Description
Book SynopsisThe British and Irish Short Story Handbook guides readers through the development of the short story and the unique critical issues involved in discussions of short fiction.
Trade Review"Overall, The British and Irish Short Story Handbook will be a useful tool in the teaching of the short story at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Further, for scholars new to the field of short story criticism it is an accessible yet well-informed entry point. With the range of resources it offers and the succinct summaries it provides of key issues, topics and debates it collates some of the central tenets of the field. I am sure it will set people off on a fruitful journey into the ever-developing field of the British and Irish short story and short story criticism." (Irish Studies Review, 21 November 2013)
"The British and Irish Short Story Handbook is an excellent introduction to the short story as a literary form, but is of greater interest to the student than to a general reader, and my reservations on the entry on Warner should not detract from the fact that her inclusion in it draws her closer to mainstream literary fiction as it is taught in schools and universities. And for that we should be grateful." (Journal of the Sylvia Townsend Warner Society, 1 February 2013)
"Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and general readers." (Choice, 1 November 2012)
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi
Preface xiii
Part 1 A Brief History of the British and Irish Short Story 1
Part 2 Issues in Short Story Criticism 33
Definitions 35
Genre? 40
Collections 42
Marginality 48
Canonicity 51
Institutions 54
Part 3 Genres 57
The Ghost Short Story, the Supernatural Short Story, and the Gothic Short Story 61
The Science Fiction Short Story and the Fantasy Short Story 63
The Fable 66
The Short Story of Exotic Adventure 68
The Detective and Crime Short Story 70
The Historical Short Story 72
The Realist Social-Psychological Short Story 74
The Metafictional/Experimental Short Story 77
Part 4 Key Authors 81
Richard Aldington (1892-1962) 83
J. G. Ballard (1930-2009) 84
Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) 86
Frances Bellerby (1899-1975) 88
John Berger (born 1926) 89
Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) 91
Angela Carter (1940-1992) 93
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) 95
Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) 97
A. E. Coppard (1878-1957) 99
Hubert Crackanthorpe (1870-1896) 101
Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) 103
Hugh Fleetwood (born 1944) 104
Graham Greene (1904-1991) 106
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) 108
Henry James (1843-1916) 110
Gabriel Josipovici (born 1940) 112
James Joyce (1882-1941) 114
James Kelman (born 1946) 116
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) 118
Hanif Kureishi (born 1954) 120
James Lasdun (born 1958) 122
Mary Lavin (1912-1996) 124
D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) 126
Doris Lessing (born 1919) 128
George Mackay Brown (1921-1996) 130
Julian Maclaren-Ross (1912-1964) 132
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) 134
Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) 136
E. A. Markham (1939-2008) 138
W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) 140
Ian McEwan (born 1948) 142
John McGahern (1934-2006) 144
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) 146
H. H. Munro ("Saki") (1870-1916) 148
Frank O'Connor (1903-1966) 150
Sean O'Faolain (1900-1991) 152
Mollie Panter-Downes (1906-1997) 154
T. F. Powys (1875-1953) 156
V. S. Pritchett (1900-1997) 158
Jean Rhys (1890-1979) 161
Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010) 163
Muriel Spark (1918-2006) 165
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) 167
Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) 169
William Trevor (born 1928) 171
H. G. Wells (1866-1946) 173
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) 175
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) 176
Part 5 Key Works 177
Robert Louis Stevenson, "Markheim" (1885) 179
Oscar Wilde, "The Canterville Ghost: A Hylo-Idealistic Romance" (1887) 182
Oscar Wilde, "The Selfish Giant" (1888) 186
Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb" (1892) 188
Hubert Crackanthorpe, "Modern Melodrama" (1895) 191
Henry James, "The Altar of the Dead" (1895) 194
Joseph Conrad, "Amy Foster" (1901) 199
George Moore, "Home Sickness" (1903) 203
H. G. Wells, "The Valley of Spiders" (1903) 206
M. R. James, "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" (1904) 209
H. H. Munro ("Saki"), "Sredni Vashtar" (1911) 212
James Joyce, "An Encounter" (1914) 214
D. H. Lawrence, "Tickets, Please" (1919) 217
Virginia Woolf, "Kew Gardens" (1919) 221
Katherine Mansfield, "The Stranger" (1921) 224
A. E. Coppard, "The Higgler" (1925) 228
Rudyard Kipling, "The Gardener" (1926) 232
Jean Rhys, "Mannequin" (1927) 236
W. Somerset Maugham, "Footprints in the Jungle" (1927) 239
T. F. Powys, "John Pardy and the Waves" (1929) 242
Sean O'Faolain, "Midsummer Night Madness" (1932) 245
V. S. Pritchett, "Handsome Is As Handsome Does" (1938) 249
Mollie Panter-Downes, "Goodbye, My Love" (1941) 254
Alun Lewis, "The Last Inspection" (1942) 257
Mary Lavin, "At Sallygap" (1943) 261
Elizabeth Bowen, "Mysterious Kor" (1944) 265
Julian Maclaren-Ross, "The Tape" (1944) 268
Denton Welch, "Narcissus Bay" (1948) 271
Frank O'Connor, "Eternal Triangle" (1954) 274
J. G. Ballard, "The Terminal Beach" (1964) 277
Samuel Beckett, "Lessness" (1970) 282
Gabriel Josipovici, "Mobius the Stripper: A Topological Exercise" (1974) 285
Michael Moorcock, "Waiting for the End of Time. . ."(1976) 289
Sylvia Townsend Warner, "The King of Orkney's Leonardo" (1976) 292
William Trevor, "Another Christmas" (1978) 295
Angela Carter, "The Erl-King" (1979) 298
Clive Sinclair, "The Evolution of the Jews" (1979) 302
John McGahern, "The Conversion of William Kirkwood" (1985) 305
James Kelman, "Forgetting to Mention Allende" (1987) 309
Mary Dorcey, "A Noise from the Woodshed" (1989) 312
James Lasdun, "Ate/Menos or The Miracle" (1992) 315
Bernard MacLaverty, "A Silent Retreat" (1994) 319
Hanif Kureishi, "We're Not Jews" (1995) 322
Patricia Duncker, "Stalker" (2003) 325
China Mieville, "Foundation" (2003) 328
Key Collections 331
References and Further Reading 338
Index 345
