The Facts on File Companion to the British Short Story: Companion to the British Short Story (Companion to Literature Series)

544 Pages·2007·1.59 MB·English

by  Andrew Maunder

THE FA C TS ON FILE
COMPANION TO THE
BRITISH
SHORT STORY
C D
ANDREW MAUNDER
The Facts On File Companion to the British Short Story
Copyright © 2007 by Andrew Maunder
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Facts On File companion to the British short story / [edited by] Andrew Maunder.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8160-5990-X (acid-free paper)
1. Short stories, English—History and criticism—Encyclopedias. I. Title: Companion to the British short story.
II. Maunder, Andrew. III. Facts on File, Inc.
PR829.F33 2006
823 .0109—dc22 2006006897
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CONTENTS
C D
INTRODUCTION v
A-TO-Z ENTRIES 1
APPENDICES 479
GLOSSARY 479
BIBLIOGRAPHY 507
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 509
INDEX 513

INTRODUCTION
C D
The acknowledgment of the short story’s place in such as George Egerton, Bram Stoker, Mary Butts, and
Britain’s literary history is one of the most striking Margaret Oliphant. Furthermore, this book also aims
developments of recent years. The British short story— to help students and readers whose interests are taking
from Walter Scott’s tales of rural Scottish laborers to them beyond the classroom and who want to find out
Arthur Conan Doyle’s adventures of the metropolitan more about the British short story as it is being written
master of disguise Sherlock Holmes to Virginia Woolf’s today. Therefore, it also contains discussions of young-
experiments in depicting human consciousness—has er writers whose bold experiments with the short story
come to be read and studied in high schools, colleges, have started to make an impact on the literary scene:
and universities across the world and recognized as an Will Self, Toby Litt, Nicola Barker, and Janice Galloway,
“adventurous, inventive, very various and, above all, a among many others. The book analyzes, as well, some
discovering form,” to quote Malcolm Bradbury (8). of the historical and cultural conditions under which
The aim of this new book—intended as a companion the short story has developed in Britain and considers
to Abby Werlock’s Facts On File Companion to the the recurrence of key themes, such as class, women’s
American Short Story—is to provide insight into the roles and ambitions, Englishness, the British Empire,
wealth and variety of the British version of this favorite and crime and detection.
American form. The book maps out some of the main One of the things this book has not tried to do is to
strands that have shaped the British short story and reinforce old-fashioned and stereotyped ideas about
novella since the early 19th century. It provides up-to- “merrie England,” with the short story “marooned
date discussions of key stories and story collections as among buffers and buffoons, bucolics, butties and
well as discussions of the careers of all the most widely Blimps,” as the writer A. S. Byatt has put it (15).
studied exponents of the genre—for example, James Instead—and appropriately for the 21st century—the
Joyce, Joseph Conrad, Katherine Mansfield, D. H. book recognizes the deeper political and cultural
Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Oscar Wilde, dimensions of the terms English, Irish, Welsh, and
Rudyard Kipling, Elizabeth Bowen, and William Trevor. Scottish and what it means to be British, distinctions
In selecting the stories and writers to cover in this vol- that are usefully illuminated by the contributors here.
ume, the editor has combed through popular antholo- Additionally, the book includes discussions of works
gies and literature textbooks, in both the United States by important and widely studied writers from the for-
and Great Britain. This volume also includes essays on mer British colonies—such as Henry James (United
other “lost” or neglected authors who have more States), Olive Schreiner (South Africa), Katherine
recently started to find their way into the classroom, Mansfield (New Zealand), Salman Rushdie and Anita
v
vi INTRODUCTION
Desai (India), and V. S. Naipaul (Trinidad/India). To tle, its social awareness and literary acumen” (Gordon
include these writers is to use the term British in a and Hughes, 7). Moreover, to log on to the British Arts
fairly expansive, rather than proprietorial, way. It is Council’s Web campaign, “Save Our Short Story”
done on the basis that these are writers who, for some (theshortstory.org.uk), with its stock of new works by
years, lived and made a considerable part of their Ian Rankin, Ali Smith, Michael Faber, and others, is
careers on the British mainland and whose work can likewise to be reminded of the form’s diversity and
partly be read as coming out of, or throwing light on, depth and to realize that it is not the exclusive prop-
various elements of the British short story, its develop- erty of the literati, encompassing the detective story,
ment, and its scope. The British Empire was a fruitful the thriller, the science fiction story, the horror story,
source for writers at the beginning of the 20th centu- “Chick Lit,” “Lad Lit,” travel writing, erotica, and
ry—Kipling and Maugham in particular—who can more.
