Short Story and it's Elements
SHORT STORY AND ITS ELEMENTS
A short story is a kind of prose fiction which has grown up besides the novel and which has its own important and recognised place in literature. It may be defined as a prose narrative, “requiring from half an hour to one hour for its perusal.” In other words, brevity is the key-note of a short story. It is a story which it is physically possible to read at one sitting. But its must not be supposed that the short story is a novel on a reduced scale. It has a definite technique of its own, and has its own requirements of matter and treatment.
Its Antiquity and Universality
Though immensely popular in modern times, the short story is not a modern product. It has been popular in every age and in every country. From times immemorial, people, old and young, have always liked to be entertained. The earliest forms of the short story were the tales of adventure, dealing with the deeds of valour or of chivalry of some popular hero. Every country has got its own legends and mythology, and tales from them or their modifications have been in wide circulation. Tales told in the Ramayana, the Mahabharat, the Buddhist Jatakas andPanchatantras, the Easop’s Fables, the Arabian Nights and The Decameron testify to the popularity of the short story all over the world.
The Modern Short Story: A Work of Art
But these tales of adventure and moral tales of the past have no resemblance with the modern short story. Short story in the hands of the modern masters is a perfect work of art. As an artistic form, it has undergone a gradual evolution and has developed into a popular form of modern literature. The modern short-story writer is an artist, who is a close observer of life, a keen student of character, and a master of style. Every subject, between heaven and earth, is now regarded fit for the short story and it can be told in any manner which may please the artist.
The modern short story as a work of art originated in the second quarter of the 19th
A short story is a kind of prose fiction which has grown up besides the novel and which has its own important and recognised place in literature. It may be defined as a prose narrative, “requiring from half an hour to one hour for its perusal.” In other words, brevity is the key-note of a short story. It is a story which it is physically possible to read at one sitting. But its must not be supposed that the short story is a novel on a reduced scale. It has a definite technique of its own, and has its own requirements of matter and treatment.
Its Antiquity and Universality
Though immensely popular in modern times, the short story is not a modern product. It has been popular in every age and in every country. From times immemorial, people, old and young, have always liked to be entertained. The earliest forms of the short story were the tales of adventure, dealing with the deeds of valour or of chivalry of some popular hero. Every country has got its own legends and mythology, and tales from them or their modifications have been in wide circulation. Tales told in the Ramayana, the Mahabharat, the Buddhist Jatakas andPanchatantras, the Easop’s Fables, the Arabian Nights and The Decameron testify to the popularity of the short story all over the world.
The Modern Short Story: A Work of Art
But these tales of adventure and moral tales of the past have no resemblance with the modern short story. Short story in the hands of the modern masters is a perfect work of art. As an artistic form, it has undergone a gradual evolution and has developed into a popular form of modern literature. The modern short-story writer is an artist, who is a close observer of life, a keen student of character, and a master of style. Every subject, between heaven and earth, is now regarded fit for the short story and it can be told in any manner which may please the artist.
The modern short story as a work of art originated in the second quarter of the 19th