Ruchi Nagpal is the recipient of a 2024–25 Harry Ransom Center Research Fellowship from The University of Texas at Austin. She is the co-editor of Premchand on Literature and Life (Routledge), as well as Panorama of the Pandemic: A Phenomenological Inquiry (Routledge). She has also translated more than two dozen nonfiction prose pieces in Premchand on Culture and Education (Routledge). She earned her doctoral degree from the Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, and she has been a project fellow under the aegis of UGC SAP DRS, Jamia Millia Islamia.

The introduction of the original Flash Fiction book, published in 1992, asks the postmodern question of ‘how short can a short story be and still be a short story?’ Ruchi Nagpal comes as close to a definitive answer as theory can provide. The generic brevity of flash fiction is well suited to our contemporary age, and this annotated analysis explains its rise to critical respectability on top of its popular appeal.James Thomas, Co-editor of the W.W. Norton Flash Fiction anthology seriesWith clarity, intelligence, and genuine passion for the genre, Ruchi Nagpal traces the evolution and significance of flash fiction in contemporary literature. A valuable and timely book for scholars, writers, and readers alike.Ana María Shua, author of Microfictions

• Introduction; Chapter 1. The Age and the Sage; Chapter 2. Flashing Through History; Chapter 3. The Politics and the Polemics; Chapter 4. A Symphony of Silence; Chapter 5. The Nonce Theory of Narrative: Beyond Beginning, Middle and End:

Ruchi Nagpal is the recipient of a 2024–25 Harry Ransom Center Research Fellowship from The University of Texas at Austin. She is the co-editor of Premchand on Literature and Life (Routledge), as well as Panorama of the Pandemic: A Phenomenological Inquiry (Routledge). She has also translated more than two dozen nonfiction prose pieces in Premchand on Culture and Education (Routledge). She earned her doctoral degree from the Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, and she has been a project fellow under the aegis of UGC SAP DRS, Jamia Millia Islamia.

The introduction of the original Flash Fiction book, published in 1992, asks the postmodern question of ‘how short can a short story be and still be a short story?’ Ruchi Nagpal comes as close to a definitive answer as theory can provide. The generic brevity of flash fiction is well suited to our contemporary age, and this annotated analysis explains its rise to critical respectability on top of its popular appeal.James Thomas, Co-editor of the W.W. Norton Flash Fiction anthology seriesWith clarity, intelligence, and genuine passion for the genre, Ruchi Nagpal traces the evolution and significance of flash fiction in contemporary literature. A valuable and timely book for scholars, writers, and readers alike.Ana María Shua, author of Microfictions

• Introduction; Chapter 1. The Age and the Sage; Chapter 2. Flashing Through History; Chapter 3. The Politics and the Polemics; Chapter 4. A Symphony of Silence; Chapter 5. The Nonce Theory of Narrative: Beyond Beginning, Middle and End: