The Short Story a Technical and Literary Study

by 

Cross, E. A. (Ethan Allen), b. 1875

 

Description

Excerpt from The Short Story: A Technical and Literary Study

The technic of the Short Story, as it is written today by the best of its masters, is quite definite ln its essential features and yet so flexible in the non-essentials as to give to the careless reader the impression of lawlessness. The purpose of the book, then, to be a little more specific, is to point out those technical features of the Short Story which are generally recognized by the best writers, and to prepare the reader for the variations in form which the flexibility in the non-essential parts admits, and yet to make clear the fact that there is such a thing as The Technic of the Short Story, the understanding of which opens up the possibilities of comprehension and enjoy ment just as the perception of the technical elements of other forms of literary art, of architecture, or of music increases the sweep of one 's appreciation of an ode, a public building, or a symphony.

In the preparation of this book there has been no effort made to get together a manual for the beginner in the writing of short stories. A number of these already exist. But it is possible that the analysis of the structure of the short story from the reader's point of view may be helpful to the beginner in writing by clarifying his no tions about the handling of plot, theme, suspense, and the other elements of technic.

The historical development of this form of art has been touched only superficially. The author's purpose has been to exhibit the story as it is now. We all recog nize in these days of exact biological calculation that heredity has much to do with the living youth who flour ishes among us; and so, to a certain extent, it is with a literary form. In an attempt to keep the peace with the literary scientists and at the same time to avoid any long delay in getting at the serious business of the book a short paragraph has been devoted to each of the more important branches of the family tree of the Short Story.
 

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