A short story is a piece of prose fiction . It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest types of literature and has existed in the form of legends , mythic tales , folk tales , fairy tales , tall tales , fables , and anecdotes in various ancient communities around the world. The modern short story developed in the early 19th century.
162-534: Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( / ˈ b ɔːr h ɛ s / BOR -hess ; Spanish: [ˈxoɾxe ˈlwis ˈboɾxes] ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer , essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known works, Ficciones ( transl. Fictions ) and El Aleph ( transl. The Aleph ), published in
324-417: A plot ". Hugh Walpole had a similar view: "A story should be a story; a record of things happening full of incidents, swift movements, unexpected development, leading through suspense to a climax and a satisfying denouement." This view of the short story as a finished product of art is however opposed by Anton Chekhov , who thought that a story should have neither a beginning nor an end. It should just be
486-451: A " Spencerian anarchist who believes in the individual and not in the State" due to his father's influence. In an interview with Richard Burgin during the late 1960s, Borges described himself as a "mild" adherent of classical liberalism . He further recalled that his opposition to communism and to Marxism was absorbed in his childhood, stating: "Well, I have been brought up to think that
648-429: A "slice of life", presented suggestively. In his stories, Chekhov does not round off the end but leaves it to the readers to draw their own conclusions. Sukumar Azhikode defined a short story as "a brief prose narrative with an intense episodic or anecdotal effect". Flannery O'Connor emphasized the need to consider what is exactly meant by the descriptor short. Short story writers may define their works as part of
810-756: A "very mean man" for unconditionally supporting the Soviet Union and demonizing the United States. Borges commented about Neruda, "Now he knows that's rubbish." In the same interview, Borges also criticized famed poet and playwright Federico García Lorca , who was abducted by Nationalist soldiers and executed without trial during the Spanish Civil War . In Borges's opinion, Lorca's poetry and plays, when examined against his tragic death, appeared better than they actually were. In 1934, Argentine ultra-nationalists , sympathetic to Adolf Hitler and
972-456: A Chinese professor in England, Dr. Yu Tsun, who spies for Germany during World War I, in an attempt to prove to the authorities that an Asian person is able to obtain the information that they seek. A combination of book and maze, it can be read in many ways. Through it, Borges arguably invented the hypertext novel and went on to describe a theory of the universe based upon the structure of such
1134-599: A Council of Regency, prelude to the Cortes of Cadiz , with political tendencies closer to Liberalism and Popular sovereignty than the former Junta of Seville. This began the May Revolution in Buenos Aires, as soon as the news was known. Several citizens thought that Cisneros, appointed by the disestablished Junta, did not have the right to rule anymore, and requested the convening of an open cabildo to discuss
1296-688: A bitter dispute with the French publisher Gallimard regarding the republication of the complete works of Borges in French, with Pierre Assouline in Le Nouvel Observateur (August 2006) calling her "an obstacle to the dissemination of the works of Borges". Kodama took legal action against Assouline, considering the remark unjustified and defamatory, asking for a symbolic compensation of one euro. Kodama also rescinded all publishing rights for existing collections of his work in English, including
1458-518: A consciously feminist perspective. James Baldwin 's collection, Going to Meet the Man (1965), told stories of African-American life. Science fiction stories with a special poetic touch was a genre developed with great popular success by Ray Bradbury . Stephen King published many science fiction short stories in men's magazines in the 1960s and after. King's interest is in the supernatural and macabre. Donald Barthelme and John Barth produced works in
1620-486: A la vez los libros y la noche. No one should read self-pity or reproach Into this statement of the majesty Of God; who with such splendid irony, Granted me books and night at one touch. His later collection of poetry, Elogio de la Sombra ( In Praise of Darkness ), develops this theme. In 1956 the University of Cuyo awarded Borges the first of many honorary doctorates and the following year he received
1782-593: A larger narrative story (a frame story ), although the frame-tale device was not adopted by all writers. At the end of the 16th century, some of the most popular short stories in Europe were the darkly tragic " novella " of Italian author Matteo Bandello , especially in their French translation. The mid 17th century in France saw the development of a refined short novel, the "nouvelle", by such authors as Madame de Lafayette . Traditional fairy tales began to be published in
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#17327723255821944-437: A major literary form remains diminished. In terms of length, word count is typically anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 for short stories; however, some works classified as short stories have up to 15,000 words. Stories of fewer than 1,000 words are sometimes referred to as "short short stories", or " flash fiction ". Short stories have no set length. In terms of word count, there is no official demarcation between an anecdote ,
2106-737: A military point of view; however, some months later, inspired on the Argentine example, Paraguay broke its links with the Spanish crown by declaring itself an independent nation: The undesired outcomes of the Paraguay and Upper Peru campaigns led the Junta to be replaced by an executive Triumvirate in September 1811. This new government decided to promote a new campaign to the Upper Peru with
2268-465: A mind turned wholly inward on itself. His stories are inbent and hermetic, with the oblique terror of a game whose rules are unknown and its stakes everything." Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo was born into an educated middle-class family on 24 August 1899. They were in comfortable circumstances but not wealthy enough to live in downtown Buenos Aires , so the family resided in Palermo , then
2430-669: A new one, the Primera Junta . Buenos Aires requested the other cities in the viceroyalty to acknowledge the new Junta and send deputies. The precise purpose of these deputies, join the Junta or create a congress, was unclear at the time and generated political disputes later. The Junta was initially resisted by all the main locations around Buenos Aires: Córdoba, Montevideo, Paraguay and the Upper Peru. Santiago de Liniers came out of his retirement in Córdoba and organized an army to capture Buenos Aires, Montevideo had naval supremacy over
2592-399: A novel, Manto is widely admired for his analyses of violence, bigotry, prejudice, and the relationships between reason and unreason. Combining realism with surrealism and irony, Manto's works, such as the celebrated short story Toba Tek Singh , are aesthetic masterpieces that continue to give profound insight into the nature of human loss, violence, and devastation. Another famous Urdu writer
2754-554: A novel. Composed of stories taking up over sixty pages, the book was generally well received, but El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan failed to garner for him the literary prizes many in his circle expected. Victoria Ocampo dedicated a large portion of the July 1942 issue of Sur to a "Reparation for Borges." Numerous leading writers and critics from Argentina and throughout the Spanish-speaking world contributed writings to
2916-408: A political tract. It was meant to stand for the fact that there was something tragic in the fate of a real Nazi. Except that I wonder if a real Nazi ever existed. At least, when I went to Germany, I never met one. They were all feeling sorry for themselves and wanted me to feel sorry for them as well." In 1946, Argentine President Juan Perón began transforming Argentina into a one-party state with
3078-555: A poorer neighborhood. Borges's mother, Leonor Acevedo Suárez , worked as a translator and came from a family of criollo (Spanish) origin. Her family had been much involved in the European settling of South America and the Argentine War of Independence , and she spoke often of their heroic actions. His 1929 book Cuaderno San Martín includes the poem "Isidoro Acevedo", commemorating his grandfather, Isidoro de Acevedo Laprida,
3240-546: A real Nazi might be like. I mean someone who thought of violence as being praiseworthy for its own sake. Then I thought that this archetype of the Nazis wouldn't mind being defeated; after all, defeats and victories are mere matters of chance. He would still be glad of the fact, even if the Americans and British won the war. Naturally, when I am with Nazis, I find they are not my idea of what a Nazi is, but this wasn't meant to be
