Maupassant and the American Short Story isolates and develops more fully than any previous study the impact of Maupassant's work on the writing of Ambrose Bierce, O. Henry, Kate Chopin, and Henry James. It introduces a new perspective to assess their canons, reviving the importance of many often-ignored stories and, in the cases of Maupassant and O. Henry, reasserting the necessity of studying such writers to understand the history of the genre. An important moment in the history of the short story occurred with the American misreading of Maupassant's use of story structure. At the turn of the century, writers such as Bierce and O. Henry seized upon the surprise-inversion form because Maupassant's translators promoted him as championing it. Only a few writers, such as James and Chopin, both of whom read Maupassant in French, appreciated his deft handling of form more fully. Their vision and the impact of Maupassant upon their fiction was largely ignored by later generations of writers who preferred to associate Maupassant and O. Henry with the &"trick ending&" story. This book details the origins and consequences of this misperception. The book further contributes to the study of the short-story genre. Through an adaptation of Aristotelian concepts, Richard Fusco proposes an original approach to short-story structure, defining and developing seven categories of textual formulas: linear, ironic coda, surprise-inversion, loop, descending helical, contrast, and sinusoidal. As a practitioner of all these forms, Maupassant established his mastery of the genre. By studying his use of form, the book asserts a major reason for his pivotal importance in the historical development of the short story.

The stories collected in this book range from 1747 to 2005. They are listed chronologically to present the development of the art of the genre and the flow of ideas and themes that emerged over two centuries, and they are organized into five historical sections reflecting major cultural transitions that changed literary interests.-Pref.

The ability to construct a nuanced narrative or complex character in the constrained form of the short story has sometimes been seen as the ultimate test of an author's creativity. Yet during the time when the short story was at its most popular - the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries - even the greatest writers followed strict generic conventions that were far from subtle. This expanded and updated translation of Florence Goyet's influential La Nouvelle, 1870-1925: Description d'un genre à son apogée (Paris, 1993) is the only study to focus exclusively on this classic period across different continents. Ranging through French, English, Italian, Russian and Japanese writing - particularly the stories of Guy de Maupassant, Henry James, Giovanni Verga, Anton Chekhov and Akutagawa Ry?nosuke - Goyet shows that these authors were able to create brilliant and successful short stories using the very simple 'tools of brevity' of that period. In this challenging and far-reaching study, Goyet looks at classic short stories in the context in which they were read at the time: cheap newspapers and higher-end periodicals. She demonstrates that, despite the apparent intention of these stories to question bourgeois ideals, they mostly affirmed the prejudices of their readers. In doing so, her book forces us to re-think our preconceptions about this 'forgotten' genre.

Profiles more than four hundred authors of short fiction from around the world, presenting biographical and bibliographic information and summaries of major works. Also includes a reference volume with a chronology; a bibliography; lists of major award winners; twenty-nine essays on short-fiction history, theory, and world cultures; and three indexes.

Reference Guide to Short Fiction provides study and commentary on the most instrumental writers of short fiction through the 20th century. International in scope, this single scholarly volume includes 779 entries on 377 authors and 402 short stories.

Profiles more than four hundred authors of short fiction from around the world, presenting biographical and bibliographic information and summaries of major works. Also includes a reference volume with a chronology; a bibliography; lists of major award winners; twenty-nine essays on short-fiction history, theory, and world cultures; and three indexes.