The Short-story | Page 4

character, and setting. Consequently using this principle of classification we have three forms which may be exemplified by Kipling's William the Conqueror, wherein action is emphasized; his Tomb of His Ancestors, wherein character is emphasized; and his An Error in the Fourth Dimension, wherein setting is emphasized.
Using yet another principle of classification--material--we obtain: stories of dramatic interest, that is, of some striking happening that would hold the audience of a play in a highly excited state, as Stevenson's Sire de Malétroit's Door; of love, as Bunner's Love in Old Cloathes; of romantic adventure, as Kipling's Man Who Would Be King; of terror, as Poe's Pit and the Pendulum; of the supernatural, as Crawford's The Upper Berth; of humor, as humor, as Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews' A Good Samaritan; of animals, as Kipling's Rikki-tikki-tavi; of psychological analysis, as James' Madonna of the Future; and so on.
III
THE SHORT-STORY AS NARRATION
All the previous discussion must not obscure the fact that the short-story is a form of narration and subject to all that pertains thereto. Now what is narration and what does it imply?
Narration is that form of discourse which presents a series of events in the order of time. Events or action presuppose actors, or characters as they are generally called, and a place where the action may take place; likewise time and circumstances within which the actors act. These three, which may be conveniently spoken of as actors, action, and environment, are three of the elements of narration. But there is a fourth. To make an interesting story there must be something for the chief character, technically called the protagonist, to overcome, such as an adversary, a situation, or an idea, which thing is called the obstacle. Furthermore, there must be something in the story near the beginning which brings the protagonist into conflict with the obstacle. Often this conflict, technically the collision, is brought about by another character. But it may be some happening. Whatever it is, it is called the complicating force. Then again, toward the end of the story, there is something else which either helps the protagonist to overcome the obstacle, or the obstacle to overcome the protagonist. This is called the resolving force.
As these two forces work in different parts of the story, the action is conveniently divided into parts to which names have been attached. First comes the introduction or proposition, wherein the time, place, circumstances, and protagonist are presented; then the entanglement, wherein the protagonist is brought into collision with the obstacle by the complicating force, and the interest begins to deepen. Next we have the climax, in which the struggle, and consequently the interest, are at their height; and this in turn is followed by the resolution, where the resolving force works and the knot begins to be untied. Finally there is the dénouement or conclusion.
The career of each character may be conveniently spoken of as a line of interest. When the lines of interest become entangled we have the plot.
The following diagram illustrates to the eye the development of a story. Of course it must be distinctly understood that no story is the result of a mere substitution in a formula. Sometimes the various steps in the working-out of a story overlap in such a manner that its development according to a prescribed plan is not apparent.
[Illustration]
Small c is sometimes called the crisis, being the point at which the action is most intense and begins to turn toward the end.
IV
LIST OF REPRESENTATIVE SHORT-STORIES
1. ALDRICH: Marjorie Daw.
2. Quite So.
3. ANDREWS: Amici.
4. The Glory of the Commonplace.
5. A Good Samaritan.
6. BUNNER: "As One Having Authority."
7. Love in Old Cloathes.
8. BUNNER AND MATTHEWS: Documents in the Case.
9. CABLE: Posson Jone.
10. CHILD: The Man in the Shadow.
11. CLEMENS: Jumping Frog.
12. COBB: To the Editor of the Sun.
13. COLCORD: The Game of Life and Death.
14. DAVIS, R. H.: The Bar Sinister.
15. Gallegher.
16. The Lion and the Unicorn.
17. DOYLE: The Red-Headed League.
18. A Scandal in Bohemia.
19. The Striped Chest.
20. Through the Veil.
21. GARLAND: The Return of a Private.
22. GEROULD: On the Staircase.
23. HALE: The Man without a Country.
24. HARDY: The Three Strangers.
25. HARRIS: The Wonderful Tar Baby.
26. HARTE: Luck of Roaring Camp.
27. Tennessee's Partner.
28. HAWTHORNE: The Ambitious Guest.
29. Ethan Brand.
30. The Gray Champion.
31. The Great Stone Face.
32. "O. HENRY": Friends in San Rosario.
33. Jimmie Hayes and Muriel.
34. IRVING: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
35. The Spectre Bridegroom.
36. JAMES: A Passionate Pilgrim.
37. JANVIER: In the St. Peter's Set.
38. The Passing of Thomas.
39. JEWETT: A Native of Winby.
40. KIPLING: The Brushwood Boy.
41. An Habitation Enforced.
42. The Maltese Cat.
43. My Lord the Elephant.
44. Rikki-tikki-tavi.
45. They.
46. The Tomb of His Ancestors.
47. Wee Willie Winkie.
48. William the Conqueror.
49. LONDON: The White Silence.
50. MORRIS: The Trap.
51. MURFREE: The "Harnt" that Walks Chilhowee.
52. PAGE: Marse Chan.
53. Meh Lady.
54. Polly.
55. PARKER: The Stake and the Plumb Line.
56. POE: