er of
short-stories to induce a general truth from particular imagined facts
imitated from actuality: it is far simpler to deduce the imagined
details of the story from a central thesis, held securely in the
author's mind and suggested to the reader at the outset. It is a
quicker process to think from the truth to facts than to think from
facts to the truth. Daudet and de Maupassant, who worked realistically
in their novels, worked romantically in their _contes_; and the great
short-stories of our own language have nearly all been written by
romantic authors, like Poe, Hawthorne, Stevenson, and Mr. Kipling.

[3] A contribution to "The Wampum Library"; Longmans, Green & Co.,
1904.

[4] This paper, later included in _Pen and Ink_, 1888, has since been
published by itself in a little volume: Longmans, Green & Co.,
1901.

[5] This definition was printed first in the _Bookman_ for February,
1904, and later in the _Reader_ for February, 1906. It has
subsequently been repeated in nearly every book that deals with
this special aspect of the art of fiction.

[6] The second story of the second day, and the sixth story of the
ninth day. See "American Short Stories," p. 28.

[7] Published first in _The Atlantic Monthly_ for August, 1902, and
since included, as Chapter XII. in "A Study of Prose Fiction":
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1904.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Distinguish between the novel, the novelette, and the short-story.

2. Define the short-story.

3. Explain the contributions made by Edgar Allan Poe and Brander
Matthews to the consciousness of the short-story as a special form
of art.

4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the short-story as
compared with the novel?

5. Is realism possible in the short-story? If not, why not?

SUGGESTED READING

EDGAR ALLAN POE: Review of Hawthorne's "Tales."

BRANDER MATTHEWS: "The Philosophy of the Short-Story."

BLISS PERRY: "A Study of Prose Fiction"--Chapter XII, on "The Short
Story."

CHARLES SEARS BALDWIN: Introduction to "American Short Stories."

HENRY SEIDEL CANBY: "The Short Story in English."

CHARLES RAYMOND BARRETT: "Short Story Writing."

BRANDER MATTHEWS: Introduction to "The Short-Story: Specimens
Illustrating Its Development."

CHAPTER XI

THE STRUCTURE OF THE SHORT-STORY

Only One Best Way to Construct a Short-Story--Problems of Short-Story