Postmodern Approaches to the Short Story

(Hardback)

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Postmodernism, as a mode of the contemporary short story, has been clearly established and recognized by short story theorists. But postmodern theory, as pervasive as it has become among academics in the last half century, has scarcely been applied to the short story genre in particular. Many contemporary scholars, nonetheless, are currently making use of certain postmodern thematic approaches to help them determine meanings of particular short stories. T Short story theory began with Edgar Allan Poe's review of Twice-Told Tales, a collection of stories by his contemporary, Nathaniel Hawthorne. But theoretical discussions of the short story languished until modernism and the new criticism provided impetus for further development. Surprisingly, though, the next large critical movement, postmodernism, failed to address the short story as a genre. But while there is little postmodern theory concerning the short story, contemporary scholars have used certain postmodern critical approaches to help determine meaning. This book demonstrates the effect of postmodern theory on the study of the short story genre. The expert contributors to this volume examine such topics as genre and form, the role of the reader, cultural and ethnic diversity, and feminist perspectives on the short story. In doing so, they apply postmodern theoretical approaches to international short stories, be they in the traditional mode, the modern mode, or the postmodern mode. The volume looks at fiction by Edith Wharton, Henry James, Katherine Mansfield, and other authors, and at Iranian short fiction, the postcolonial short story, the fantastic in short fiction, and other subjects.

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Author Bio

FARHAT IFTEKHARRUDIN is Associate Professor of English and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Texas, Brownsville. He is the editor of the literary journal Short Story. JOSEPH BOYDEN is Instructor of English at the University of New Orleans. He has published short fiction in Black Warrior Review, Cimmaron review, Blue Penny Quarterly, and Green Hills Literary Lantern, along with a collection of short stories, Born with a Tooth (2001). JOSEPH LONGO is Instructor of English at the University of New Orleans. His short fiction has appeared in PRISM and in the anthology French Quarter Fiction. He is currently working on a novel. MARY ROHRBERGER is Adjunct Professor of English at the University of New Orleans. She is the author of numerous books and articles and is Executive Director of the Society for the Study of the Short Story.