The Short Story

This book is written for the numerous readers who enjoy the best short stories in the magazines, in the hope that it may be an aid to them in getting at the meaning of these stories through an understanding of their construction. The purpose of this book is to point out those technical features of the short story which are generally recognized by the best writers, and to prepare the reader for the variations in form which the flexibility in the non-essential parts admits, and yet to make clear the fact that there is such a thing as the technic of the short story, the understanding of which opens up the possibilities of comprehension and enjoyment just as the perception of the technical elements of other forms of literary art, of architecture, or of music increases the sweep of one's appreciation of an ode, a public building, or a symphony. - Preface.