Interacting with essays

Charles E. May

D.C. Heath

Although the short story has often been called America’s unique contribution to the world’s literature, relatively few critics have taken the form seriously. May’s collection of essays by popular commentators, academic critics, and short story writers attempts to assess the reasons for this neglect and provides significant theoretical directions for a reevaluation of the form. The essays range from discussions by Poe to comments by John Cheever. Frank O’Connor describes the short story as depicting “an intense awareness of human loneliness,” and Nadine Gordimer suggests that the story is more suitable than the novel in rendering the fragmentary modern experience. Eudora Welty sees the story as something “wrapped in an atmosphere” of its own; Randall Jarrell speaks of the mythic basis of the genre. Elizabeth Bowen and Alberto Moravia discuss thematic and structural distinctions between the novel and the story. The collection also includes discussions of various types of stories, as satiric and lyric, critical surveys of the development of the modern short story, and the status of the form at the present time. An excellent annotated bibliography is also included, which describes 135 books and articles on the short story, evaluating their contribution to a unified theory of the form.

Short Story Theories

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Ohio University Press

This series contains 515 essays, revolving around authors of short fiction. Essays are arranged alphabetically by author and provide in-depth overviews of short-story writers. Each essay contains full birth and death data, substantial listings of literary works by genre, and an analysis and survey of the major themes and techniques in the writer's work, using specific titles for examples. Finally, there is a list of other publication by genre, and an annotated bibliography.

Critical Survey of Short Fiction Vol. 2: Italo Calvino - Louise Erdrich

Salem Press

This series contains 515 essays, revolving around authors of short fiction. Essays are arranged alphabetically by author and provide in-depth overviews of short-story writers. Each essay contains full birth and death data, substantial listings of literary works by genre, and an analysis and survey of the major themes and techniques in the writer's work, using specific titles for examples. Finally, there is a list of other publication by genre, and an annotated bibliography.

Critical Survey of Short Fiction Vol. 3: James T. Farrell - W.W. Jacobs

Critical Survey of Short Fiction Vol. 5: Bharati Mukherjee - Mona Simpson

Masterplots II: Short Story Series provides penetrating discussions of the content, themes, structure and techniques of 1,490 stories from every inhabited region in the world: North America, Africa, Asia, West Indies, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and other European countries. Each article begins with birth and death dates, type and time of the plot, locale, principal characters and first-publication information. A synopsis of the story, critical discussion and analysis of the stylistic devices is also included.

Masterplots II, Volume 1: A - CHI

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Masterplots II, Volume 2: CHI - ERR

Masterplots II, Volume 3: ESM - HOR

Masterplots II, Vol. 4: Hor-Loo

Masterplots II: Short Story Series provides penetrating discussions of the content, themes, structure and techniques of 1,490 stories from every inhabited region in the world: North America, Africa, Asia, West Indies, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and other European countries. Each article begins with birth and death dates, type and time of the plot, locale, principal characters and first-publication information. A synopsis of the story, critical discussion and analysis of the stylistic devices is also included.

Masterplots II, Volume 5: LOO - OPE

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Books by Charles E. May