never be disregarded. Now British literature has a post- The discussions that occupy these and other short
colonial dimension, made up of an assortment of dif- story sites, plus a browse among bookstore shelves and
ferent global voices and progenies that make up a the Web pages of Amazon.com, reveal that those inter-
multicultural body of literature. These authors look ested in the British short story have plenty to read. In
back to the early 20th century and also forward, bring- addition to the influential anthologies that appear in
ing a non-European cultural awareness to the confines the classroom—from Malcolm Bradbury’s Penguin Book
of British fiction. of Modern British Short Stories (1987) and A. S. Byatt’s
One of the reasons that this volume has been pub- Oxford Book of English Short Stories (1998), through
lished now is that the time is right for a fresh look at Susan Hill’s Penguin Book of Modern Women’s Short
the British short story. In the United Kingdom, the Stories (1996; 1998), to David Marcus’s Best New Irish
form is enjoying a revival in its fortunes. Prompted Stories (2005), not to mention larger literature antholo-
partly by the rise of university and college creative gies, such as the Norton—there are multiple collec-
writing courses in which the short story has been tions by such landmark practitioners of the genre as
adopted as one of the most obvious teaching tools, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, Katherine Mansfield,
claims for the genre’s importance have started to reap- Virginia Woolf, and Agatha Christie. Then there are the
pear in a multitude of settings. In 2004 Small Wonder, recent collections of stories by authors whose work has
Britain’s first annual literary festival devoted exclu- started to become the subject of reevaluation and
sively to the short story, was launched. The launch, in rediscovery, such as Viking’s Complete Short Stores of
that same year, of the £10,000 International Orange Muriel Spark (2001) and The Music at Long Verney
Award for New Writing (a spin-off from the £30,000 (2001), a collection of Sylvia Townsend Warner stories
Orange prize for fiction), together with the National originally published in the New Yorker. In 2005 new
Short Story Prize in 2005, the Frank O’Connor award collections appeared of work by two colorful but over-
(also 2005), and the long-standing Bridport prize, is looked exponents of the 1930s and 1940s short story:
part of an increasing awareness that the short story Julian Maclaren-Ross and Michael McLaverty. Readers
deserves critical (and financial) recognition and should can also debate the short stories broadcast daily on
be taken seriously, as it is in the United States. It is, BBC Radio Four, where stories by Oscar Wilde and
moreover, a form in which many of the leading British Elizabeth Taylor (not the actress) are read alongside
fiction writers of the past 20 years have revealed par- new work by Stevie Davies, Mick Jackson, and Jackie
ticular talents. To pick up Giles Gordon’s and David Kay. A new magazine, Prospect, gives a proportion of its
Hughes’s anthology The Best British Short Stories 1986– space to short story writers, and in August 2005 in a
1995, replete with stories by A. S. Byatt, Martin Amis, move toward on-line publishing, Amazon.com
Julian Barnes, J. G. Ballard, Adam Mars Jones, Fay announced that it would do the same. Unlike literary
Weldon, and Rose Tremain, is to be reminded, as the prizes, which at worst can be read as cynical exercises
editors point out, of the short story’s “vigour and met- in marketing and at best as contentious, this willing-
INTRODUCTION vii
ness of publishers and agents to back the short story National Short Story Prize. This version of the short
seems concrete testimony to the genre’s renaissance. story has encouraged the long-held view that the story
I use the term renaissance because one of the issues is done better in America, and that it is only in
I want to consider in this introduction is the historiog- America, thanks to publications like the New Yorker,
raphy of the British short story and its critical fortunes. that the short story is properly appreciated (Levy, 27).
