to her husband, King Shahryar, in order to save her
life.
In Europe, the development of the short story as a distinct literary form can be traced to the medieval
and Renaissance periods. Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" (14th century) and Giovanni Boccaccio's
"The Decameron" (14th century) contain short stories within a framing narrative.

1
 The 19th century saw the rise of the modern short story as a well-defined literary form. Writers like
Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne in the United States and authors like Guy de Maupassant in France
were instrumental in popularizing and refining the short story. Poe, in particular, is often credited with
pioneering the genre.
Poe's influence extended to other notable authors, including Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington
Irving, who made significant contributions to the development of the modern short story. In the mid- to late-
19th century, writers like Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekhov, and Ambrose Bierce also played pivotal roles
in shaping the modern short story as it is recognized today.
While Edgar Allan Poe is often credited with pioneering the modern short story genre, it is important
to note that the short story as a literary form evolved over time and across different cultures. However, Poe's
impact on the form, along with the contributions of others, solidified the short story as a distinct and
influential genre in the 19th century.
In the present day, the short story continues to evolve and adapt to changing literary and cultural
trends. Contemporary writers, such as Alice Munro, Jhumpa Lahiri, and George Saunders, have made
significant contributions to the form.
American literature contains some of the world's best examples of the short story. Readers around the
world enjoy the finely crafted stories of American writers such as O. Henry, Stephen Crane, Jack London,
Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe.

Characteristics of Short Stories

Short stories have certain characteristics that set them apart from other forms of fiction. These include:

 Economy of setting: The setting of a short story is often simplified (one time and place).
 Concise narrative: The narrative in a short story is typically concise and to the point.
 Omission of complex plot: Short stories usually focus on a single narrative or plot instead of multiple
or complex subplots, as you might see in novels.
 Theme: While short stories of the past often revolved around a central theme or moral lesson, today
it is common to find stories with ambiguous endings. This type of unresolved story invites open-
ended readings and suggests a more complex understanding of reality and human behavior.
 Character development through action and encounters: Character development in short stories is
often revealed through the actions and encounters of the characters.
 Experimentation in writing style and form: Short stories allow authors to experiment with different
writing styles and forms.

2
Types of Short Story:

Short stories come in all kinds of categories: action, adventure, comedy, crime, detective, dystopia,
fable, fantasy, history, horror, mystery, philosophy, politics, romance, satire, science fiction, supernatural,
thriller, and tragedy. Here are some popular types of short stories, literary styles, and authors associated
with them:

1. Fable: A tale that provides a moral lesson, often using animals, mythical creatures, forces of nature,
or inanimate objects as characters. Fables are typically written in a concise and straightforward
manner and have been used throughout history to convey a moral lesson or teach a specific piece of
wisdom or truth. The characters and events in fables are often symbolic, and they serve as allegorical
representations of human traits, behaviors, and moral principles.
Here is an example of a well-known fable:
o Aesop's Fables: Aesop, a legendary ancient Greek storyteller, is famous for his collection of fables.
One of his most famous fables is "The Tortoise and the Hare," which teaches the lesson that "slow
and steady wins the race."

2. Flash fiction: Flash fiction, also known as micro fiction, is an extremely brief and concise form of
storytelling. It aims to convey a complete narrative in a minimal word count, typically ranging from a
few dozen to a thousand words or even fewer. Flash fiction is characterized by its brevity and the
challenge of delivering a compelling story within a tight word limit. It lacks traditional plot structure
or character development and is often characterized by a surprise or twist of fate.
Here is an example of a flash fiction story:
o "Last Words" by Jordan Rosenfeld: "He had been dying for weeks, but in the final moments, he
thought only of the things he had done, and still wanted to do. He didn't think about the things he
hadn't said until it was too late."

3. Mini saga: A mini saga is a very short form of storytelling, often consisting of exactly 50 words,
including a title. It challenges writers to create a complete narrative with a clear beginning, middle,
and end, or a surprising twist within this strict word limit. Mini sagas are known for their brevity and
the need to convey a full story within a concise framework. Here is an example of a mini saga story:

o "Lost Key" She searched her bag but couldn't find her key. Panicking, she retraced her steps and
found it in the door. Her heart sank. The burglar's message was clear: he could enter anytime.

3
4. Vignette: A vignette is a short, impressionistic, and often descriptive piece of writing that captures a
moment, scene, or character in a brief and vivid manner. Vignettes are characterized by their focus
on evoking a particular mood, atmosphere, or emotional response rather than following a traditional
narrative structure. They often provide snapshots of people, places, or moments, allowing readers
to experience the essence of the subject.

Here is an example of a vignette story:

o "The Abandoned Playground" The swings creaked in the wind, their rusty chains swaying gently.
Weeds had claimed the jungle gym, and the laughter of children was a distant memory. The
playground stood in solemn silence, a reminder of bygone days, where joy once danced on every
patch of faded grass.

5. Modernism: A modernist short story is a work of fiction written during the modernist literary period,
which spanned roughly from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century. Modernist short stories
reflect the literary and artistic movements of that era, characterized by a departure from traditional
storytelling conventions and an embrace of experimentation with narrative form, style, and
chronology (inner monologues, stream of consciousness) to capture the experience of an individual,
and a focus on psychological and existential themes.

Here is an example of a modernist story:

o Virginia Woolf - "Kew Gardens": This story is a prime example of Woolf's stream-of-consciousness
narrative style. It takes place in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and provides glimpses into the
inner thoughts and experiences of various characters.

6. Postmodernism: A postmodernist short story is a work of fiction that reflects the literary and artistic
movement known as postmodernism, which emerged in the mid-20th century and continues to
influence contemporary literature. Postmodernist short stories are characterized by their departure
from traditional narrative structures and an embrace of various experimental techniques such as
using fragmentation, paradox, or unreliable narrators to explore the relationship between the
author, reader, and text.

o "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien: Tim O'Brien's collection of interconnected short
stories, "The Things They Carried," blurs the line between fact and fiction, reflecting on the nature
of storytelling and the unreliability of memory.

4
7. Magical realism: is a literary genre that combines realistic elements with magical or fantastical
elements. Magical events are presented as a normal part of the characters' everyday reality. This
blending of the real and the magical creates a unique and often dreamlike narrative style, blurring
the line between the ordinary and the supernatural.
Here is an example of this type:
o "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel García Márquez: In this story, an old man
with enormous wings crashes in a coastal town. The villagers treat the man's arrival as a mundane
event, and he becomes a part of their daily lives. Márquez explores themes of faith, miracles, and
the human capacity for both cruelty and wonder.

End of Lecture Three!