THE EVOLUTION OF A SHORT STORY

Petra Hadžidaova
12 minutes ago
4 min read

(1)

Life is full of adventure, events, and occurrences, whether positive or negative. Each and every single one of us has stories we could tell. We love to share a tale or two. Perhaps even more so, we love to hear them from others, too.

Mankind in general has been known to love stories. Back in the day, I suppose it was one of the only ways to entertain oneself. Nowadays, we have all sorts of gadgets to distract ourselves with. Still, even in this day and age, many find themselves picking up a book or gravitating towards a story to fill out their day and curiosity.

Short stories are all around us. From printed stories, ones we find on television, hear on the radio, or in general read on the internet. Even more so, we hear them every day, when someone gives an account of what might have transpired two days ago in their lives or the life of another. And that is how short stories originally began.

ORAL STORYTELLING

When pen and paper were not yet around, nor had a writing system been invented yet, people transferred information between themselves orally. Oral storytelling is considered the birthplace of the narrative. These early narratives weren’t just entertainment—they passed down history, values, and cultural identity. (2)

Through oral storytelling, myths and epics such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, E pic of Gilgamesh, Homer's Iliad, and Odyssey were born. For easier recall, rendition, and adaptation, these stories were often told in the form of rhyming or rhythmic verse. (3)

During the era of the Roman Empire, anecdotes also happened to be quite popular.

These stories had to be short by necessity, to remain memorable, repeatable, and portable. They held moral lessons and included much symbolism and allegory.

WRITTEN BEGGININGS: MYTH, PARABLE, AND FABLE

With the invention of writing, stories could finally be recorded. Myths, parables, and fables were born. Ancient civilizations like Mesopotamia and Egypt preserved tales that had once only lived in voice. In Egypt, they were composed on papyrus. One of the earliest surviving Egyptian tales is “The Shipwrecked Sailor” (c. 2000 BCE). (2, 4)

“The War of the Gods,” “The Story of Adapa” (both Babylonian), “The Heavenly Bow,” and “The King Who Forgot” (both Canaanite) were inscribed in cuneiform on clay during the 2nd millennium BCE. (4)

In India, there is a rich heritage of ancient folktales as well as a compiled body of short fiction. It all initially began with Brahmanas (c. 900–700 BCE), which function mostly as theological appendixes to the Vedas, but a few are composed as short instructional parables. Later on came the Jataka tales - Buddhist ethical teachings - and the Panchatantra - amusing and moralistic animal tales. In the latter, the narrative form frame story made its first appearance. (3, 4)

During the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries BCE, the sophisticated narratives that are now a part of the Hebrew Bible and the Apocrypha were first written down.

The Greeks added much to the collection of short stories and tales, especially moralizing animal fables such as Aesop’s fables. They added many stories of the adventures of their gods. Short stories also gave way to longer prose, and they are credited with originating the romance, a long form of prose fiction with stylized plots of love, catastrophe, and reunion. (4)

Romans were also known for their stories, yet they added little to the collection of short stories. For the most part, their writers collected such into longer pieces like Metamorphoses. (4)

MIDDLE AGES, RENAISSANCE, AND AFTER

In the Middle Ages in Europe, the short tale became an important means of diversion and amusement from the grim-spirited short prose of the Germanic barbarians to the violent tales, myths, and sagas of the Scandinavians.

In contrast were the tales and short stories of the Celts, full of romantic imagination and high spirits, such as the Irish mythological tales as Longes mac n-Uislenn. (4)

Also widely respected was the exemplum, a short didactic tale usually intended to dramatize or otherwise inspire model behaviour.

In Europe, the short narrative received its most refined treatment by Giovanni Boccaccio in Decameron and Geoffrey Chaucer in Canterbury Tales. (3)

Later on, beast fables, the coarse and “merry” jestbooks, and the ribald fabliaux entered the scene. (4)

19TH CENTURY - THE REEMERGENCE AS A LITERARY SHORT STORY

In the 17th and 18th centuries, there was a temporary decline of short fiction in the West. The causes behind the decline were various, among them also the rise of the novel. But not long after, in the 1800's the modern form of the short story emerged almost simultaneously in Germany, the United States, France, and Russia. It was all thanks to the rise of mass printing and literary journals. (2, 4)

Authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Guy de Maupassant helped formalize the genre, emphasizing structure, unity, and emotional intensity. It was argued that a short story should be “read in one sitting” and should aim for a singular emotional effect. (2)

20TH CENTURY - THE BOOM

In the first half of the 20th century, the appeal of the short story continued to grow and reached its boom, especially in the mid-century American literary scene. Writers like Ernest Hemingway, Flannery O’Connor, Ray Bradbury, and Alice Munro expanded the form’s potential. Genre stories emerged, as well as realism and minimalism.

21ST CENTURY - DIGITAL FLASH AND MICROFICTION

With the rise of technology, stories have become easily accessible. It also gave way for two new literary forms to emerge: flash fiction (under 1000 words) and microfiction (under 100 words).

The rise of AI has also made way for AI-generated stories. Not only are stories far more accessible, but being a writer is also.

CONCLUSION

Short stories are all around us, and have been since the beginning. Oral storytelling is where it all began, and with the invention of the writing system, it slowly formed into different literary forms: epics, parables, myths, fables, novels, flash fiction, and microfiction. Nowadays, stories in general are everywhere and easily accessible for readers. Even more so is the opportunity to become a writer, what with AI-emerging and all.

SOURCES