Introduction

Abstract

For a complex of reasons the short story has been largely excluded from the arena of contemporary critical debate: this collection of essays aims to re-establish the short story as a legitimate subject for discussion. Each of the essays was first presented at a Symposium on the Short Story held at the College of St Paul and St Mary, Cheltenham, in September 1986. The idea for the symposium came from a general feeling of dissatisfaction with the current level of debate on the short story form. Some of the contributors had previously worked on the short story, and all shared a sense that a unique area of literary activity was being neglected in critical terms — and this, paradoxically, at a time when it seemed that the short story would prove a particularly fruitful area of study in the light of recent developments in literary theory. In this introduction I have attempted to chart some of the reasons for this paradoxical situation. It caused mixed feelings of exhilaration and frustration for the contributors to this collection: exhilaration at working on such an untouched area; frustration at seeing a wide communication gap and feeling a need to persuade others of the importance of a field which was becoming almost ghettoised. The publication of these essays is a step towards bridging this gap, making for necessary communication.KeywordsShort StoryPassion FruitMixed FeelingWoman WriterUnique AreaThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.