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For almost two centuries, the short story has held an extremely prominent place in the North American literary tradition: with respect to the U.S., the genre has been described as a "national art form" (Frank O'Connor); likewise, students of (English-)Canadian literature have referred to the short story as "Canada's flagship genre." How can we explain the success of this literary form in North America? How has the genre developed over time and in what ways have Canadian short stories differed from American ones? This lecture will take a comparative approach to the North American short story from the late 18th century to the present, discussing theoretical issues, the role of the short story in the literary market, individual short stories, and related genres and media such as the short short story, the short story cycle, or the short story illustration. |
