The Short Story Fad

Brad Evans

doi:10.1017/9781009292863.006

Chapter 3 - The Short Story Fad

Gender, Pleasure, and Commodity Culture in Late Nineteenth-Century Magazines

from Part I - Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2023

Brad Evans

Edited by

Michael J. Collins and

Gavin Jones

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Michael J. Collins: Affiliation:
King's College London
Gavin Jones: Affiliation:
Stanford University

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Summary

This chapter considers the popularity of the genre of the short story in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It explores, in particular, a class of magazine stories for which the terms of approval followed the lines of reading for amusement and entertainment. Surveying critical accounts of the short story, and the burgeoning interest in anthologies and handbooks for aspiring writers, the chapter considers what follows if we not only accept but accentuate the notion of the genre as an artistic commodity in a gendered marketplace defined by overabundance. Special consideration is given to the subgenre of “storiettes” published alongside a column covering “the latest fads” in Munsey’s magazine. The essay argues that the style of the period’s short story developed in tandem with ideas about it as a fashionable and consumable commodity, and even as something of a fad.

Keywords

fads fashion magazines entertainment pleasure anthologies handbooks creative writing New Woman bohemianism

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Companion to the American Short Story , pp. 46 - 61

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009292863.006 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

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