Drawing on examples from across the globe and throughout history, Andrew Kahn explores the key characteristics of the short story. He shows how its rise was intertwined with international print culture, and discusses the essential techniques within this thriving literary genre, as well as the ways in which it is constantly innovated, even today.

Andrew Kahn is a Professor of Russian Literature at the University of Oxford. His publications include books on Alexander Pushkin and Osip Mandelstam. He has edited a number of books for Oxford World's Classics series, including Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time (2013); Alexander Pushkin, The Queen of Spades and Other Stories (2009); and Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories (2015). He is also a Fellow of the British Academy.

• Preface


• 1: The Rise of the Short Story


• 2: Openings


• 3: Voices


• 4: Place


• 5: The Plot Thickens...and Thins


• 6: Ironies and Reversals


• 7: Chekhov's Heirs


• 8: Endings


• References, Further Reading, Secondary Literature


• Index