A Short History of the Short Story: Western and Asian Traditions

By Gulnaz Fatma

Worldwide Appreciation of the Short Story Form Spans Cultures and Centuries!
In this concise volume, Gulnaz Fatma traces the short story from its origins in fables, ancient poetry, and tales such as The Arabian Nights, to its modern form in the early American stories of Irving, Poe, and Hawthorne, and then through the twentieth century and throughout the world. The elements of what makes a short story are presented along with a discussion of the difficulties in defining the genre. The short story's relation to the novel as well as its uniqueness as its own form are deftly presented.

While the American and European traditions of the short story take up much of this book, the final chapter is a thorough presentation of the short story's development in India. Anyone interested in the short story--teachers, students, writers, and readers--will find this volume informative, thoughtful, and a welcome addition to our understanding of one of literature's most dynamic forms.

Gulnaz Fatma is an Indian writer and author. She is a research scholar in the Department of English at Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, India.

"As a fiction writer who has also taught the short story form, I was impressed by the thoroughness and insight presented in this concise book. Fatma's broad exploration of the short story form is backed by numerous supporting examples and her chapter on the short story in India will introduce many readers to that country's own literary gems."
--Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D. and author of the award-winning Narrow Lives

From the World Voices Series www.ModernHistoryPress.com

Literary Criticism: Short Stories
Literary Criticism: Asian - General

• Language: English
• Publisher: Loving Healing Press Inc
• Release date: Sep 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781615991778

Gulnaz Fatma

Gulnaz Fatma, PhD is an Indian writer and author. She is a research scholar in the Department of English at Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, India. Fatma is a dynamic personality in literature studies who has published many articles in national and international journals. She is the author of a critical book titled A Short History of the Short Story: Western and Asian Traditions published by Modern History Press, USA, and she is currently writing a novel on the themes of immigration and multiculturalism.

Reviews for A Short History of the Short Story

[billyburgess · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In fewer than fifty pages, author Glunaz Fatma successfully gives us the basic history of short fiction stories from Western and Asian Traditions. Being an author of short stories myself, I was very eager to review this book courtesy of Modern History Press. Many famous writers, such as H.G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Alphonse Daudet, Miguel de Cervantes, Shirley Jackson, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Rabindranath Tagore, and many others, have written numerous short stories as it gives them more freedom to express their creativeness without being classified by a genre. Just like a novel, a short story must has a well-written plot that leads to a conclusion. A short story is between 1,000 to 20,000 words. Anything over is either a novella or a novel, and anything under is considered as short stories or flash fiction. What were some of the earliest short stories? Author Glunaz Fatma suggests that one of the earliest short stories is Homer's Odyssey, which is a mandatory read in most high schools. Of course there are also fables, myths, and fairy tales that have been around probably even longer. A Short History of the Short Story is written in laymen terms so anybody from any background can read it. Every high school student has to read and do homework from a short story text book and I think this book would make a good companion to it. I recommend the book to students, teachers, schools and all scholars.