3402-530: A regular short story salon, held in London and other major cities. Short story writers who have appeared at the salon to read their work to live audiences include Ben Okri , Lionel Shriver , Elizabeth Day , A.L. Kennedy , William Boyd , Graham Swift , David Nicholls , Will Self , Sebastian Faulks , Julian Barnes , Evie Wylde and Claire Fuller . Canadian short story writers include Alice Munro , Mavis Gallant and Lynn Coady. In 2013, Alice Munro became
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#17327723255823564-584: A reorganized Army of the North and appointed José de San Martín , a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars who had recently arrived from Spain, as lieutenant colonel. San Martín was ordered to create the professional and disciplined cavalry unit known as Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers ( Spanish : Granaderos a caballo ): General Manuel Belgrano was appointed as the new commander of the Army of the North. Facing
3726-810: A severe head injury; during treatment, he nearly died of sepsis . While recovering from the accident, Borges began exploring a new style of writing for which he would become famous. His first story written after his accident, " Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote ," came out in May 1939. One of his most famous works, "Menard" examines the nature of authorship, as well as the relationship between an author and his historical context. His first collection of short stories, El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan ( The Garden of Forking Paths ), appeared in 1941, composed mostly of works previously published in Sur . The title story concerns
3888-420: A short story is character-driven and a writer's job is to "...trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does." Some authors have argued that a short story must have a strict form. Somerset Maugham thought that the short story "must have a definite design, which includes a point of departure, a climax and a point of test; in other words, it must have
4050-605: A short story remains problematic. A classic definition of a short story is that one should be able to read it in one sitting, a point most notably made in Edgar Allan Poe 's essay " The Philosophy of Composition " (1846). H. G. Wells described the purpose of the short story as "The jolly art, of making something very bright and moving; it may be horrible or pathetic or funny or profoundly illuminating, having only this essential, that it should take from fifteen to fifty minutes to read aloud." According to William Faulkner ,
4212-426: A short story, and a novel. Rather, the form's parameters are given by the rhetorical and practical context in which a given story is produced and considered so that what constitutes a short story may differ between genres, countries, eras, and commentators. Like the novel, the short story's predominant shape reflects the demands of the available markets for publication, and the evolution of the form seems closely tied to
4374-519: A soldier of the Buenos Aires Army. A descendant of the Argentine lawyer and politician Francisco Narciso de Laprida , Acevedo Laprida fought in the battles of Cepeda in 1859, Pavón in 1861, and Los Corrales in 1880. Acevedo Laprida died of pulmonary congestion in the house where his grandson Jorge Luis Borges was born. According to a study by Antonio Andrade, Jorge Luis Borges had Portuguese ancestry: Borges's great-grandfather, Francisco,
4536-463: A weekly short story publication for more than half a century. Shirley Jackson 's story, " The Lottery " (1948), elicited the strongest response in the magazine's history to that time. Other frequent contributors during the 1940s included John Steinbeck , Jean Stafford , Eudora Welty , and John Cheever , who is best known for "The Swimmer " (1964), beautifully blending realism and surrealism. Many other American short story writers greatly influenced
4698-775: A writer's duty is to be a writer, and if he can be a good writer, he is doing his duty. Besides, I think of my own opinions as being superficial. For example, I am a Conservative, I hate the Communists, I hate the Nazis, I hate the anti-Semites, and so on; but I don't allow these opinions to find their way into my writings—except, of course, when I was greatly elated about the Six-Day War . Generally speaking, I think of keeping them in watertight compartments. Everybody knows my opinions, but as for my dreams and my stories, they should be allowed their full freedom, I think. I don't want to intrude into them, I'm writing fiction, not fables." In
4860-498: Is Ismat Chughtai , whose short story, "Lihaaf" (The Quilt), on a lesbian relationship between an upper-class Muslim woman and her maidservant created great controversy following its publication in 1942. Notable examples in the period up to World War II include: Following World War II , the artistic range and numbers of writers of short stories grew significantly. Due in part to frequent contributions from John O'Hara , The New Yorker would come to exercise substantial influence as
5022-400: Is a crafted form in its own right. Short stories make use of plot, resonance and other dynamic components as in a novel , but typically to a lesser degree. While the short story is largely distinct from the novel or novella/short novel , authors generally draw from a common pool of literary techniques . The short story is sometimes referred to as a genre. Determining what exactly defines
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5184-412: Is a recurrent trope in short stories; whether in their ending, characterisation or length. As with any art form, the exact characteristics of a short story will vary depending on who is its creator. Characteristic of short story authors, according to professor of English, Clare Hanson, is that they are "losers and loners, exiles, women, blacks – writers who for one reason or another have not been part of
5346-501: Is a rich heritage of ancient folktales as well as a compiled body of short fiction which shaped the sensibility of modern Indian short story. Some of the famous Sanskrit collections of legends, folktales, fairy tales, and fables are Panchatantra , Hitopadesha and Kathasaritsagara . Jataka tales , originally written in Pali , is a compilation of tales concerning the previous births of Lord Gautama Buddha . The Frame story , also known as
5508-434: Is blindly collaborating with the inevitable armies that will annihilate him, as the metal vultures and the dragon (which must have known that they were monsters) collaborated, mysteriously, with Hercules ." In 1946, Borges published the short story " Deutsches Requiem ", which masquerades as the last testament of a condemned Nazi war criminal named Otto Dietrich zur Linde. In a 1971 conference at Columbia University , Borges
5670-588: Is likely to come from ancient Jewish descent, from a millennium ago. Both before and during the Second World War , Borges regularly published essays attacking the Nazi police state and its racist ideology. His outrage was fueled by his deep love for German literature . In an essay published in 1937, Borges attacked the Nazi Party's use of children's books to inflame antisemitism. He wrote, "I don't know if
5832-645: Is one of the best-known writers of short stories in the Spanish language . " The Library of Babel " (1941) and " The Aleph " (1945) handle difficult subjects like infinity . Borges won American fame with " The Garden of Forking Paths ", published in the August 1948 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine . Two of the most representative writers of the Magical realism genre are also widely known Argentine short story writers, Adolfo Bioy Casares and Julio Cortázar . The Nobel laureate author Gabriel García Márquez and
5994-489: Is presented to them ready-made. There are even agencies of the State that supply them with opinions, passwords, slogans, and even idols to exalt or cast down according to the prevailing wind or in keeping with the directives of the thinking heads of the single party ." In later years, Borges frequently expressed contempt for Marxist and communist authors, poets, and intellectuals. In an interview with Burgin, Borges referred to Chilean poet Pablo Neruda as "a very fine poet" but
6156-447: Is the fact that they breed idiocy. Bellboys babbling orders, portraits of caudillos , prearranged cheers or insults, walls covered with names, unanimous ceremonies, mere discipline usurping the place of clear thinking ... Fighting these sad monotonies is one of the duties of a writer. Need I remind readers of Martín Fierro or Don Segundo that individualism is an old Argentine virtue. Short-story writer The short story
6318-536: Is tragedy there." In a 1967 interview with Burgin, Borges recalled how his interactions with Argentina's Nazi sympathisers led him to create the story. He recalled, "And then I realized that those people that were on the side of Germany, that they never thought of German victories or the German glory. What they really liked was the idea of the Blitzkrieg , of London being on fire, of the country being destroyed. As to
6480-528: Is usually translated to English as "Creole", despite being unrelated to most other Creole peoples ). Although they were all considered Spanish, and there were no legal distinctions between Criollos and Peninsulares, most Criollos thought that Peninsulares had undue influence in political matters. The ideas of the American and French Revolutions , and the Age of Enlightenment , promoted desires of social change among
6642-708: The Army of the North to prepare a new invasion of the Upper Peru . However, he quickly resigned as he foresaw yet another defeat. Instead, he developed a new strategy to attack the Viceroyalty of Perú through the Captaincy of Chile , inspired on the writings of Sir Thomas Maitland , who was quoted as saying that the only way to defeat the Spanish at Quito and Lima was attacking Chile first. San Martín asked to become
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6804-573: The Balvanera district. He appears by name in Borges's Dialogue about a Dialogue , in which the two discuss the immortality of the soul. In 1933, Borges gained an editorial appointment at Revista Multicolor de los Sábados (the literary supplement of the Buenos Aires newspaper Crítica ), where he first published the pieces collected as Historia universal de la infamia ( A Universal History of Infamy ) in 1935. The book includes two types of writing:
6966-551: The Collège de Genève . The family travelled widely in Europe, including Spain. On his return to Argentina in 1921, Borges began publishing his poems and essays in surrealist literary journals. He also worked as a librarian and public lecturer . In 1955, he was appointed director of the National Public Library and professor of English Literature at the University of Buenos Aires . He became completely blind by
7128-541: The Jerusalem Prize . His international reputation was consolidated in the 1960s, aided by the growing number of English translations, the Latin American Boom , and by the success of García Márquez 's One Hundred Years of Solitude . He dedicated his final work, The Conspirators , to the city of Geneva , Switzerland. Writer and essayist J. M. Coetzee said of him: "He, more than anyone, renovated
7290-574: The Mapuches . On April 4, Argentine Colonel Juan Gregorio de Las Heras had occupied Concepción , but the Royalists retreated to Talcahuano. In early 1818, Royalist reinforcements from the Viceroyalty of Peru arrived, commanded by general Mariano Osorio , and advanced towards the capital. San Martín then turned to scorched earth tactics and ordered the evacuation of Concepción, which he thought
7452-478: The Nazi Party , asserted Borges was secretly Jewish and by implication not truly Argentinian. Borges responded with the essay " Yo, Judío " ("I, a Jew"), a reference to the old phrase "Yo, Argentino" ("I, an Argentine") uttered by potential victims during pogroms against Argentine Jews to signify one was not Jewish. In the essay, Borges declares he would be proud to be a Jew, and remarks that any pure Castilian
7614-614: The Ramayana , the Mahabharata , and Homer 's Iliad and Odyssey . Oral narratives were often told in the form of rhyming or rhythmic verse , often including recurring sections or, in the case of Homer, Homeric epithets . Such stylistic devices often acted as mnemonics for easier recall, rendition, and adaptation of the story. While the overall arc of the tale was told over the course of several performances, short sections of verse could focus on individual narratives that were
7776-560: The Shinto beliefs of her father or the Catholicism of her mother. Kodama "had always regarded Borges as an Agnostic, as she was herself", but given the insistence of his questioning, she offered to call someone more "qualified". Borges responded, "You are asking me if I want a priest." He then instructed her to call two clergymen, a Catholic priest, in memory of his mother, and a Protestant minister, in memory of his English grandmother. He
7938-642: The Spanish crown . On July 9, 1816, an assembly met in San Miguel de Tucumán , declaring independence with provisions for a national constitution . The territory of modern Argentina was part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata , with its capital city in Buenos Aires , seat of government of the Spanish viceroy . Modern Uruguay , Paraguay and Bolivia were also part of
8100-554: The Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata , and elected Gervasio Antonio de Posadas for that role. One of the first actions of Posadas was to create a naval fleet from scratch, which was to be financed by Juan Larrea , and appointed William Brown as lieutenant colonel and chief commander of it, on March 1, 1814. Against all the odds, on 14 May 1814 the improvised patriot navy engaged
8262-498: The University of Virginia (UVA) in the U.S. influenced a group of students among whom was Jared Loewenstein, who would later become founder and curator of the Jorge Luis Borges Collection at UVA, one of the largest repositories of documents and manuscripts pertaining to Borges's early works. In 1984, he travelled to Athens, Greece, and later to Rethymnon, Crete, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate from
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#17327723255828424-519: The further actions of the United Army into Peru were carried on under the authority of the Chilean government, not the United Provinces. However, defensive actions continued to be carried on in the northern frontier of the United Provinces until the 1825 Battle of Ayacucho , which ended the royalist threat from the Upper Peru. The Día de la Revolución de Mayo ( May Revolution Day) on May 25
8586-559: The "reparation" project. With his vision beginning to fade in his early thirties and unable to support himself as a writer, Borges began a new career as a public lecturer. He became an increasingly public figure, obtaining appointments as president of the Argentine Society of Writers and as professor of English and American Literature at the Argentine Association of English Culture. His short story " Emma Zunz "
8748-462: The 18th century with the publication of the fictional anecdotal letters of Sir Roger de Coverley . In Europe, the oral story-telling tradition began to develop into written form in the early 14th century, most notably with Giovanni Boccaccio 's Decameron and Geoffrey Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales . Both of these books are composed of individual short stories, which range from farce or humorous anecdotes to well-crafted literary fiction, set within
8910-484: The 1920s and 1930s, Borges was a vocal supporter of Hipólito Yrigoyen and the social democratic Radical Civic Union . In 1945, Borges signed a manifesto calling for an end to military rule and the establishment of political liberty and democratic elections. By the 1960s, he had grown more skeptical of democracy. During a 1971 conference at Columbia University , a creative writing student asked Borges what he regarded as "a writer's duty to his time". Borges replied, "I think
9072-511: The 1921 opus El caudillo . Jorge Luis Borges wrote, "As most of my people had been soldiers and I knew I would never be, I felt ashamed, quite early, to be a bookish kind of person and not a man of action." Jorge Luis Borges was taught at home until the age of 11 and was bilingual in Spanish and English, reading Shakespeare in the latter at the age of twelve. The family lived in a large house with an English library of over one thousand volumes; Borges would later remark that "if I were asked to name
9234-528: The 1940s, are collections of short stories exploring motifs such as dreams , labyrinths , chance , infinity , archives , mirrors , fictional writers and mythology . Borges's works have contributed to philosophical literature and the fantasy genre, and have had a major influence on the magic realist movement in 20th century Latin American literature . Born in Buenos Aires , Borges later moved with his family to Switzerland in 1914, where he studied at
9396-484: The 1970s that demonstrate the rise of the postmodern short story. While traditionalism maintained a significant influence on the form of the short story, minimalism gained widespread influence in the 1980s, most notably in the work of Raymond Carver and Ann Beattie . Carver helped usher in an "extreme minimalist aesthetic" and expand the scope of the short story, as did Lydia Davis , through her idiosyncratic and laconic style. The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges
9558-550: The 1980s, towards the end of his life, Borges regained his earlier faith in democracy and held it out as the only hope for Argentina. In 1983, Borges applauded the election of the Radical Civic Union's Raúl Alfonsín and welcomed the end of military rule with the following words: "I once wrote that democracy is the abuse of statistics ... On October 30, 1983, Argentine democracy refuted me splendidly. Splendidly and resoundingly." Borges recurrently declared himself
9720-839: The American translator Norman Thomas di Giovanni , through whom he became better known in the English-speaking world. Di Giovanni contended that Borges's popularity was due to his writing with multiple languages in mind and deliberately using Latin words as a bridge from Spanish to English. Borges continued to publish books, among them El libro de los seres imaginarios ( Book of Imaginary Beings , 1967, co-written with Margarita Guerrero ), El informe de Brodie ( Dr. Brodie's Report , 1970), and El libro de arena ( The Book of Sand , 1975). He lectured prolifically. Many of these lectures were anthologized in volumes such as Siete noches ( Seven Nights ) and Nueve ensayos dantescos ( Nine Dantesque Essays ). His presence in 1967 on campus at
9882-652: The Americas as regent, but nothing came out of it because of the lack of support from both the Spanish Americans and the British. Javier de Elío created a Junta in Montevideo and Martín de Álzaga sought to make a similar move by organizing a mutiny in Buenos Aires, but the local military forces intervened and thwarted it. Spain appointed a new viceroy, Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros , and Liniers handed
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#173277232558210044-605: The Buenos Aires Junta to cross the Desaguadero River , taking the offensive into the Viceroyalty of Peru domains, but his proposal was rejected. His army and Goyeneche's stationed near the frontier, while negotiating. Goyeneche advanced and defeated Castelli at the Battle of Huaqui , whose forces dispersed and left the provinces. The resistance of patriot republiqueta guerrillas of Upper Peru, however, kept
10206-523: The Church the forgiveness of his sins". After the funeral, Borges was laid to rest in Geneva's Cimetière de Plainpalais . His grave, marked by a rough-hewn headstone, is adorned with carvings derived from Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse art and literature. Maria Kodama, his widow and heir on the basis of the marriage and two wills, gained control over his works. Her assertive administration of his estate resulted in
10368-550: The Cordoba counter-revolution on 6 August 1810, but, instead of executing them as he was instructed, he sent them back to Buenos Aires as prisoners. As a result, Ocampo was demoted and Juan José Castelli was appointed as the political head of the army. On 26 August, Castelli executed the Cordoba prisoners and led the Army of the North towards the Upper Peru: After securing the loyalty of the northwestern Provinces to
10530-412: The German fighters, they took no stock in them. Then I thought, well now Germany has lost, now America has saved us from this nightmare, but since nobody can doubt on which side I stood, I'll see what can be done from a literary point of view in favor of the Nazis. And then I created the ideal Nazi." At Columbia University in 1971, Borges further elaborated on the story's creation, "I tried to imagine what
10692-755: The Governor of the Province of Cuyo , where he prepared the Chile campaign. Installed in the city of Mendoza , San Martín reorganized the Granaderos cavalry unit into the Army of the Andes , which he created out of patriots from both the United Provinces and exiles from Chile. In early 1817, San Martín led the crossing of the Andes into Chile, obtaining a decisive victory at the battle of Chacabuco on February 17, 1817, and took Santiago de Chile , where he refused
10854-503: The Holy Trinity. This world is so strange that anything may happen, or may not happen." Borges was taught to read the Bible by his English Protestant grandmother and he prayed the Our Father each night because of a promise he made to his mother. He also died in the presence of a priest. During his final days in Geneva, Borges began brooding about the possibility of an afterlife . Although calm and collected about his own death, Borges began probing Kodama as to whether she inclined more towards
11016-517: The May Revolution through elections of representatives to the Junta in Buenos Aires, Castelli sent General Antonio González Balcarce into the Upper Peru, but he was defeated at the battle of Cotagaita . Castelli then sent him reinforcements, leading to the first patriotic victory at the battle of Suipacha , which gave Buenos Aires control over the Upper Peru. The royalist generals Vicente Nieto , Francisco de Paula Sanz and José de Córdoba y Rojas were captured and executed. Castelli then proposed to
11178-456: The National Prize for Literature. From 1956 to 1970, Borges also held a position as a professor of literature at the University of Buenos Aires and other temporary appointments at other universities. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1964. In the fall of 1967 and spring of 1968, he delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University . As his eyesight deteriorated, Borges relied increasingly on his mother's help. When he
11340-515: The Party in this matter ultimately led to a permanent rift with his longtime lover, Argentine Communist Estela Canto . In a 1956 interview given to El Hogar , Borges stated that "[Communists] are in favor of totalitarian regimes and systematically combat freedom of thought, oblivious of the fact that the principal victims of dictatorships are, precisely, intelligence and culture." He elaborated: "Many people are in favor of dictatorships because they allow them to avoid thinking for themselves. Everything
11502-422: The Provinces (including three Upper Peru departments but excluding representatives from Santa Fe , Entre Ríos , Corrientes and the Banda Oriental , united into the Federal League ) met at the Congress of Tucumán and declared the Independence of the United Provinces in South America from the Spanish Crown, with provisions for a national Constitution. In 1814, General José de San Martín had taken command of
11664-718: The Royal Society of Literature's V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize, The London Magazine Short Story Prize, the Pin Drop Studio Short Story Award and many others attract hundreds of entries each year. Published and non-published writers take part, sending in their stories from around the world. In 2013, Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature —her citation read "master of the contemporary short story." She said she hopes
11826-479: The School of Philosophy at the University of Crete . In the mid-1960s, Borges became acquainted with Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis , who was at the time a young Jesuit priest. In 1979, Borges spoke appreciatively and at some length about Bergoglio to the Argentine poet and essayist Roberto Alifano. In 1967, Borges married the recently widowed Elsa Astete Millán. Friends believed that his mother, who
11988-478: The Short-Story . During that same year, Matthews was the first one to name the emerging genre "short story". Another theorist of narrative fiction was Henry James , who produced some of the most influential short narratives of the time. The spread of the short story movement continued into South America, specifically Brazil. The novelist Machado de Assis was an important short story writer from Brazil at
12150-582: The Spanish fleet and defeated it three days later. This action secured the port of Buenos Aires and allowed the fall of Montevideo, which could not stand the siege any more, on 20 June 1814. The fall of Montevideo eliminated the royalist menace from the Banda Oriental and meant the actual end of the Spanish Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Soon afterwards, William Brown was awarded the rank of admiral, and Carlos María de Alvear , who
12312-550: The Tinker Chair. This led to his first lecture tour in the United States. In 1962, two major anthologies of Borges's writings were published in English by New York presses: Ficciones and Labyrinths . In that year, Borges began lecture tours of Europe. Numerous honors were to accumulate over the years such as a Special Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America "for distinguished contribution to
12474-542: The Uruguayan writer Juan Carlos Onetti are further significant magical realist short story writers from the Hispanic world. In Brazil, João Antonio made a name for himself by writing about poverty and the favelas . Detective literature there was led by Rubem Fonseca . João Guimarães Rosa wrote short stories in the book Sagarana, using a complex, experimental language based on tales of oral tradition. The role of
12636-470: The absence of the rightful king sovereignty returned to the people, which would be capable to appoint their own leaders. They did not agree on who was that people, and which territorial extension had the sovereignty. Royalists thought that it applied to the people on European Spain, who had the right to rule over all the Spanish empire . The leaders of the May Revolution thought that it applied to all
12798-430: The age of 55. Scholars have suggested that his progressive blindness helped him to create innovative literary symbols through imagination. By the 1960s, his work was translated and published widely in the United States and Europe. Borges himself was fluent in several languages. In 1961, Borges came to international attention when he received the first Formentor Prize , which he shared with Samuel Beckett . In 1971, he won
12960-463: The artistic and personal expression of the form. They may also attempt to resist categorization by genre and fixed formation. William Boyd , a British author and short story writer, has said: [a short story] seem[s] to answer something very deep in our nature as if, for the duration of its telling, something special has been created, some essence of our experience extrapolated, some temporary sense has been made of our common, turbulent journey towards
