Introduction: Contexts, Politics and Genre

Abstract

The contemporary moment appears to be the moment for women short story writers, who have received increased critical attention and popular acclaim. Indeed, in surveying this literary field and attending to the reoccurring tropes and discourses in this body of work, it seems reasonable to argue that this is an opportune moment for considering the ways in which shifting feminist sensibilities and gendered subjectivities are revealed through women’s short story writing. A prevailing tendency in the short stories of many contemporary British women writers is a preoccupation with issues of gender and sexuality that, in turn, signals a wider engagement with feminist politics. In such narratives, the short story is used as an intentionally feminist literary vehicle in which to explore the issues and debates at the heart of feminist politics today. By framing the discussion in this way, ‘the moment’ brings together the short story and feminist politics and offers a means of conceptualising their independent status in the twenty-first century; as well as offering a new perspective on their interrelationship in the context of British women’s short story writing. The focus on the moment, then, bridges the formal features of the short story, the momentary experience of reading short fiction, and the ‘of the moment’ nature of feminist politics....