Public-domain ebook
The Short-story
Language: en5,428 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Short Stories·Essays, Letters & Speeches·American Literature
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #21964.
About this book
The volume is a classroom‑crafted anthology that gathers a selection of short stories long used in American high‑school curricula. Its opening pages explain that the text was shaped through direct work with first‑year pupils, whose reading standards and feedback guided the final arrangement. After a brief historical essay on the evolution of the short story, from oral myth to the modern form, the book presents a series of representative tales by Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bret Harte, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Rudyard Kipling, each introduced with contextual notes and accompanied by author portraits. The introductory material also offers a concise definition of the genre, emphasizing unity, compression, originality and ingenuity, and it outlines various narrative forms and thematic classifications that the selected stories exemplify.
Written in a scholarly yet accessible prose style typical of late‑19th‑century literary criticism, the work combines factual exposition with a reverent tone toward its subjects. Readers who enjoy a guided tour of the short‑story’s development, especially those interested in the pedagogical lineage of classic American and British tales, will find the anthology both informative and enjoyable. Its blend of historical overview, critical commentary, and curated texts makes it a valuable companion for anyone seeking to understand how the form matured from early folklore to the polished narratives of Kipling and Stevenson.
The opening · free to read
This book is the result of actual work with first year High School pupils. Furthermore, the completed text has been tried out with them. Their difficulties, standards of reading, and the average development of their minds and taste have constantly been remembered. Whatever teaching quality the book may possess is due to their criticisms.
Hearty thanks are due Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons, The Thomas Y. Crowell Company, and The Houghton Mifflin Company for gracious permission to use copyrighted material.
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