13122-489: The assistance of his wife, Evita . Almost immediately, the spoils system was the rule of the day, as ideological critics of the ruling Partido Justicialista were fired from government jobs. During this period, Borges was informed that he was being "promoted" from his position at the Miguel Cané Library to a post as inspector of poultry and rabbits at the Buenos Aires municipal market. Upon demanding to know
13284-456: The award will bring readership for the short story, as well as recognising the short story for its own merit, rather than "something that people do before they write their first novel." Short stories were cited in the choice of other laureates as well: Paul Heyse in 1910 and Gabriel García Márquez in 1982. Short stories are sometimes adapted for radio, TV or film: As a concentrated, concise form of narrative and descriptive prose fiction,
13446-501: The battles of Vilcapugio and Ayohuma and retreated to Jujuy: In early 1812, the truce between Buenos Aires and Montevideo was over, and Manuel de Sarratea led an army to the Banda Oriental, but he was soon replaced by José Rondeau , who initiated a second siege of Montevideo . Although royalist Gaspar de Vigodet sought to break the siege, he was defeated at the Battle of Cerrito . The Spanish navy then sought to evade
13608-465: The bi-monthly magazine Desh (first published in 1933) was key in development of the Bengali short story. Two of the most popular detective story writers of Bengali literature are Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (the creator of Byomkesh Bakshi ) and Satyajit Ray (the creator of Feluda ). Notable examples in the post-World War II period include: The numbers of 21st-century short story writers run into
13770-540: The capitals of Spanish kingdoms. José Gervasio Artigas would lead later a third perspective: the retroversion applied to all regions, which should remain united under a confederative system. The three groups battled one another, but the disputes about the national organization of Argentina (either centralist or confederal) continued in Argentine Civil War , for many years after the end of the war of independence. The Primera Junta sent military campaigns to
13932-474: The chief event in my life, I should say my father's library." His father gave up practicing law due to the failing eyesight that would eventually affect his son. In 1914, the family moved to Geneva , Switzerland, and spent the next decade in Europe. In Geneva, Borges Haslam was treated by an eye specialist, while his son and daughter attended school. Jorge Luis learned French, read Thomas Carlyle in English, and began to read philosophy in German. In 1917, when he
14094-484: The city, and Vicente Nieto organized the actions at the Upper Peru. Nieto proposed to José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa , viceroy of the Viceroyalty of Peru at the North, to annex the Upper Peru to it. He thought that the revolution could be easily contained in Buenos Aires, before launching a definitive attack. Buenos Aires was declared a rogue city by the Council of Regency, which appointed Montevideo as capital of
14256-473: The command of the troops entirely to San Martín in a meeting on the plains of Maipú. Then, on April 5, 1818, San Martín inflicted a decisive defeat on Osorio in the Battle of Maipú , after which the depleted royalists retreated to Concepcion, never again to launch a major offensive against Santiago. The Chile campaign is generally considered to be the conclusion of the Argentine War of Independence, as
14418-540: The criollos. The full prohibition imposed by Spain to trade with other nations was also seen as damaging to the viceroyalty's economy. The population of Buenos Aires was highly militarized during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata , part of the Anglo-Spanish War . Buenos Aires was captured in 1806, and then liberated by Santiago de Liniers with forces from Montevideo. Fearing a counter-attack, all
14580-542: The danger of inferring an autobiographically inspired basis for the content or tone of certain of his works: books, philosophy, and imagination were as much a source of real inspiration to him as his own lived experience, if not more so. From the first issue, Borges was a regular contributor to Sur , founded in 1931 by Victoria Ocampo . It was then Argentina's most important literary journal and helped Borges find his fame. Ocampo introduced Borges to Adolfo Bioy Casares , another well-known figure of Argentine literature who
14742-530: The doctrine of Ultraism and launched his career, publishing surreal poems and essays in literary journals. In 1923, Borges first published his poetry, a collection called Fervor de Buenos Aires , and contributed to the avant-garde review Martín Fierro . Borges co-founded the journals Prisma , a broadsheet distributed largely by pasting copies to walls in Buenos Aires, and Proa . Later in life, Borges regretted some of these early publications, attempting to purchase all known copies to ensure their destruction. By
14904-523: The duration of a single telling. It may be helpful to classify such sections as oral short stories. Another ancient form of short story popular during the Roman Empire was the anecdote , a brief realistic narrative that embodies a point. Many surviving Roman anecdotes were collected in the 13th or 14th century as the Gesta Romanorum . Anecdotes remained popular throughout Europe well into
15066-443: The early 1960s. In 1961, Borges received the first Prix International , which he shared with Samuel Beckett . While Beckett had garnered a distinguished reputation in Europe and America, Borges had been largely unknown and untranslated in the English-speaking world and the prize stirred great interest in his work. The Italian government named Borges Commendatore and the University of Texas at Austin appointed him for one year to
15228-447: The early to mid 1900s in England were detective stories and thrillers. Many of these detective stories were written by authors such as G.K. Chesterton , Agatha Christie , and Dorothy L. Sayers . Graham Greene wrote his collection of short stories, Twenty-One Stories , between 1929 and 1954. Many of these short stories are classified in the genres of thriller, suspense, or even horror. The European short story movement during this time
15390-488: The east, in the Banda Oriental . In the second half of the decade, with the capture of Montevideo and the stalemate in Upper Peru, the conflict moved to the west, to Chile. The first two military campaigns ordered by the revolutionary Junta in Buenos Aires were launched against Cordoba , where former Viceroy Santiago de Liniers organized a counter-revolution , and the Intendency of Paraguay , which did not recognize
15552-571: The end of the British threat. The transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil generated military concern. It was feared that the British would launch a third attack, this time allied with Portugal. However, no military conflict took place, as when the Peninsular War started Britain and Portugal became allies of Spain against France. When the Spanish king Ferdinand VII was captured, his sister Carlota Joaquina sought to rule in
15714-551: The evolution of the publishing industry and the submission guidelines of its constituent houses. As a point of reference for the genre writer, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America define short story length in the Nebula Awards for science fiction submission guidelines as having fewer than 7,500 words. Short stories date back to oral storytelling traditions which originally produced epics such as
15876-562: The evolving form of the short story. For example, J. D. Salinger 's Nine Stories (1953) experimented with point of view and voice, while Flannery O'Connor's well-known story, " A Good Man is Hard to Find " (1955), reinvigorated the Southern Gothic style. Cultural and social identity played a considerable role in much of the short fiction of the 1960s. Philip Roth and Grace Paley cultivated distinctive Jewish-American voices. Tillie Olsen 's " I Stand Here Ironing " (1961) adopted
16038-402: The fate of the local government. The military gave their support to the request, forcing Cisneros to accept. The discussion ruled the removal of viceroy Cisneros and his replacement with a government junta , but the cabildo attempted to keep Cisneros in power by appointing him president of such junta. Further demonstrations ensued, and the Junta was forced to resign immediately. It was replaced by
16200-402: The first Borges stories to be translated into English, appeared in the August 1948 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine , translated by Anthony Boucher . Though several other Borges translations appeared in literary magazines and anthologies during the 1950s (and one story appeared in the fantasy and science fiction magazine Fantastic Universe in 1960), his international fame dates from
16362-580: The first assistant at the Miguel Cané Municipal Library. It was in a working-class area and there were so few books that cataloging more than one hundred books per day, he was told, would leave little to do for the other staff and would make them look bad. The task took him about an hour each day and the rest of his time he spent in the basement of the library, writing and translating. Borges's father died in 1938, shortly before his 64th birthday. On Christmas Eve that year, Borges had
