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Title: The New Short Story Theories by Charles E. May ISBN: 0-8214-1087-3 Publisher: Ohio Univ Pr (Txt) Pub. Date: June, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (4 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: For understanding, not writing, short stories
Comment: In short (pun intended), this is one of the two or three best books out there on the theory of short story (see also _Short Story Theory at a Crossroads_ ed. by Lohafer and Clarey).

There are countless books out there for helping you craft your own short fiction. This book is not for that, nor does it make any claims to this purpose.

Instead, it is an excellent, critical look at the history and current state of the genre of the short story. If this is at all your interest, you must have this book.

Please disregard John Jr's review, for it is "almost useless" as far as this book is concerned.

Rating: 3
Summary: Sorry, John
Comment: Just a note to my colleague John to say I am sorry he did not find the book useful. I did not intend it for creative writing classes, but for students interested in the generic nature of the short story. Perhaps he might find the earlier version of the book more helpful, but this book does represent the best current thinking about the short story I could find. And thanks to John for at least a kind word about my own essay. Charles May

Rating: 4
Summary: Great book, but difficult
Comment: John Jr (below) obviously has a little chip on his shoulder about writing theory and probably about academia.

No, this is not a how-to book filled with exercises and tips and explanations of different techniques. It is a book for the advanced student or writer, and discusses issues involved with the short story, placing the form in assorted contexts and dissecting it from those positions. It is not easy reading, but neither is it impregnable to the thoughtful reader. It will not tell you how to write short stories, but it will provide you with intelligent ways of thinking about them, and hence, being more disciplined and perhaps original in your work.

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	Title: The Short Story by Charles E. May ISBN: 041593883X Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 21 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.95
	Title: Short Story Theory at a Crossroads by Susan Lohafer, Jo Ellyn Clarey, Joellen Clarey ISBN: 080711586X Publisher: Louisiana State University Press Pub. Date: January, 1990 List Price(USD): $24.95
	Title: Reading for Storyness: Preclosure Theory, Empirical Poetics, and Culture in the Short Story by Susan Lohafer ISBN: 0801873983 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: December, 2003 List Price(USD): $42.00