Description: Connections and Influence in the Russian and American Short Story illuminates the importance of the interconnectedness between Russian and American short stories. The reciprocal influence between the two was integral to the development of the short story in each country and of the modern genre.
Brief description: Laura Ryan is Teaching Fellow in English, University of Limerick, Ireland.
Review Quotes: "As this collection of essays so clearly illuminates, when it comes to narrative, especially short narrative, there is more that unites us to the creative Russian mind than divides us. You might not believe that so many writers came out from under Gogol's overcoat, but this collection will stimulate further consideration of how many writers owe their sophistication and subtlety to Chekhov. Even as the essays accentuate the short story's unique ability to encourage empathy and depict the lives of marginalized people, they repeatedly remind us that the form's primary requirement is the demand of close reading. Like the best criticism of the past, these essays will encourage perceptive criticism of the future." --Charles E. May, The New Short Story Theories