British and Irish Short Story Handbook

David Malcolm is Professor of English Literature at the University of Gdañsk. He is co-author (with Cheryl Alexander Malcolm) of Jean Rhys: A Study of the Short Fiction (1996), and author of Understanding Ian McEwan (2002), Understanding Graham Swift (2003) and Understanding John McGahern (2007). He is co-editor (with Cheryl Alexander Malcolm) of British and Irish Short-Fiction Writers, 1945-2000, Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 319 (2006) and A Companion to the British and Irish Short Story (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008).

"Overall, The British and Irish Short Story Handbook will be a useful tool in the teaching of the short story at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Further, for scholars new to the field of short story criticism it is an accessible yet well-informed entry point.  With the range of resources it offers and the succinct summaries it provides of key issues, topics and debates it collates some of the central tenets of the field. I am sure it will set people off on a fruitful journey into the ever-developing field of the British and Irish short story and short story criticism."  (Irish Studies Review, 21 November 2013)"The British and Irish Short Story Handbook is an excellent introduction to the short story as a literary form, but is of greater interest to the student than to a general reader, and my reservations on the entry on Warner should not detract from the fact that her inclusion in it draws her closer to mainstream literary fiction as it is taught in schools and universities. And for that we should be grateful." (Journal of the Sylvia Townsend Warner Society, 1 February 2013)"Summing Up: Recommended.  Lower-level undergraduates and general readers." (Choice, 1 November 2012)

• Acknowledgments xi Preface xiiiPart 1 A Brief History of the British and Irish Short Story 1Part 2 Issues in Short Story Criticism 33Definitions 35Genre? 40Collections 42Marginality 48Canonicity 51Institutions 54Part 3 Genres 57The Ghost Short Story, the Supernatural Short Story, and the Gothic Short Story 61The Science Fiction Short Story and the Fantasy Short Story 63The Fable 66The Short Story of Exotic Adventure 68The Detective and Crime Short Story 70The Historical Short Story 72The Realist Social-Psychological Short Story 74The Metafictional/Experimental Short Story 77Part 4 Key Authors 81Richard Aldington (1892-1962) 83J. G. Ballard (1930-2009) 84Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) 86Frances Bellerby (1899-1975) 88John Berger (born 1926) 89Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) 91Angela Carter (1940-1992) 93Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) 95Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) 97A. E. Coppard (1878-1957) 99Hubert Crackanthorpe (1870-1896) 101Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) 103Hugh Fleetwood (born 1944) 104Graham Greene (1904-1991) 106Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) 108Henry James (1843-1916) 110Gabriel Josipovici (born 1940) 112James Joyce (1882-1941) 114James Kelman (born 1946) 116Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) 118Hanif Kureishi (born 1954) 120James Lasdun (born 1958) 122Mary Lavin (1912-1996) 124D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) 126Doris Lessing (born 1919) 128George Mackay Brown (1921-1996) 130Julian Maclaren-Ross (1912-1964) 132Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) 134Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) 136E. A. Markham (1939-2008) 138W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) 140Ian McEwan (born 1948) 142John McGahern (1934-2006) 144Michael Moorcock (born 1939) 146H. H. Munro ("Saki") (1870-1916) 148Frank O'Connor (1903-1966) 150Sean O'Faolain (1900-1991) 152Mollie Panter-Downes (1906-1997) 154T. F. Powys (1875-1953) 156V. S. Pritchett (1900-1997) 158Jean Rhys (1890-1979) 161Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010) 163Muriel Spark (1918-2006) 165Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) 167Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) 169William Trevor (born 1928) 171H. G. Wells (1866-1946) 173Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) 175Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) 176Part 5 Key Works 177Robert Louis Stevenson, "Markheim" (1885) 179Oscar Wilde, "The Canterville Ghost: A Hylo-Idealistic Romance" (1887) 182Oscar Wilde, "The Selfish Giant" (1888) 186Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb" (1892) 188Hubert Crackanthorpe, "Modern Melodrama" (1895) 191Henry James, "The Altar of the Dead" (1895) 194Joseph Conrad, "Amy Foster" (1901) 199George Moore, "Home Sickness" (1903) 203H. G. Wells, "The Valley of Spiders" (1903) 206M. R. James, "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" (1904) 209H. H. Munro ("Saki"), "Sredni Vashtar" (1911) 212James Joyce, "An Encounter" (1914) 214D. H. Lawrence, "Tickets, Please" (1919) 217Virginia Woolf, "Kew Gardens" (1919) 221Katherine Mansfield, "The Stranger" (1921) 224A. E. Coppard, "The Higgler" (1925) 228Rudyard Kipling, "The Gardener" (1926) 232Jean Rhys, "Mannequin" (1927) 236W. Somerset Maugham, "Footprints in the Jungle" (1927) 239T. F. Powys, "John Pardy and the Waves" (1929) 242Sean O'Faolain, "Midsummer Night Madness" (1932) 245V. S. Pritchett, "Handsome Is As Handsome Does" (1938) 249Mollie Panter-Downes, "Goodbye, My Love" (1941) 254Alun Lewis, "The Last Inspection" (1942) 257Mary Lavin, "At Sallygap" (1943) 261Elizabeth Bowen, "Mysterious Kor" (1944) 265Julian Maclaren-Ross, "The Tape" (1944) 268Denton Welch, "Narcissus Bay" (1948) 271Frank O'Connor, "Eternal Triangle" (1954) 274J. G. Ballard, "The Terminal Beach" (1964) 277Samuel Beckett, "Lessness" (1970) 282Gabriel Josipovici, "Mobius the Stripper: A Topological Exercise" (1974) 285Michael Moorcock, "Waiting for the End of Time. . ."(1976) 289Sylvia Townsend Warner, "The King of Orkney's Leonardo" (1976) 292William Trevor, "Another Christmas" (1978) 295Angela Carter, "The Erl-King" (1979) 298Clive Sinclair, "The Evolution of the Jews" (1979) 302John McGahern, "The Conversion of William Kirkwood" (1985) 305James Kelman, "Forgetting to Mention Allende" (1987) 309Mary Dorcey, "A Noise from the Woodshed" (1989) 312James Lasdun, "Ate/Menos or The Miracle" (1992) 315Bernard MacLaverty, "A Silent Retreat" (1994) 319Hanif Kureishi, "We're Not Jews" (1995) 322Patricia Duncker, "Stalker" (2003) 325China Mieville, "Foundation" (2003) 328Key Collections 331References and Further Reading 338Index 345