16524-417: The first collection of short stories was by Heinrich von Kleist in 1810 and 1811. In the United States, Washington Irving was responsible for creating some of the first short stories of American origin, " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow " and " Rip Van Winkle ". Edgar Allan Poe became another early American short story writer. His concise technique, deemed the "single effect", has had tremendous influence on
16686-461: The first lies somewhere between non-fiction essays and short stories, using fictional techniques to tell essentially true stories. The second consists of literary forgeries, which Borges initially passed off as translations of passages from famous but seldom-read works. In the following years, he served as a literary adviser for the publishing house Emecé Editores , and from 1936 to 1939 wrote weekly columns for El Hogar . In 1938, Borges found work as
16848-511: The first true collections of short stories appeared between 1810 and 1830 in several countries. The first short stories in the United Kingdom were gothic tales like Richard Cumberland 's "remarkable narrative", "The Poisoner of Montremos" (1791). Novelists such as Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens also wrote influential short stories during this time. Germany soon followed the United Kingdom's example by producing short stories;
17010-558: The first writer of nothing but short stories to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature . Her award-winning short story collections include Dance of the Happy Shades , Lives of Girls and Women , Who Do You Think You Are? , The Progress of Love , The Love of a Good Woman and Runaway . Prominent short story awards such as The Sunday Times Short Story Award , the BBC National Short Story Award ,
17172-424: The formation of the modern short story. Examples include: In the latter half of the 19th century, the growth of print magazines and journals created a strong demand for short fiction of between 3,000 and 15,000 words. In 1890s Britain, literary periodicals such as The Yellow Book , Black & White , and The Strand Magazine popularized the short story. Britain was not alone in the endeavor to strengthen
17334-727: The frame narrative or story within a story , is a narrative technique that probably originated in ancient Indian works such as Panchatantra . The evolution of printing technologies and periodical editions were among the factors contributing to the increasing importance of short story publications. Pioneering the rules of the genre in the Western canon were, among others, Rudyard Kipling (United Kingdom), Anton Chekhov (Russia), Guy de Maupassant (France), Rabindranath Tagore (India and Bangladesh), Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera (Mexico) and Rubén Darío (Nicaragua). Early examples of short stories were published separately between 1790 and 1810, but
17496-522: The government to him without resistance, despite the proposals of the military to reject him. The military conflict in Spain worsened by 1810. The city of Seville had been invaded by French armies, which were already dominating most of the Iberian Peninsula. The Junta of Seville was disestablished, and several members fled to Cádiz, the last portion of Spain still resisting. They established
17658-447: The grave and oblivion. In the 1880s, the term "short story" acquired its modern meaning – having initially referred to children's tales. During the early to mid-20th century, the short story underwent expansive experimentation which further hindered attempts to comprehensively provide a definition. Longer stories that cannot be called novels are sometimes considered " novellas " or novelettes and, like short stories, may be collected into
17820-459: The history of the short story". The creation and study of the short story as a medium began to emerge as an academic discipline due to Blanche Colton Williams ' "groundbreaking work on structure and analysis of the short story" and her publication of A Handbook on Short Story Writing (1917), described as "the first practical aid to growing young writers that was put on the market in this country." In Uruguay , Horacio Quiroga became one of
17982-579: The individual should be strong and the State should be weak. I couldn't be enthusiastic about theories where the State is more important than the individual." After the overthrow via coup d'état of President Juan Domingo Perón in 1955, Borges supported efforts to purge Argentina's Government of Peronists and dismantle the former President's welfare state. He was enraged that the Communist Party of Argentina opposed these measures and sharply criticized them in lectures and in print. Borges's opposition to
18144-583: The land blockade by raiding nearby populations on the west bank of the Uruguay river. On 31 January 1813, Spanish troops from Montevideo landed near the town of San Lorenzo , Santa Fe Province, but it was absolutely defeated by the Granaderos unit led by San Martín on February 3. The Battle of San Lorenzo ended further Spanish raids on the west bank of the Paraná river and the Triumvirate awarded San Martín
18306-404: The language of fiction and thus opened the way to a remarkable generation of Spanish-American novelists." David Foster Wallace wrote: "The truth, briefly stated, is that Borges is arguably the great bridge between modernism and post-modernism in world literature. He is modernist in that his fiction shows a first-rate human mind stripped of all foundations of religious or ideological certainty –
18468-542: The late 17th century; one of the most famous collections was by Charles Perrault . The appearance of Antoine Galland 's first modern translation of the 1001 Arabian Nights , a storehouse of Middle Eastern folk and fairy tales, is the Thousand and One Nights (or Arabian Nights ) (from 1704; another translation appeared in 1710–12). His translation would have an enormous influence on the 18th-century European short stories of Voltaire , Diderot and others. In India, there
18630-519: The lives of common people, especially the oppressed classes. The prolific Indian author of short stories Munshi Premchand , pioneered the genre in the Hindustani language , writing over 200 short stories and many novels in a style characterized by realism and an unsentimental and authentic introspection into the complexities of Indian society. In 1884, Brander Matthews , the first American professor of dramatic literature, published The Philosophy of
18792-427: The magazine Grecia . While in Spain, he met such noted Spanish writers as Rafael Cansinos Assens and Ramón Gómez de la Serna . In 1921, Borges returned with his family to Buenos Aires. He had little formal education, no qualifications and few friends. He wrote to a friend that Buenos Aires was now "overrun by arrivistes, by correct youths lacking any mental equipment, and decorative young ladies". He brought with him
18954-478: The mid-1930s, he began to explore existential questions and fiction. He worked in a style that Argentine critic Ana María Barrenechea has called "irreality." Many other Latin American writers, such as Juan Rulfo , Juan José Arreola , and Alejo Carpentier , were investigating these themes, influenced by the phenomenology of Husserl and Heidegger . In this vein, Borges biographer Edwin Williamson underlines
19116-439: The more marketable form of "collections", of stories previously unpublished or published, but elsewhere. Sometimes, authors who do not have the time or money to write a novella or novel decide to write short stories instead, working out a deal with a popular website or magazine to publish them for profit. Around the world, the modern short story is comparable to lyrics , dramas, novels and essays – although examination of it as
19278-586: The most influential short story writers in the Spanish language. With a clear influence from Edgar Allan Poe , he had a great skill in using the supernatural and the bizarre to show the struggle of man and animal to survive. He also excelled in portraying mental illness and hallucinatory states. In India, Saadat Hasan Manto , the master of the short story in the Urdu language, is revered for his exceptional depth, irony, and sardonic humor. The author of some 250 short stories, radio plays, essays, reminiscences, and
19440-702: The mystery genre" (1976), the Balzan Prize (for Philology, Linguistics and literary Criticism) and the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca , the Miguel de Cervantes Prize (all 1980), as well as the French Legion of Honour (1983) and the Diamond Konex Award for Literature Arts as the most important writer in the last decade in his country. In 1967, Borges began a five-year period of collaboration with
19602-452: The name of restoring their national honour. Such use of children's books for propaganda he writes, "perfect the criminal arts of barbarians." In a 1944 essay, Borges postulated, Nazism suffers from unreality, like Erigena 's hell. It is uninhabitable; men can only die for it, lie for it, wound and kill for it. No one, in the intimate depths of his being, can wish it to triumph. I shall risk this conjecture: Hitler wants to be defeated . Hitler
