The art of apology: can anthologies define the modern literary short story?

Abstract

In short fiction theory, i.e. the study of the nature of the genre, Mary Louise Pratt’s statement that “the short story is always printed as part of a larger whole, either a collection of short stories or a magazine, which is a collection of various kinds of texts” is probably the most downplayed of eight of her propositions defining the  genre short story. However, short stories are published in anthologies, implying a selection and thus a means in the renovation of the canon. The reader’s first exposure to the genre most probably takes place while reading a collection of stories implying that at this moment future genre expectations are being construed. At the same time, editors and composers of anthologies justify their choices deciding what belongs to the genre and what does not. In a certain sense, their explanations and excuses define the genre as much as literary criticism and theory do.