UNIT 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE
SHORT STORY
Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2. Characteristics of a Short Story
1.2.1 What is a Short Story?
1.2.2 How ‘Short’ is a Short Story?
1.2.3 What is a Short Story About?
1.2.4 What is it that Matters in a Short Story?
1.3 The Short Story and the Novel
1.4 The Rise and Development of the Short Story
1.4.1 The Rise of the Short Story
1.4.2 The Development of the Short Story
1.5 Some Hints on Reading a Short Story
1.5.1 Plot
1.5.2 Characters
1.5.3 Time and Place
1.5.4 Style
1.5.5 The Techniques of Story-Telling
1.6 Let Us Sum Up
1.7 Check Your Progress
1.0 OBJECTIVES
You will read three short stories in this Block. But before we begin to
read them, let us look at the characteristics of the short story briefly, in
this Unit. This will provide us with general guidelines on how to read
a short story analytically. If you read this Unit carefully, you should be
able to:
x explain what a short story is;
x outline the rise and development of the short story as a literary form;
x distinguish between a short story and a novel; and
x analyze the elements of a short story.
1.1 INTRODUCTION
In this Block, we shall read three short stories. But before we do that,
we shall give you an introduction to the short story as a literary form.
What is a short story? When was it first written? When we read a short
story, what must we look for in order to decide whether it has artistic
merit or not? These are some of the questions we shall address in this
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Unit.
Short Story We shall also discuss the main features of a short story. This will give
you some idea about how to read a short story analytically. We must,
however, point out that literary appreciation does not proceed like a
mathematical exercise. We cannot acquire a set of critical formulae and
apply these to each and every story that we come across. Such guidelines
can only be of partial help. It is only by extensive reading and close analysis
of a large number of short stories that we find we are getting better with
practice.
We hope that you will not only read the stories in your course but will
also read other stories from anthologies and magazines. We suggest that
you complete the given exercises before looking at the answers provided
at the end of the Unit.
1.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF A SHORT STORY
You must have noticed that most discussions of literature concentrate on
the novel, drama and poetry. The short story is often regarded as a sort
of poor relation, not worth consideration. Katherine Mansfield a famous
short story writer was once asked:
‘What do you do in life’?
‘I am a writer’.
‘Do you write dramas?’
‘No’. it sounded as if she were sorry she did not.
‘Do you write tragedies, novels, romance?’ I persisted, because she looked
as if she could write these. ‘No’, she said, and with still deeper distress;
‘only short stories; just short stories’.
Later on she told me she felt so wretched at that moment she would have
given anything if she could have answered at least one ‘yes’ to the ‘big’
things. (Quoted in Anthony Alpers, The Life of Katherine Mansfield (1980,
p. 381).
It is clear that Mansfield is apologetic about writing short stories. On the
other hand, there is another practitioner of the art, Edgar Alan Poe, who
believes that the short story is superior to the novel. It is not necessary
to agree with either of these opinions. Let us begin with the notion that
the short story is equal to any other literary genre be it poetry, drama or
the novel.
1.2.1 What is a Short Story?
We can all recognize a short story when we see one. But when it comes
to defining a short story, there are problems. There are so many different
kinds of short stories, that no single definition would cover all. So, at best,
we can only attempt to define a short story in the most general terms.
A short story is a piece of prose fiction complete in itself and of a moderate
length. This definition excludes all stories written in verse. For example,
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written in the closing years of the fourteenth
century, can be seen as an interesting collection of stories, but as they are
written in verse they cannot be taken as examples of the short story.
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Moreover, a short story is different from a tale or fable because it is not Introduction to the
Short Story
just a story but a complex and developed literary form that can be traced
only to the early nineteenth century. A tale is primarily an oral form. The
oral tradition of story telling still exists in the villages of India where
generations of children, sitting round the fire on a winter evening, still
listen in awe to stories of fairies, gods and demons.
A fable is a short tale which usually conveys a moral. The characters in
a fable are usually animals talking like human beings. Perhaps you are
familiar with the tales of Panchtantra which is a collection of fables. Short
stories are also different from parables. A parable is a story which presents
a moral. The contemporary short story also has meaning, a point to be
made, but it is not a parable because that meaning in itself is not important.
A short story is also different from an anecdote. An anecdote relates an
interesting happening or a series of happenings or events. A short story
may also present these events. But the difference lies in the fact that in
a short story these happenings or events are not important in themselves
but are a manifestation of the true nature and significance of a character
or situation.
1.2.2 How ‘Short’ is a Short Story?
It is difficult to establish the average length of a short story. Edgar Allan
Poe (1809-1849), an American short story writer, says that it requires ‘from
half an hour to one or two hours in its perusal’. Let us look at this prize-
winning short story:
I was on the train from London to Edinburgh.
There was this man, seated across from me.
‘Do you believe in ghosts?’ he said,
‘No’, I said,
He disappeared.
Do you think this is a short story? It seems more like an anecdote. You
will find that most stories are anecdotal but as we know, in a short story
the events are not, in general, important in themselves but usually highlight
a character/characters or situation. The point that has to be stressed here
is that we can either find very short stories or rather long ones like those
of Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) which can be called novellas. A novella
is somewhere between a short story and the novel in length. Whatever
the length, it should generally be possible to complete a short story at one
sitting, as Poe has suggested.
1.2.3 What is a Short Story About?
A short story has an unlimited range of possible themes just like any other
literary genre. A short story may be about a particular scene, a series of
connected incidents, a moral issue, an aspect of life, a phase of character
or an interesting experience. In sum, a short story can be about anything.
The modern short story may not even have a story, but it is certainly
fictional. A short story illuminates some aspects of life or characters. A
well-written short story must convey the impression of completeness. In
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Short Story some stories there is no clear cut ending or resolution of the crisis; yet
the effect is one of organic unity. What do we mean by organic unity?
It is not just a unity of a beginning, a middle and an end. The unity lies
in the way the writer has given shape to a mass of details. As we know,
a writer is faced with a range of possible ways in which to write the story.
S/he must select the relevant details as it is not possible to narrate
everything. The writer then works these selected details into a complete
organic whole. What do we mean by ‘organic whole’? for example, if we
cut an arm off a body, the body is no longer an organic whole but is
mutilated. Just as it is not possible to remove a single limb without
mutilating the body, similarly in a well-constructed short story, it should
not be possible to remove a single detail.
1.2.4 What is it that Matters in a Short Story?
Is it the writer’s preoccupation with form? Or does the greatness of a story
depend on the extent to which it has depicted the range of human
experience? Is a short story great because of the writer’s technique? Or
does a short story have literary merit because of its originality of theme
and style/ or is because a certain kind of story is in fashion? Or does a
story matter because it has the power to move us? A short story defies
exact definition. However, an effective short story must arouse and hold
the reader’s interest and must convey a sense of completeness, in a style
that suits the content. All these elements then contribute to the final effect
that the story may have.
Check Your Progress 1
Read the following questions and write your answers in the space provided.
In case you have some doubts, you may go back to the previous section.
Pease try to write the answers in your own words.
1) Define the characteristics of a short story.
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2) What is the difference between…
a) A short story and a tale.
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b) A short story and an anecdote.
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c) A short story and a parable Introduction to the
Short Story
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3) How short is a short story?
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4) What in your opinion are the elements that make a short story effective?
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1.3 THE SHORT STORY AND THE NOVEL
Let us now examine the similarities and differences between the short story
and the novel. The novel and the short story are both written in prose,
both are fictional and make use of varieties of prose such as narrative and
descriptive. But it is in scope that they differ. A novel is wide-ranging
and long, the short story is brief and deals with a limited subject. A short
story is not a novel in a condensed form. You cannot summarize a novel
and call it a short story.
In the novel, you will notice, the interest is spread over a larger area. In
a short story, you will find a narrower focus, but a greater concentration
of interest. For instance, in a novel there are many characters whereas in
a short story you have only a very few characters or in some, only one.
A novelist has the time and space to make his/her characters unfold and
develop gradually, but the short story writer must create and reveal the
characters in a few suggestive strokes.
In a novel, there is usually a main plot and several sub-plots. But in a
short story you will find only one plot with one main aim. Each word
used, helps in furthering the aim of the story. A novel may extend over
several years but a short story usually covers a more limited time span.
In a novel, the narrator may indulge in meditative remarks, digressions
and detailed descriptions, but the short story writer achieves his/her effects
by brevity. A short story may dispense with the narrator completely and
achieve his/her effects by presenting events as they occur. S/he makes use
of suggestion rather than explanation. These then are some of the ways
in which the short story differs from the novel. It also makes us appreciate
the fact that the art of story writing is not as simple as it may appear. It
demands great mastery of technique so that an effect of brevity, unity,
concentration and intensity is achieved.
We have already mentioned that the short story as a literary form only
came to be written in the early nineteenth century. Let us then survey its
rise and development. 9
Short Story
1.4 THE RISE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SHORT STORY
Stories have always held a great fascination for us and you may remember
many stories told to you as young children. Interest in stories is as old
as human history. Even before the art of writing was known, early human
beings must have narrated tales of the day’s hunting or stories of gods
and demons to one another. These were probably transmitted by word of
mouth from one generation to the next. The oldest recorded example is
probably the Egyptian tale of The Two Brothers dating from 3200 B.C.
The Jataka ( a collection of stories of Buddha’s earlier incarnations) and
Panchatantra tales (Sanskrit tales that are designed to impart worldly
wisdom and are about animals) are India’s contribution to the world of
stories and have continued to interest people through the ages. These along
with fables of Aesop (Greek fables with animals as characters and having
a moral), stories in the Bible and the tales from the Arabian Nights are
all precursors or forerunners of the short story.
1.4.1 The Rise of the Short Story
The short story as a literary form began to be written in the early nineteenth
century. However, it was only in the second half of the nineteenth century that
the term ‘short story’ was used. The rise of the short story can be attributed
to:
a) the rise of the reading public; more and more people were beginning to
read fiction in the nineteenth century;
b) the increase in the number of periodicals which could publish fiction;
c) widespread literacy; education was now more widely accessible;
d) hurry and pace of modern life.
The first three factors also contributed to the rise of the novel in the eighteenth
century. The novels written in those days were rather lengthy. In fact, in the
nineteenth century, the three-decker novel was a popular phenomenon. A single
novel usually came in three volumes. These days people do not have the time
to read such long stories. Short stories, on the other hand, can be read while
traveling or relaxing and do not require a substantial investment of time.
1.4.2 The Development of the Short Story
The short story developed in the hands of writers many of whom were also
novelists. But as you will notice, the techniques of the novelist and the short
story writer are to some extent similar as well as different. This may sound
a bit confusing at this stage, but it will get clearer as you continue to read
short stories and novels.
Let us now tell you about some well-known story writers, who were masters
of this art. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) is an American novelist and
short story writer. Another famous nineteenth century American short story writer
is Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). Both have written about the unusual and
the terrible. Their stories are full of horror and the supernatural. Poe’s story
‘The Masque of the Red Death’ is worth reading.
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Guy de Maupassant (1850-93), a French writer is considered one of the Introduction to the
Short Story
masters of the short story. He wrote about the private joys and sorrows of
individuals rather than about momentous events. Because of his acute observation,
Maupassant portrayed the world as he saw it, describing it in clear and simple
prose. His stories move swiftly and logically giving only the essential details of
character and situation. His stories end with a sting in the tail or an ironic twist
that takes the reader by surprise. Consider, for example, the ending of his famous
story ‘The Necklace’. A pretty and vain young wife of a clerk aspires to a
higher social status on account of her extraordinary beauty. She borrows a
diamond necklace from a rich friend to wear at the Minister’s ball. She is a
tremendous success as even the Minister notices her. But the fabulous evening
carries the seeds of tragedy, for she loses the necklace. What then follows is
a ten-year period of drudgery and deprivation to buy a necklace to replace
the lost one. When she finally reveals this to her friend, from whom she had
borrowed the necklace, the friend remarks: ‘But mine was fake!’ This, then,
is the sting-in-the –tail, a technique that Anton Chekov (1860-1904), the Russian
master of the story also adopted.
Anton Chekov’s stories probe the tragic element of the trivial things in life.
‘The Kiss’ is the story of a shy young man who, during the course of a dinner-
party, ventures into a dark room. Here he is kissed by a young lady who
had probably mistaken him for her lover. The young man builds up an absurd
romantic dream around this incident which only shatters when he finally
realizes that the kiss was not meant for him. Chekov explores the pathos of
the situation.
There have been great English short story writers starting with R.L. Stevenson
(1850-1894). His stories feature evil action and moral corruption. Thomas
Hardy’s (1840-1928) Wessex Tales carry a sense of tragedy that pervades
all Hardy’s work. Henry James (1843-1946) and Joseph Conrad (1857-
1924) were interested not so much in brevity as in form. The conventional short
story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Recent stories are more open-
ended, in the sense that there is no clear beginning, middle and end, as you
will discover when you read the stories prescribed for you.
What about Indian short story writers? The short story as a literary form is
popular in all the Indian languages and many of these short stories are translated
into English. In fact the Sahitya Akademi encourages the translation of regional
literatures into English and vice versa. Penguin also publishes translated short
stories and if you come across Deliverance and Other Stories by Premchand
and translated by David Ruben, you will find the collection most interesting.
Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao, Anita Desai and Kamala
Das are some of the famous Indian short story writers in English. That the
short story is alive in India is quite clear from the fact that serials like ‘Ek
Kahani’ are popular on TV.
The short story has developed in so many directions that it is impossible to
list all the varieties within it. There are the short stories that one can find in
popular periodicals and ‘literary’ short stories that are found in anthologies. When
we buy a magazine which has short stories in it to read on a railway journey, 11
Short Story we often find these stories racy and full of interesting incidents. We read them
purely for enjoyment. On the other hand, when we read a ‘literary’ short story
we often find that along with enjoyment, it also contributes to our understanding
of life and human nature. This distinction is similar to the difference between
‘lowbrow’ and ‘highbrow’ categories that we find applied to separate the
‘popular’ from what is considered ‘great’.
1.5 SOME HINTS ON READING A SHORT STORY
Whenever we read a piece of literature, whether it is a poem, a novel or a
play, we respond to it in many ways. One of the responses may be that we
either like it or we don’t. in any case, we should be able to say why we liked
it or why it did not appeal to us.
Different persons like different kinds of stories and for different reasons. One
may like a story because it immediately engages our attention. But does that
alone constitute the merit of a story? When we read a story, no doubt, the
development of the plot arrests our immediate attention. But along with this
we also notice the way language is used, the particular style, the use of images,
irony and symbolism. How effectively are time and place used? Are the
descriptions vivid, relevant or redundant? What is the theme and what are the
effects that the author wishes to achieve? These are some of the questions that
we must keep in mind while reading a story.
1.5.1 Plot
Every story has a plot. It is the sequence of events or incidents of which a
story is composed. These events or incidents are inter-related as one thing
happens because of another. A well-constructed plot would have conflict
either between individuals, groups, the individual and forces such as nature,
society, etc. It would also have elements of surprise and mystery. But above
all, the plot must have unity, each event must grow logically out of the
previous one.
1.5.2 Characters
All stories have characters. The main character is called the protagonist.
How does the author present character? S/he either tells us about the
character or shows him/her interacting with other characters in the story
or reacting to different situations. This gives us an idea about what the
character is like. How do we know if the presentation of character is
successful? When the author is able to create a life-like character, we know
that s/he has achieved his/her aim. It should seem as if the fictional character
is someone whom we could meet in real life. In detective stories or stories
where the action is dominant, characters are not significant.
As we know, in real life there are no perfectly good or purely evil characters
but persons with complex virtues and vices. Similarly, fictional characters
must have a range of different traits. And when we are writing a character
sketch, we should not repeat what a person has done but what a person is.
In short, we have to pick out the traits in his/her characters and just give a
summary of the story.
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1.5.3 Time and Place Introduction to the
Short Story
Each story is set in a particular time and place. The author can either tell the
story in a chronological sequence or may start at the end and keep going back
and forth in time. Place is equally important and you should try to identify the
details that form part of the setting of the story. The next point is to try and
discover how the author has tried to use setting in order to heighten the effect
of the story. For example, in horror stories, the setting is usually a dark ancient
castle or a bleak graveyard. Thus setting contributes to the atmosphere or mood
of the story. But setting is not important in all stories. In some stories, character
may be important, in others, the situation. When we are reading a story, we
must keep this aspect in mind.
1.5.4 Style
Each author has his/her own style. For example, it is possible to say that Mulk
Raj Anand has a certain distinct style of writing but even then we must be
aware that each author uses a different style in different works. When we try
to analyze an author’s style, we should try and determine whether his/her selection
of words (diction) is precise and clear and whether the ideas or actions are
conveyed vividly and powerfully.
1.5.5 The Techniques of Story-telling
R.L. Stevenson (1850-94) has described three ways of writing a story. The
writer can either begin with a plot and fit characters into it, or s/he can begin
with a character and choose incidents and situations to develop it. Further, an
author may try to create a particular atmosphere by getting his characters and
action to realize it. In earlier stories, the story-teller’s personality would intrude
into the narrative. In the modern short story, the author may not wish to make
his/her presence felt but tries to convey the impression that the reader is
witnessing or overhearing the story. The writer can make him/herself totally
unobtrusive by recording the dialogue and actions objectively. In a first-person
narrative, the author disappears completely and the reader enters directly into
the experiences of the character/s. The author may make use of the omniscient
point of view or take recourse to selective omniscience whereby we experience
events from the point of view of what one or two characters see and hear.
Some of the techniques of the novelist are also the techniques of the short story
writer. But the story is working within the limitations of space and form therefore
his/her task is all the more difficult. In a short story the author must:
a) convey the impression of spontaneity;
b) avoid intellectual comments and digressions;
c) know when enough has been said;
d) avoid too many explanations.
In short, as a story has limited form, the writer must work by suggestion rather
than by long-drawn explanations. Different elements, like character, style, point
of view, setting, cannot be analyzed in isolation, but must be seen as part of
the larger whole. What is important is how far these elements contribute to
the final effect of the story.
Each story would necessarily have a different effect on different people. It is
for this reason that there can be many interpretations of a particular story. What 13
Short Story we wish to stress here is that your response to a story is as valid as that of
anyone else. And as you read the stories in your course, we hope that you
will not only enjoy them but will also read them analytically.
Check Your Progress II
Read the following story and answer the questions given below.
A SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE
Premchand
(Translated into English by David Rubin)
The servant of the nation said, ‘there is only one way to redeem the country
and that is to treat the low as brothers, the outcastes as equals. In the world
we are all brothers; no one is high, no one is low’.
The world cheered. ‘How sublime a vision, how compassionate a heart!’
His beautiful daughter Indira heard and was plunged into a sea of care.
The servant of the people embraced a young man of low caste.
The world said, ‘He is an angel, an apostle, the pilot of the ship of state!’
Indira watched and her eyes began to glow.
The servant of the people brought the young man of low caste inside the temple
into the presence of God and said, ‘Our God is in poverty, in misfortune and
in degradation’.
The world said, ‘How pure in heart he is! How wise!’
Indira looked and smiled.
Indira went to the servant of the people and said, ‘Respected father, I wish
to marry Mohan’.
The servant of the people looked at her with loving eyes and asked, ‘Who
is Mohan?’
Indira said joyously, ‘Mohan is the honest, brave and good young man you
embraced and brought into the temple’.
The servant of the people looked at her with the eyes of doom and turned
away.
1) What do you learn about the character of “a servant of the people”?
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2) Is the title of the story ironical? If so, elaborate.
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3) Comment briefly on Premchand’s technique in this story. Introduction to the
Short Story
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1.6 LET US SUM UP
Let us now recapitulate what we discussed in this Unit, We have looked at:
x the main characteristics of the short story;
x the difference between a short story and a tale, fable, parable, anecdote,
novella and novel;
x the rise and development of the short story as a literary form;
x the aspects to look for when reading a short story.
Why do we read short stories? No, not for getting through examinations.
Not purely for enjoyment, but also because they deepen our awareness of
life. By illuminating some aspect of human life or behaviour, a short story
presents an insight into the nature and conditions of our existence. You
will read the stories that we have selected for you in the next three Units.
We hope you will find it an interesting and rewarding experience.
1.7 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Check Your Progress I
1) Even though it is difficult to define a short story exactly, it is (a) a
piece of prose fiction, (b) complete in itself, ( c) of moderate length.
A short story as a literary form only dates back to the early nineteenth
century. It is different from a tale, an anecdote and a parable.
2) a) A tale is generally an oral form of story-telling and has a long
history. A short story on the other hand, is a developed literary
form that can be traced only to the nineteenth century.
b) An anecdote relates an event or a series of events. Even a short
story may relate an event or a series of events but in a short
story the events are not important in themselves. The focus is
mainly on the character/s and situation.
c) a parable is a story with a moral. It is the meaning that is
important. A short story has meaning, but here that is not the
central point.
3) Roughly a short story should require half an hour to one hour to read.
4) It must arouse and hold the readers’ interest and convey a sense of
completeness. The style should suit the content.
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Short Story Check Your Progress II
1) The servant of the people seems noble indeed. Not only does he declare
that all men are equal but he also embraces a young man of low caste.
The public cheers as he leads this young man into the temple. The
importance of this action becomes clear when we realize that when
Premchand was writing, untouchability was widely prevalent in society
and persons of low caste were denied entry into temples. The public
adulation seems justified. It is only when Indira his own daughter
expresses her desire to marry Mohan, the young man of low caste,
that the real character of the “servant of the people” is exposed.
2) The title of the story is ironical. The man is only masquerading as
a servant of the people. The story effectively exposes the hypocrisy
and double standards of politicians who fool the public by such fake
acts of virtue.
3) When discussing the technique, you can take into account the following
points:
a) how Premchand works by suggestion rather than detail;
b) the omniscient narrator who ‘shows’ the actions of the “servant
of the people” on the one hand and the effect on the public on
the other.
c) The final sting-in-the tail or surprise ending.
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