19764-467: The offer of the governorship of Chile in favour of Bernardo O'Higgins (who became supreme director) because he did not wish to be diverted from his main objective, the capture of Lima . O'Higgins installed a new independent government . In December 1817, a popular referendum was set up to decide about the Independence of Chile. However, Royalist resistance persisted in southern Chile, allied with
19926-412: The officiality did not recognize this and remained loyal to Rondeau: The unsuccessful outcome of the third Upper Peru campaign would spread rumors in Europe that the May Revolution was over. Furthermore, King Ferdinand VII was restored to the Spanish throne on 1813, so an urgent decision was needed regarding the political status of the United Provinces. On July 9, 1816, an assembly of representatives of
20088-417: The outcome of events at the May Revolution. However, the improvised army gathered by Liniers at Cordoba deserted him before battle, so the former Viceroy attempted to flee to the Upper Peru , expecting to join the royalist army sent from the Viceroyalty of Peru to suffocate the revolution at Buenos Aires. Colonel Francisco Ortiz de Ocampo , who led the patriot army, captured Liniers and the other leaders of
20250-495: The overwhelming invasion of a royalist army led by General Pío de Tristán , Belgrano turned to scorched-earth tactics and ordered the evacuation of the people of Jujuy and Salta , and the burning of anything else left behind to prevent enemy forces from getting supplies or taking prisoners from those cities. This action is known as the Jujuy Exodus . Turning against the Triumvirate orders, however, Belgrano decided to fight
20412-419: The painter Norah Borges , sister of Jorge Luis Borges. At age ten, Jorge Luis Borges translated Oscar Wilde 's The Happy Prince into Spanish. It was published in a local journal, but Borges's friends thought the real author was his father. Borges Haslam was a lawyer and psychology teacher who harboured literary aspirations. Borges said his father "tried to become a writer and failed in the attempt", despite
20574-512: The point with the most action) and resolution (the point when the conflict is resolved). Because of their length, short stories may or may not often follow this pattern. For example, modern short stories only occasionally have an exposition, more typically beginning in the middle of the action ( in medias res ). As with longer stories, plots of short stories also have a climax, crisis or turning point. In general, short stories feature endings which might be either conclusive or open-ended. Ambiguity
20736-425: The popularity of the short story. Several authors during this time wrote short stories centered on the devices of satire and humor. One such author, Hector Hugh Munro (1870–1916), also known by his pen name of Saki , wrote satirical short stories about Edwardian England. P.G. Wodehouse published his first collection of comical stories about the valet, Jeeves , in 1917. Other common genres of short stories during
20898-475: The population of Buenos Aires capable of bearing arms was arranged in military bodies, including slaves. A new British attack in 1807 captured Montevideo, but was defeated in Buenos Aires, and forced to leave the viceroyalty. The viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte was successfully deposed by the criollos during the conflict, and the Regiment of Patricians became a highly influential force in local politics, even after
21060-489: The rank of general. The Granaderos unit was instrumental in the Revolution of October 8, 1812 which deposed the government and installed a new Triumvirate , considered to be more committed to the cause of Independence. In fact, this second Triumvirate convened a national assembly which was meant to declare Independence. The Assembly, however, first decided replace the Triumvirate with a new unipersonal Executive office,
21222-545: The reason, Borges was told, "Well, you were on the side of the Allies, what do you expect?" Borges resigned the following day. Perón's treatment of Borges became a cause célèbre for the Argentine intelligentsia. The Argentine Society of Writers (SADE) held a formal dinner in his honour. At the dinner, a speech was read which Borges had written for the occasion. It said: Dictatorships breed oppression, dictatorships breed servility, dictatorships breed cruelty; more loathsome still
21384-560: The revival of short story salons such as those held by the short fiction company Pin Drop Studio. More than 690,000 short stories and anthologies were sold in the UK in 2017, generating £5.88 million, the genre's highest sales since 2010. Throughout the 2010s, there was frequent speculation about a potential "renaissance"; Sam Baker called it a "perfect literary form for the 21st century". In 2012, Pin Drop Studio launched what became
21546-408: The royalists at Tucumán , obtaining a great victory and then decisively defeating the royalist army at the Battle of Salta , in northwestern Argentina, forcing the bulk of the royalist army to surrender their weapons. Tristán (a former fellow student with Belgrano at Salamanca University ) and his men were granted amnesty and released. Then again, the patriot army was defeated into the Upper Peru at
21708-560: The royalists at bay, hampering any serious advance to the south: The other militia sent by Buenos Aires was commanded by Manuel Belgrano and made its way up the Paraná River towards the Intendency of Paraguay. A first battle was fought at Campichuelo , where the Patriots claimed victory. However, they were completely overwhelmed at the subsequent battles of Paraguarí and Tacuarí . Thus, this campaign ended in failure as well from
21870-586: The ruling "narrative" or epistemological/experiential framework of their society." Still often cited Argentine War of Independence Argentine victory Royalists [REDACTED] Spanish Monarchy The Argentine War of Independence (Spanish: Guerra de Independencia de Argentina ) was a secessionist civil war fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano , Juan José Castelli , Martin Miguel de Guemes and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to
22032-410: The short story has been theorised about through the traditional elements of dramatic structure : exposition (the introduction of setting, situation, and main characters), complication (the event that introduces the conflict), rising action , crisis (the decisive moment for the protagonist and his commitment to a course of action), climax (the point of highest interest in terms of the conflict and
22194-480: The short story movement. French author Guy de Maupassant composed the short stories " Boule de Suif " ("Ball of Fat", 1880) and " L'Inutile Beauté " ("The Useless Beauty", 1890), which are important examples of French realism . Russian author Anton Chekhov was also influential in the movement. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in India, many writers created short stories centered on daily life and
22356-409: The social scene of the different socioeconomic groups. Rabindranath Tagore published more than 150 short stories on the lives of the poor and oppressed such as peasants, women, and villagers under colonial misrule and exploitation. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay , Tagore's contemporary, was another pioneer in Bengali short stories. Chattopadhyay's stories focused on the social scenario of rural Bengal and
22518-494: The thousands. Female short story writers have gained increased critical attention, with British authors, in particular, exploring modern feminist politics in their writings. Sales of short-story fiction are strong. In the UK, sales jumped 45% in 2017, driven by collections from international names such as Alice Munro, a high number of new writers to the genre, including famous names like actor Tom Hanks (plus those who publish their work using readily accessible, digital tools), and
22680-548: The time, under the influences of Xavier de Maistre , Laurence Sterne , Guy de Maupassant , among others. At the end of the 19th century, the writer João do Rio became popular by short stories about the bohemianism . Lima Barreto wrote about the former slaves and nationalism in Brazil, with his most recognized work being Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma . Examples include: In the United Kingdom, periodicals like The Strand Magazine and Story-Teller contributed to
22842-400: The translations by Norman Thomas di Giovanni , in which Borges himself collaborated, and from which di Giovanni would have received an unusually high fifty percent of the royalties. Kodama commissioned new translations by Andrew Hurley , which have become the official translations in English. At the time of her death, Kodama left no will and the status of the Borges estate is in limbo. During
23004-458: The viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, and Francisco Javier de Elío the new viceroy. However, the May Revolution was not initially separatist. Patriots supported the legitimacy of the Juntas in the Americas, while royalists supported instead the Council of Regency; both acted on behalf of Ferdinand VII. All of them believed that, according to the retroversion of the sovereignty to the people , in
