The Cambridge Companion To The American Short Story

This Companion offers students and scholars a comprehensive introduction to the development and the diversity of the American short story as a literary form from its origins in the eighteenth century to the present day. Rather than define what the short story is as a genre, or defend its importance in comparison with the novel, this Companion seeks to understand what the short story does – how it moves through national space, how it is always related to other genres and media, and how its inherent mobility responds to the literary marketplace and resonates with key critical themes in contemporary literary studies. The chapters offer authoritative introductions and reinterpretations of a literary form that has re-emerged as a major force in the twenty-first-century public sphere dominated by the Internet.

A Companion to the American Short Story traces thedevelopment of this versatile literary genre over the past 200years. Sets the short story in context, paying attention to theinteraction of cultural forces and aesthetic principles Contributes to the ongoing redefinition of the American canon,with close attention to the achievements of women writers as wellas such important genres as the ghost story and detectivefiction Embraces diverse traditions including African-American,Jewish-American, Latino, Native-American, and regional short storywriting Includes a section focused on specific authors and texts, fromEdgar Allen Poe to John Updike

This Companion provides an accessible overview of the contexts, periods, and subgenres of English-language short fiction outside of North America.

This volume explores the most exciting trends in 21st century US fiction's genres, themes, and concepts.

This wide-ranging introduction to the short story tradition in the United States of America traces the genre from its beginnings in the early nineteenth century with Irving, Hawthorne and Poe via Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Faulkner to O'Connor and Carver. The major writers in the genre are covered in depth with a general view of their work and detailed discussion of a number of examples of individual stories. The Cambridge Introduction to the American Short Story offers a comprehensive and accessible guide to this rich literary tradition. It will be invaluable to students and readers looking for critical approaches to the short story and wishing to deepen their understanding of how authors have approached and developed this fascinating and challenging genre. Further reading suggestions are included to explore the subject in more depth. This is an invaluable overview for all students and readers of American fiction.

A comprehensive 2011 guide to the genres, historical contexts, cultural diversity and major authors of American fiction since the Second World War.

This Companion offers a thorough overview of the diversity of the American Gothic tradition from its origins to the present.