The Short Story: An Introduction - Softcover

Paul March-Russell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 074862774X ISBN 13: 9780748627745

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2009

Synopsis

This new general introduction emphasises the importance of the short story to an understanding of modern fiction. In twenty succinct chapters, the study paints a complete portrait of the short story - its history, culture, aesthetics and economics. European innovators such as Chekhov, Flaubert and Kafka are compared to Irish, New Zealand adn British practitioners such as Joyce, Mansfield and Carter as well as writers in the American tradition, from Hawthorne and Poe to Barthelme and Carver. Fresh attention is paid to experimental, postcolonial and popular fiction alongside developments in Anglo-American, Hispanic and European literature. Critical approaches to the short story are debated and reassessed, while discussion of the short story is related to contemporary critical theory. In what promises to be essential reading for students and academics, the study sets out to prove that the short story remains vital to the emerging culture of the twenty-first century. Key Features *A contemporary and theoretically informed survey *Comprehensive coverage of the short story from its folktale origins to the present day *Twenty clear topic-based chapters covering British, American and world fiction *Further reading in each chapter together with an extensive, up-to-date bibliography of primary and secondary works

About this title

About the Author

Paul March-Russell is Honorary Lecturer in Comparative Literature at the University of Kent, Canterbury. He is also Commissioning Editor of the Critical Studies in Science Fiction series with Gylphi. His other publications include Ruskin in Perspective, co-edited with Carmen Casaliggi (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), and an edited volume of May Sinclair's Uncanny Stories (Wordsworth Editions, 2006). He is currently editing George Egerton's The Wheel of God (Pickering and Chatto, forthcoming) and writing a study of the Neo-Romantic movement, 1925-55.

From the Back Cover

The Short Story: An Introduction Paul March-Russell This new introduction emphasises the importance of the short story to an understanding of modern fiction. In twenty succinct chapters, the study paints a complete portrait of the short story - its history, culture, aesthetics and economics. European innovators such as Chekhov, Flaubert and Kafka are compared to Irish, New Zealand and British practitioners such as Joyce, Mansfield and Carter as well as writers in the American tradition, from Hawthorne and Poe to Barthelme and Carver. For the first time attention is paid to experimental, postcolonial and popular fiction, while developments in Anglo-American, Hispanic and Arabic literature are also explored. Critical approaches to the short story are debated and reassessed, while discussion of the short story is related to contemporary critical theory. In what promises to be essential reading for students and academics, the study sets out to prove that the short story remains vital to the emerging culture of the twenty-first century. Key Features * Comprehensive coverage of the short story from its folktale origins to the present day * Twenty clear topic-based chapters covering British, American and world fiction * Further reading in each chapter together with an extensive and up-to-date bibliography of primary and secondary works Paul March-Russell is Honorary Lecturer in Comparative Literature at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 074862774X
• ISBN 13: 9780748627745
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256