Why are Short Stories Not Novels?

The Short Story: Plot and Form

Some History...

Do you see this short story as a corrective or response to the novel in some way? In what ways does the form, characterization, or structure achieve effects that the novel cannot?

How tightly plotted is the short story? What relation do the parts have to each other and how do they develop significant themes in the text?

• most recent form (defined mid 19th century)
• resemblance to earlier forms (fairy tales, myths, etc)
• came into being when the novel as a form was gaining ascendancy: big, multi-generic, about growth/change
• poetry losing power
• (Wordsworth: "emotion recollected in tranquility.")
• (Tight attention to form)

Does the short story use form to develop themes and ideas in ways similar to poetic structures such as the sonnet? How or how not?

Definition of a Short Story

How well does the short story fulfill the Aristotelian unities? Where, particularly, does it depart? To what extent does these departures change the goal or effect of the story?

How does the short story balance "impression" with plot or character development? How does this balance shape the purpose or effect of the story?

"Many attempts have been made to define the short story. But on a few points at least, the opinion of most critics is unanimous . This does not imply that the literary form of the American short story can be set up in a rigid way. It has undergone and will probably still undergo many changes as the literary taste and the demands of the reading public also change in the course of time with new outlooks on life.

What are the elements that make up a good story?

1. A good story is a piece of prose fiction which can be read at a single sitting.

2. It ought to combine objective matter-of-fact description with poetic atmosphere.

3. It ought to present a unified impression of temper, tone, colour and effect.

4. It mostly shows a decisive moment of life (which can entail a fatal blow).

5. There is often little action, hardly any character development, but we get a snapshot of life.

6. Its plot is not very complex (in contrast to the novel), but it creates a unified impression and leaves us with a vivid sensation rather than a number of remembered facts.

7. There is a close connection between the short story and the poem as there is in both a unique union of idea and structure.

The short story is a piece of art that tries to give us a specific impression of the world we live in. It aims to produce a single narrative effect with the greatest economy of means and the utmost emphasis."

(H. Tischler (ed.), Five Modern Short Stories. Frankfurt: Diesterweg, 111979, p. 60.)

William Boyd

"The well-told story seems to answer something very deep in our nature as if, for the duration of its telling, something special has been created, some essence of our experience extrapolated,

some temporary sense has been made of our common, turbulent journey towards the grave and oblivion."

__Boyd's claim about the short story's ability to capture "our common, turbulent journey towards the grave and oblivion"__ is surprisingly different than __the portrayal of Vi's "sanity and... loneliness" in "Silver Waters"_ in terms of _causes__. By this, I mean _____the cause of the short story__ is ___about creating a shared moment through literature__ in ____Boyd's reading___ while there is a striking difference in ___Bloom's portrayal of Vi___ in terms of ____seeking to portray a unique experience that alienates the narrator from her sister in terms of her sanity and the rest of the world in terms of her closeness to her sister's madness __. Noticing this pattern of ____difference between seeking to find connection through the form and seeking to narrate a unique experience ___ suggests that ____the movement between different time periods in Oscar Wao ____ is also a part of this collation because it _____seeks to make the experience of characters unique not only from the reader, but also from each other as they criss-cross in time periods __.

To what extent do novels and short stories both alienate their readers in creating unique perspectives?

Does one form speak more to a common experience than the other?

Why are Short Stories Not Novels?