Professor Bliss Perry was given in Sever "The Short Story."
Professor Perry said:
However far back we go in ancient tales and traditions, we find all of the characteristics of the short story given in unrivalled perfection. The modern short story writers, however, stand for a new movement because of their attempt to accomplish a certain end by taking a certain attitude. The ordinary novel is objectionable, as Poe says, because it cannot be read at one sitting, but the combination of brevity and unity in the short story is its greatest charm. Every work of fiction depends for its success on its characters, its plot, or its action and circumstances. In character delineation alone there are many differences between the novel and the short story. While in the latter a character must catch the eye at once, in a novel a commonplace character can be tolerated for a time, because of the greater opportunity for its final development.
Again, a story may depend on its plot for sustaining the reader's attention. Indeed if the plot can be made sufficiently attractive, the characters may be kept entirely in the background, as i
Professor Perry said:
However far back we go in ancient tales and traditions, we find all of the characteristics of the short story given in unrivalled perfection. The modern short story writers, however, stand for a new movement because of their attempt to accomplish a certain end by taking a certain attitude. The ordinary novel is objectionable, as Poe says, because it cannot be read at one sitting, but the combination of brevity and unity in the short story is its greatest charm. Every work of fiction depends for its success on its characters, its plot, or its action and circumstances. In character delineation alone there are many differences between the novel and the short story. While in the latter a character must catch the eye at once, in a novel a commonplace character can be tolerated for a time, because of the greater opportunity for its final development.
Again, a story may depend on its plot for sustaining the reader's attention. Indeed if the plot can be made sufficiently attractive, the characters may be kept entirely in the background, as i