What does the short story mean to us? What role has So familiar is this argument that the richness and vari-
it played in Britain’s literary heritage? Answers to this ety of the British short story tends to get pushed to one
question fluctuate wildly. There is the short story as side, despite the prevalence of British short fiction in
exquisite miniature, “art in highly concentrated form,” today’s classrooms, in both the United States and Great
as William Boyd has described it, whose effects are Britain. Whatever one’s take on the genre, these differ-
akin to those of the multivitamin pill “a compressed ent views of the short story have set the terms for a
blast of discerning, intellectual pleasure.” There is critical debate that has been played out for many years
another British short story—the British short story that and has now taken off once more.
is narrow, insipid, inward-looking, and commercial, What, then, is the “British short story”? From what
whose publishers insist upon gimmicky themes in did it originate? How do we classify and define it? One
order to attract readers, “Thirty-one Irish tales of response is that despite a great deal of discussion, its
drink” or “Fifteen humorous stories about sports” history remains fairly indeterminate, so much so that
being typical tag lines (Marvor, 5). Another section of it is usual to preface accounts of its genesis and devel-
the current literary establishment has tended to pres- opment with mention of its multifariousness. Writing
ent the British short story as a “bastard” genre and as about the short story as it exists in the 21st century,
an “endangered species” (Ezard, 8). William Trevor, Philip Hensher suggests that “it’s impossible to diag-
long acclaimed as the undisputed master of the form, nose the state of the short story, make any suggestion
recently noted that for much of the 1980s and 1990s where it might be going, since it’s impossible to say
the short story was an incredibly “unpopular” genre where it has come.” The British short story also seems
with British publishers, who got it into their heads that to be a genre difficult to pin down. “On the whole,”
the reading public did not like—or couldn’t cope argues Hensher, “the classic short story runs from
with—the genre. There was some truth in this, as 5,000–10,000 words, and prefers the single situation
Trevor acknowledges. Contrary to what one might to plot and subplot entrelacement.” John Mullan sug-
think, the short story, Trevor explained, does not sit gests a similar length but writes of the short story’s
easily in a market that demands easily digestible fare. ending as making us feel that “we are stopping short
“You play a different game with the short story. You of resolution or conclusion.” The hackneyed notion
demand far more of the reader than you do with a that the short story is merely “practice space for fic-
novel, or television” (quoted in Lane). Helen Simpson tion” has also come in for a good deal of scrutiny
has likewise suggested that in the sound-bite culture of (McCarthy, 27). Many argue that short stories are
the 21st century, one in which we demand spoon-feed- harder to write than long fiction. Bill Naughton wrote
ing and instant gratification, the short story—a form that “[i]n a novel there is scope to spell things out and
by nature “nervous . . . adrenalised, very quick, not in effect to tie up all loose ends, but in a quality short
restful” that works by “giving you the raw ingredients story little must be said yet everything implied”
and telling you to make the meal yourself”—had lost (quoted in Ezard, 8). Susan Hill argues that “every
much of its appeal (Lane, 23). Then there is the view- word must tell—there is . . . no room for in-filling”
point that sees the British short story as provincial and since the short story is “an unforgiving form” (9).
twee, a pale imitation of its vital U.S. counterpart, “cul- There is thus a sense that the form requires a special
turally redundant and economically unviable” as the kind of skilled—or possibly brutal—craftsmanship.
