The “short stories” of the modern short story, the prose poem and the lyrical fragment

Abstract

The lack of a different means that would vouch for the reliability of what was heard made the filling of certain gaps normal for the oral tradition handed down from one generation to another. The storyteller might very easily add details or information, so that the “tale never loses in the telling”, a saying that has certainly seen its semantic scope widened. With the evolution from the tale to modern short story, we have seen a move in the opposite direction: an extreme economy in speech that blurs the boundaries between the short story, the prose poem and the lyrical fragment. We will here reflect upon the close relationship between these short forms and the way their different shapes continue to challenge the literary genres’ theory.