This document discusses the origins and history of the short story. It traces early influences from ancient Egypt, Greece, and India, including Aesop's Fables and Panchatantra. The Bible and works like Decameron provided early examples. The modern short story form emerged in the 19th century through writers like Poe, Stevenson, and James. The short story is defined as a brief fictional narrative focused on a single incident and usually involving a few characters.

1. Department of English
Chowgule College.
CA – II
Understanding Fiction
By
Shubham ‘Connor’ Verlekar AU160001
Athira R. Chandan AU160026

2. A Short Introduction.
• Short story, brief fictional prose narrative that is
shorter than a novel and that usually deals with
only a few characters.
• Short Stories are usually concerned with a single
effect conveyed in only one or a few significant
episodes or scenes.
• It has economy of setting, concise narrative, and
the omission of a complex plot; character is
disclosed in action and dramatic encounter but is
seldom fully developed.
• Prior to 19th Century, Short story wasn’t assigned

3. Where do we find the roots?
The main areas to cover while digging out the roots of the short
story is Stories of the Old Testament, Parables Of the New
Testament, Fables, Panchatantra Stories, Boccaccio’s Decameron
etc.

4. Babylons and Greece
• The earliest tales extant from Egypt were composed on
papyrus at a comparable date. The ancient Egyptians
seem to have written their narratives largely in prose,
apparently reserving verse for their religious hymns and
working songs. Eg. “The Shipwrecked Sailor”
(c. 2000 bce)
• The early Greeks also contributed greatly to the scope
and art of short fiction.
• Aesop’s fables, the first known collection of which dates
to the 4th century bce. Brief mythological stories of the
gods’ adventures in love and war were also popular in

5. Bible
• Bible is a piece of doctrinal exposition. The format is the literary anthology—a
collection of varied literary genres written by multiple authors over the span of
many centuries.
• The book of Tobit which is a body of four works in Old testament.
• Judith creates an unrelenting and suspenseful tension as it builds to its climax; and
has elements of short stories
• The Writings are placed after the historical books in the Christian Bible. Some of
these are narratives covering the time of Israel’s exile in other nations and its
eventual return to the homeland.
• The Book of Esther, for example, tells the story of an unassuming Jewish girl who
becomes the queen of Persia and boldly saves the Jewish people from genocide.

6. The Panchatantra
• The Panchatantra (c. 100 bce–500 ce), has been one
of the world’s most-popular books.
• This anthology of amusing and moralistic animal
tales, akin to those of “Aesop” in Greece, was
translated into Middle Persian in the 6th century; into
Arabic in the 8th century; and into Hebrew, Greek,
and Latin soon thereafter.
• Sir Thomas North’s English translation appeared in
1570. of Kathasaritsagara (“Ocean of Rivers of
Stories”) which was written by Somadeva in Sanskrit
• Traces can be also seen in Jatkamalas in Pali
Cannon language, Which are 574 short stories about
former lives of The Buddha.

7. Boccaccio - The Decameron
• There are 100 tales contained in the book
which is presented together. The book’s
title The Decameron combines the two
Greek words “deka” meaning ten and
“hemera” meaning day. The title can be
literally translated as “ten day,” which is
also the time frame in which the stories are
told by the 7 young women and 3 young
men.
• The Decameron tells a story of ten young
Florentines who have fled from the Black
Plague to reside in Naples. The one

8. What exactly is a modern short story then?
• It’s been argued that “The Two Drovers” published in Chronices of the
Cannongate in 1827 by Walter Scott.
• Problem is that the short story in Britain hardly existed in the mid-19th
century, such was the dominance of the novel; writers in France, Russia
and America seemed to take more immediately to the form and it’s not
until Robert Louis Stevenson in the 1880s that we can see the modern
short story beginning to emerge and flourish in Britain once more, with the
line extending on from Stevenson through Wells, Bennett, James and
Kipling
• Then Edgar Allen Poe finally did some careful analysis and gives the
definition as quite simply as a narrative that “can be read at one sitting.”

9. References
• "The Origins and History of the American Short Story." Blogis Librorum. Expert Blogging About
Rare Books, blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/the-origins-and-history-of-the-american-short-story.
Accessed 07 Feb. 2017.
• "A Short History of the Short Story | Prospect Magazine." Prospect Magazine,
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/william-boyd-short-history-of-the-short-story. Accessed
07 Feb. 2017.
• "A Short History of the Short Story, by David Davidar." DailyO - Opinion News & Analysis on
Latest Breaking News India, www.dailyo.in/arts/short-history-of-the-short-story/story/1/893.html.
Accessed 8 Feb. 2017.
• "Short Story | Literature | Britannica.com." Encyclopedia Britannica,
www.britannica.com/art/short-story. Accessed 08 Feb. 2017
• Hunter, Adrian. The Cambridge Introduction To The Short Story In English. New Delhi:
Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print