editor of Prospect, Alexander Linklater, recently This involves “cutting it really quite savagely so it
observed when explaining the vision behind the becomes bare, removing every ounce of skin and flesh
viii INTRODUCTION
so you’re just left with the bones,” as William Trevor By the 1840s the genre was already established
recently put it (Lane, 23). To use the short story as a in America, and within two decades it had taken
way of carrying out a panoramic critique of society is root in Germany, Russia, and France. I am
not something that many recommend. Instead the speaking here, of course, of the modern short
consensus has always been that the short story is what story, defined loosely as Poe’s story of “single
Trevor calls “the art of the glimpse” (Coldstream, 9). It effect,” not simply of fiction shorter than the
does not present whole lives but fleeting moments in typical novel. This modern story did not achieve
a life through a dramatic or poignant incident or a prominence in Britain until the 1880s, even
turning point. This may be an incident that triggers though Britain would appear especially likely to
conflict between characters or marks a change in the develop the genre, since during the period of the
mind-set of another and that is followed through to a story’s “invention,” if we may call it that, Britain
kind of resolution. The short story’s very shortness was a world leader in the writing and dissemina-
and ability to be read at one sitting can be an advan- tion of fiction. (1)
tage, helping create the kind of “unified effect” recom-
mended by its “patron saint,” Edgar Allan Poe, and According to this version of events, the late emergence
still advocated today (Levy, 27). of the British short story is a result of the dominance
The contradictions that critics identify have been for most of the 19th century of the full-length novel as
formulated in many ways, but as well as disagreements the chief fictional form. It was not until the creation of
about form, about word-length, about the use of a new mass of readers, following the education acts
labels—the difference, for example, between the tale introduced between 1870 and 1890, that the short
and story—there is the confusion arising out of the fact story came into its own. This legislation led to compul-
that, as Philip Hensher suggests, the British short story sory elementary education for all but had the side
is a Frankenstein’s monster of a genre, one “which effect of prompting a flood of new cheap magazines
makes its way in life as best it can, without anything and papers, many of which gave a central place to
much in the way of respectable forebears.” As has been short fiction. Magazines such as Titbits and The
noted, it is difficult to ascribe an essential “Britishness” Strand—the latter featuring the first appearances of the
to the form, in contrast, for example, to the way that famous detective Sherlock Holmes—gained mass read-
critics of the American short story tend to recognize an erships and places “at the centre of respectable popular
“essential Americaness” (Lee, 11). So while there are British culture” (MacDonald, 154). Moreover, while
plenty of antecedents for the short story, the consensus the novel did not die out, many authors appreciated
has generally been that in Britain it was not until late the fact that the short story involved much less com-
in the 19th century that the short story, at least as a plicated business arrangements. The Atlantic Monthly,
“concentrated form of writing” (Bradbury, 11), was in explaining “the present popularity of the short story
born. In 1905, Hilaire Belloc, writing in the Manchester with authors and public alike,” suggested that “here is
Guardian, pronounced the short story “a very modern a form of literature easy to read and write. The author
thing.” “What brought it into being,” he added, “has is often paid as much for a story as he earns from the
not been discovered, though the subject has been dis- copyrights of a novel, and it costs him one tenth the
cussed at great length” (“Short and Sweet”). More labor. The multitude of magazines and other periodi-
recently, Roger Luckhurst noted that the term “short cals creates a constant market, with steadily rising
story” was not used until 1884 (17). prices. . . . The public pays its money and takes its
Explanations for the late emergence of the short choice” (Perry, 250). In this way, the genre saturated
story in Britain have taken several forms. In a notable the culture and commerce of an era that saw massive
article, “The Tardy Evolution of the British Short Story,” shifts in the way literature was acquired, produced,
Dean Baldwin describes the genre as “one of the more and consumed. “Short stories broke out everywhere,”
curious anomalies of literary history.” He goes on: recalled H. G. Wells of the 1890s (Richardson, 45).