23166-416: The viceroyalty, and began their push for autonomy during the conflict, becoming independent states afterwards. The vast area of the territory and slow communications led most populated areas to become isolated from each other. The wealthiest regions of the viceroyalty were in Upper Peru (modern-day Bolivia). Salta and Córdoba had closer ties with Upper Peru than with Buenos Aires. Similarly, Mendoza in
23328-409: The viceroyalty, in order to secure support to the new authorities and retain the authority held as the capital of the viceroyalty. The victories and defeats of the military conflict delimited the areas of influence of the new United Provinces of the Río de la Plata . With the non-aggression pact arranged with Paraguay early on, most of the initial conflict took place in the north, in Upper Peru , and in
23490-593: The west had closer ties with the Captaincy General of Chile , although the Andes mountain range was a natural barrier. Buenos Aires and Montevideo , who had a local rivalry, located in the La Plata Basin , had naval communications allowing them to be more in contact with European ideas and economic advances than the inland populations living in provinces such as Tierra del Fuego and Chaco . Paraguay
23652-451: The world can do without German civilization, but I do know that its corruption by the teachings of hatred is a crime." In a 1938 essay, Borges reviewed an anthology which rewrote German authors of the past to fit the Nazi party line. He was disgusted by what he described as Germany's "chaotic descent into darkness" and the attendant rewriting of history. He argued that such books sacrificed the German people's culture, history and integrity in
23814-513: The writings of Arthur Schopenhauer and Gustav Meyrink 's The Golem (1915), which became influential to his work. In Spain, Borges became a member of the avant-garde , anti- Modernismo Ultraist literary movement, inspired by Guillaume Apollinaire and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti , close to the Imagists . His first poem, "Hymn to the Sea", written in the style of Walt Whitman , was published in
23976-442: Was 90 and anticipating her own death, wanted to find someone to care for her blind son. The marriage lasted less than three years. After a legal separation, Borges moved back in with his mother, with whom he lived until her death at age 99. Thereafter, he lived alone in the small flat he had shared with her, cared for by Fanny, their housekeeper of many decades. From 1975 until the time of his death, Borges traveled internationally. He
24138-536: Was a man who had unceasingly searched for the right word, the term that could sum up the whole, the final meaning of things." He said, however, that no man can reach that word through his own efforts and in trying becomes lost in a labyrinth. Pastor de Montmollin concluded, "It is not man who discovers the word, it is the Word that comes to him." Father Jacquet also preached, saying that, when visiting Borges before his death, he had found "a man full of love, who received from
24300-501: Was asked about the story by a student from the creative writing program. He recalled, "When the Germans were defeated I felt great joy and relief, but at the same time I thought of the German defeat as being somehow tragic, because here we have perhaps the most educated people in Europe, who have a fine literature, a fine tradition of philosophy and poetry. Yet these people were bamboozled by a madman named Adolf Hitler , and I think there
24462-786: Was born in Portugal in 1770, and lived in Torre de Moncorvo , in the north of the country, before he emigrated to Argentina, where he married Cármen Lafinur. Borges's own father, Jorge Guillermo Borges Haslam , was a lawyer and wrote the novel El caudillo in 1921. Borges Haslam was born in Entre Ríos of Spanish, Portuguese, and English descent, the son of Francisco Borges Lafinur, a colonel, and Frances Ann Haslam, an Englishwoman. Borges Haslam grew up speaking English at home. The family frequently traveled to Europe. Borges Haslam wedded Leonor Acevedo Suárez in 1898 and their children also included
24624-625: Was eighteen, he met writer Maurice Abramowicz and began a literary friendship that lasted for the remainder of his life. He received his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The Borges family decided that, due to political unrest in Argentina, they would remain in Switzerland during the war. After World War I , the family spent three years living in various cities: Lugano , Barcelona, Majorca , Seville, and Madrid. They remained in Europe until 1921. At that time, Borges discovered
24786-543: Was impossible to defend. On 18 February 1818, the first anniversary of the battle of Chacabuco, Chile declared its independence from the Spanish Crown. On March 18, 1818, Osorio led a surprise attack on the joint Argentine-Chilean army , which had to retreat to Santiago, with heavy losses. In fact, among the confusion, Supreme Director O'Higgins was thought to be killed, and panic seized the patriot camp. Crippled after his defeat at Cancha Rayada, O'Higgins delegated
24948-587: Was isolated from all other regions. In the political structure most authoritative positions were filled by people designated by the Spanish monarchy, most of them Spanish people from Europe, also known as peninsulares , without a strong commitment for South American problems or interests. This created a growing rivalry between the Criollos , white people born in Latin America, and the peninsulares , Spanish people who arrived from Europe (the term "Criollo"
25110-577: Was made into a film (under the name of Días de odio , Days of Hate , directed in 1954 by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson ). Around this time, Borges also began writing screenplays. In 1955, he became director of the Argentine National Library. By the late 1950s he had become completely blind. Neither the coincidence nor the irony of his blindness as a writer escaped Borges: Nadie rebaje a lágrima o reproche esta declaración de la maestría de Dios, que con magnífica ironía me dio
25272-488: Was not able to read and write anymore (he never learned to read Braille ), his mother, to whom he had always been close, became his personal secretary. When Perón returned from exile and was re-elected president in 1973, Borges immediately resigned as director of the National Library. Eight of Borges's poems appear in the 1943 anthology of Spanish American Poets by H. R. Hays. "The Garden of Forking Paths", one of
25434-575: Was not unique to England. In Ireland, James Joyce published his short story collection Dubliners in 1914. These stories, written in a more accessible style than his later novels, are based on careful observation of the inhabitants of his birth city. In the first half of the 20th century, a number of high-profile American magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly , Harper's Magazine , The New Yorker , Scribner's , The Saturday Evening Post , Esquire , and The Bookman published short stories in each issue. The demand for quality short stories
25596-657: Was often accompanied in these travels by his personal assistant María Kodama , an Argentine woman of Japanese and German ancestry. In April 1986, a few months before his death, he married her via an attorney in Paraguay , in what was then a common practice among Argentines wishing to circumvent the Argentine laws of the time regarding divorce. According to Kodama, Borges drank as a young man, but eventually gave up alcohol as he aged and "felt more secure." On his religious views, Borges declared himself an agnostic, clarifying: "Being an agnostic means all things are possible, even God, even
25758-569: Was put in charge of the siege of Montevideo just a few days before the surrender of the city, succeeded his uncle Gervasio Posadas as the Supreme Director of the United Provinces, on January 11, 1815. Alvear, however, was resisted by the troops, so he was quickly replaced, on April 21, by Ignacio Álvarez Thomas through a mutiny. Álvarez Thomas then appointed Alvear as general of the Northern Army, in replacement of José Rondeau, but
25920-410: Was so great and the money paid so well that F. Scott Fitzgerald repeatedly turned to short-story writing to pay his numerous debts. His first collection, Flappers and Philosophers , appeared in book form in 1920. Ernest Hemingway's concise writing style was perfectly suited for shorter fiction. Influenced by the short stories of Stephen Crane and Jack London , Hemingway's work "marks a new phase in
26082-460: Was to become a frequent collaborator and close friend. They wrote a number of works together, some under the nom de plume H. Bustos Domecq , including a parody detective series and fantasy stories. During these years, a family friend, Macedonio Fernández , became a major influence on Borges. The two would preside over discussions in cafés, at country retreats, or in Fernandez's tiny apartment in
26244-538: Was visited first by Father Pierre Jacquet and by Pastor Edouard de Montmollin. Borges died of liver cancer on 14 June 1986, aged 86, in Geneva. His burial was preceded by an ecumenical service at the Protestant Cathédrale de Saint Pierre on 18 June. With many Swiss and Argentine dignitaries present, Pastor de Montmollin read the First Chapter of St John's Gospel . He then preached that "Borges
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