Indian English Short Story

Abstract

The question of defining short story is really difficult. One may hasten to state that the best course is to recognize it by its brevity, economy, and short length. On a second thought, however, one pays a more serious attention to the genre and acknowledges, like a recent definer of literary terms, that: A relatively short narrative which is designed to produce a single dominant effect and which contains the elements of drama, a short story concentrates on a single character in a single situation at a single moment. Even if these conditions are not met, a short story still exhibits unity as its guiding principle... Dramatic conflict-the collision of opposing forces -is at the heart of the story.