INTRODUCTION ix
Moreover, there were so many magazines that, as Wells However, a parallel development in the 1850s was
noted, even stories “of the slightest distinction” tended the growing interest in “sensational” stories of crime
to find an outlet. and deviance, often taking place within the suppos-
Merely labeling or bestowing a birth date to some- edly safe confines of the family home. When taken
thing does not, of course, mean that it did not exist together, mid-century stories by Collins, George Eliot,
before. So while it has been convenient to suggest that Thomas Hardy, Joseph Sheridan le Fanu, Ellen (Mrs.
the short story did not bulk very large before the burst Henry) Wood, Mary Braddon, Lucy Clifford, and
of activity in the 1880s, it is still possible to find exam- Rhoda Broughton cover a remarkably wide range of
ples in the earlier part of the 19th century. As the present subjects: murder, adultery, degeneration, love, adven-
volume reveals, there are plenty of texts that have some ture, betrayal, and weird or “uncanny” events—haunt-
kind of relationship to the modern short story, even if ings, the return of the dead, second sight. These stories
the formal shapes used and labels given them—“tale,” are a long way from the cozy, rose-tinted image of the
“sketch,” “fable,” “short tale”—are different. In moving mid-Victorians as a staid, earnest, and rather dull
the scope of our survey backward chronologically, the bunch. As short stories they are also more various than
aim has also been to provide a more inclusive, if not the standard criticism often makes out, focusing in
totally comprehensive, overview of the 19th-century uncomfortable ways on sexual passion, marriage, and
short story, one that recognizes the strong legacy of homes in which violence, or the possibility of violence,
development left by previous generations of writers and is always lurking.
editors, including Maria Edgeworth, Walter Scott, Mary One of the things the present volume also tries to do
Shelley, Mary Russell Mitford, and Charles Dickens. is to point out types of short story that are proving of
Their influence still often goes unrecognized. For exam- particular interest to critics in 2006, including works
ple, despite Percy Fitzgerald’s claim that “Dickens always by writers who have tended to languish outside the
seemed to hanker after the short story” (quoted in literary canon. For example, among the anthologies of
Thomas, 2), Dickens’s seemingly relaxed approach—his 19th-century British short stories recently reissued,
loose definition of the short story as “anything told several have focused on the 1890s, or the fin de siècle
orally by a narrator within the story or as anything as it tends to be known. This has prompted sugges-
shorter than four serial instalments”—has helped ensure tions from feminist critics that “the best work of the
that this element of his writing has tended to be viewed decade was in the short story rather than the novel”
very much as secondary to his novels (Thomas, 3). This and that much of it came from women writers
viewpoint, however, ignores such influential texts as (Showalter 1995, 12). Elaine Showalter writes:
Sketches By Boz (1834–36), A Christmas Carol (1843),
The novel was a problematic genre for fin de siècle
and the much-anthologized ghost story “The Signalman”
women writers, as many of them realised. Too
(1866), among others. Moreover, Dickens’s involvement
often it tended to the didactic, episodic and stiff,
in the magazine market of his day through Bentley’s
whereas the short story was supple, impression-
Miscellany (1837–39), Household Words (1850–59), and
istic and intense. Women writers in the 1890s
All the Year Round (1859–70) ensured that he was a
found in the short story a suitable form for the
powerful catalyst in the short story’s emergence. The
new feminist theories of the decade: the explora-
magazines Dickens edited showcased works by his pro-
tion of female sexuality and fantasy; the develop-
tégés and rivals, notably Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth
ment of a woman’s language, and the critique of
Gaskell, and Anthony Trollope, writers who began to
male aestheticism. (1995, 12)
turn the concise sketch or anecdote into a story with a
definite, often suspenseful, plot. Theirs are often realist Recent critics of the short story have followed Showalter
stories, meaning that they use recognizable characters in thinking about the feminine dimension to many
and carefully described settings and they focus on the short stories of the late 19th century. This includes the
demands of society upon the individual. ways in which many texts can be seen to deal at least