This document provides an overview of the short story genre. It defines a short story and discusses its key components such as plot, character, setting, point of view, conflict and theme. The document also traces the evolution of the short story and examines some famous short story writers like O. Henry, Oscar Wilde, Guy de Maupassant, Edgar Allan Poe and their well-known works. It emphasizes that a short story should have integrity, economy and an epiphany or twist to engage the reader.

2. PRESENTED BY
GHAZANFAR ALI
SUBJECT SPECIALIST (ENGLISH)
QAED ( FORMER GOVT.COLLEGE FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS)
NAROWAL
UNIT NO.4
SHORT STORY

3.  After reading this unit, you are expected to:
 briefly define short story as a genre.
 know about the history of short story
 get an idea of components of a short story
 how to read and appreciate a short story
 familiarize themselves with world’s best short
story writers

4. SHORT STORY AS A GENRE
The word "genre" is French for "type." Applied to literature, "genre"
is a general term used to refer the types of imaginative literature.
While there are many types of literature, the basic genres include
short stories, poetry, drama, and novels
 What is a Short Story?
 Short Story has been defined in different ways such as:
 A piece of fictional writing usually less than 5000 words that
contain these basic elements: characters, setting, plot, conflict,
resolution, climax, dialogue, protagonist, and antagonist.
 A short story is a brief work of fiction. The short story resembles
the longer novel but generally has a simpler plot and setting. In
addition, the short story tends to reveal character at a crucial
moment rather than to develop it through many incidents.
 This is a form of prose fiction, a creative non-poetic kind of
composition.

5. THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS OF SHORT STORY
 Short story as a form dates back to the oral tradition of the tale.
 Written tales emerge in poetic forms - Chaucer's Canterbury
Tales.
 Boccaccio's Decameron (1351-1353) often cited as the precursor of
the short story form, as is the French translation of The Thousand
and One Nights (1704).
 Short story really begins to emerge as a form in the 19th century.
 Grimm's Fairy Tales (1824-1826) an early collection of folk stories
that paved the way for the development of the genre of short
stories.
Short story peaks as a form in the mid20th century and while still
respected, it has become less marketable than its prose cousin,
the novel.
 Thomas Hardy: "A story must be exceptional enough to justify its
telling ...

6. COMPONENTS OF SHORT STORY
 Integrity: It should form a coherent whole. This means that
everything language, dialogue, etc. should contribute to the
overall effect.
 Economy: There cannot be a long introduction. The reader has
to get involved quickly; the story's themes and mood need to be
established.
 Epiphany: Typically, something has to change in the course of
the story - either the character(s) learn something or their lives
change decisively, or we (the reader) learn something or have
our perceptions challenged in some way. This moment of
"showing" is what the great short story writer James Joyce called
epiphany. A similar idea is the "twist in the tale."
 Ending: A good short story needs to give the reader a feeling of
closure, or at least a sense of having read something complete.

7. A Short Story Is
Based On The
Following
Components:
Setting
Plot
Conflict
Character
Point of View
Theme
Setting

8. PLOT
 There are five essential parts of plot:
 Introduction - The beginning of the story where the
characters and the setting is revealed.
 Rising Action - This is where the events in the story
become complicated and the conflict in the story is
revealed (events between the introduction and climax).
 Climax - This is the highest point of interest and the
turning point of the story. The reader wonders what will
happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?
 Falling action - The events and complications begin to
resolve themselves. The reader knows what has happened
next and if the conflict was resolved or not (events between
climax and denouement).
 Denouement - This is the final outcome or untangling of
events in the story.

9. CONFLICT

10. CHARACTERS

11. Point of view is defined as the
angle from which the story is told.
 Innocent Eye: The story is told through the eyes of a child
Stream of Consciousness: The story is told so that the
reader feels as if he is inside the head of one character and
knows all their thoughts and reactions.
 First Person: The story is told by the protagonist or one of
the characters who interacts closely with the protagonist or
other characters (using pronouns I, me, we, etc).
 Omniscient: He can move from character to character,
event to event, having free access to the thoughts, feelings
and motivations of his characters and he introduces
information where and when he chooses.

12. THEME

13. Famous Short Story Writers
 O. HENRY (1862- 1910)
 O. Henry (1862- 1910), a prolific American short story
writer and a master of surprise endings.
 As a story writer, O. Henry is remarkable for his
ingenuity in the use of twisted plot which leads to
ironic or coincidental circumstances.
 The Gift of the Magi

14. OSCAR WILDE (1854-1900)
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30
November 1900) was an Irish writer, poet, and prominent
aesthete. Due to his contribution in different forms of writing
throughout the 1880s, he was considered as one of the most
popular playwrights’ of late Victorian times.
 He is master of the unpredictable. He subverts
expectations with misleading titles as in the title
story – the Happy Prince isn’t happy.

15. GUY DE MAUPASSANT (1850-1893)
Guy De Maupassant (1850–1893), a popular 19th-century
French writer is generally considered one of the fathers of
the modern short story.
 His short stories throw light on different attitudes and
behaviours of people and interactions of society and
are marked by objectivity, highly controlled style, and
sometimes sheer comedy.
 According to Maupassant, a modern novelist aims not
at "telling a story or entertaining us or touching our
hearts but at forcing us to think and understand the
deeper, hidden meaning of events". (Bel-Ami by Guy
de Maupassant)
 THE NECKLACE

16. EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809 –1849)
Edgar Allan Poe, an American poet, short story writer, editor
and critic, is considered as one of the leaders of the
American Romantics. Poe is the greatest teller of mystery
and suspense tales of the 19th century.
 Poe’s style is undisputedly classical.
 As a story teller, he has exhibited exceptional creative
brilliance and varied powers of writing.
 His status as a short story writer can evidently be realized by
his pioneering contribution to the genre and its influence on
the writers all over the world.
 According to him, a short story should be original and should
have an emotional impact on the reader.
 The Tell-Tale Heart

17. .