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  1. Short story | Definition, Characteristics, Examples, History, & Facts ...

    Nov 25, 2025 · Short story, brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters. The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed …

  2. Short story - Origins, Genres, Forms | Britannica

    Nov 25, 2025 · Short story - Origins, Genres, Forms: The evolution of the short story first began before humans could write. To aid in constructing and memorizing tales, the early storyteller often relied on …

  3. short story summary | Britannica

    short story, Brief fictional prose narrative. It usually presents a single significant episode or scene involving a limited number of characters. The form encourages economy of setting and concise …

  4. Short story - Medieval, Renaissance, Folklore | Britannica

    Oct 3, 2025 · From the medieval era to the Renaissance, various cultures adopted short fiction for their own purposes. Even the aggressive, grim spirit of the invading Germanic barbarians was amenable …

  5. short story - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help

    As long as people have told stories, there have been short works of prose—and occasionally poetic—fiction. Today such works are called short stories, and their modern form…

  6. The Lottery | Folklore, Symbolism & Ritual | Britannica

    Nov 18, 2025 · short story, brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters. The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed …

  7. Short story - Emergence, Modern, Genre | Britannica

    Nov 25, 2025 · In the United States, the short story, as in Germany, evolved in two strains. On the one hand there appeared the realistic story that sought objectively to deal with seemingly real places, …

  8. Short story - Decline, Genres, Forms | Britannica

    Oct 3, 2025 · When it did shake off its escapist trappings in the 19th century, it reappeared as the “modern short story.” This was a new stage in the evolution of short fiction, one in which the short …

  9. Flowers for Algernon | Short Story, Novel, Summary, & Reception ...

    The short story was expanded into a novel in 1966. A science fiction exploration of topics such as human intelligence, intellectual disabilities, and romance, the novel is written exclusively as a series …

  10. Literary sketch | Characteristics, Types, Examples | Britannica

    short story, brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters. The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a …