In short ...

Although the short-story form has been practiced since time immemorial, the actual term for this genre of writing only became officially credited at the dawn of the 20th century when it was first coined, in a defining sense, by America’s first Professor of Dramatic Literature, James Brander Matthews (1852-1929). In his critical work, The Philosophy of the Short Story [Longmans, Green & Co, 1901] he writes of it, thus: “...at its best it impresses the reader with the belief that it would be spoiled if it were made larger, or if it were incorporated into a more elaborate work”. In fact, he was endorsing what American writer and celebrated exponent of the short story, Edgar Allan Poe, described as “a short prose narrative, requiring from a half hour, to one or two hours in its perusal ... having conceived, with deliberate care, a certain unique or single effect to be wrought out.”