Home > The Turn of the Twentieth Century: 1880-1920 - Short Fiction Summary & Study Guide

The Turn of the Twentieth Century: 1880-1920 - Short Fiction (Critical Survey of Short Fiction)

Introduction

Until the early nineteenth century, short prose fiction was primarily a vehicle for didactic messages, often religious in nature. Romantic writers, wishing to preserve the old values without the religious dogma and mythological trappings, secularized the old stories by presenting them as basic psychic processes. The ballad tale that had previously existed as received story now became infused with the subjectivity of the teller. The famous collaboration of William Wordsworth and

[The entire page is 13418 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the: