作品の短さだけが「短編小説」の特色ではありません。このジャンルの発展と密接な関係があった米・英の新聞・雑誌といった発表媒体の発達をはじめ、エンターテイメント的な色彩が強かった初期から、写実主義、ポストモダンなどの作家たちによって国際的な発展を遂げた20世紀以降までを概括します。短編小説の普遍的な要素のほか、ストーリーに多様性を与えるテクニックについて、A・カーター、A・チェーホフ、J・ボールドウィン、A・ムンロ、G・モーパッサン、C・マッカラーズらの幅広く豊かな作品を例に論じます。
   

• Provides a clear analysis of the techniques and themes common to the international genre of short stories
• Examines the rise of the short story, as facilitated by the explansion of global press
• Draws on a diverse array of examples to illustrate common thematic threads, and form
• Considers the ways in which the genre has been constantly innovated and expanded

　　　
What defines a modern short story is much more than a question of length. Despite the efforts of early pioneers like Edgar Allan Poe, the genre was originally synonymous with the anecdote or tale and seen more as entertainment than art. However it has become far more than that, and this Very Short Introduction considers afresh the form's ongoing innovations in plot construction, capacity for psychological insight, and ability to offer intensely concentrated perceptions.
　　　
This book charts the rise of the short story from its original appearance in magazines and newspapers, largely in the United States and Great Britain. For much of the nineteenth century, tales were written for the press, and the form's history is marked by engagement with popular fiction. From the later nineteenth century, the short story earned a reputation for its skillful use of plot design and character study distinct from the novel. After the First World War it found outlets in high-brow publications, and single-author collections, as well as anthologies, were regularly published. Exploring the form's techniques and themes, Andrew Kahn considers the continuity and variation in key structures and techniques such as the beginning, the creation of voice, the ironic turn or plot twist, and how writers manage endings. Throughout he draws on examples from an international and flourishing corpus of work, with close analysis of classic and lesser-known stories by American, Canadian, Irish, Australian, Russian, and French masters such as James Baldwin, Grace Paley, Alice Munro, Elizabeth Taylor, William Trevor, Helen Garner, Chekhov, and Guy de Maupassant.