Today, I read a short story that I had last read as a child. It's called The Bet and its by Anton Chekov. Even though I must have been just 13 or 14 when I read it, I remember being moved by the story. There was an element of philosophizing in it which I couldn't fathom at that age. When I came across it today, I read it with great anticipation. Only to find it underwhelming. The philosophical bit was a rejection of worldly goods and worldly achievements.
I fell story-telling is an art that has evolved over the centuries and the old greats were simply not that good at it. Time is an important element of narrative. It is what light is to paintings. A short story, being of a shorter length, has a compressed arc of time, which is what many people struggle to get right. Telling a story without fully developed characters, bringing them to life is far fewer words than a novel, is quite difficult. Compressing the arc of time without attenuating the narrative is a challenge. In my opinion, the Americans are much better at short-story writing than British authors. But, like everything else, the Americans have turned short story-writing into a cottage industry. A lot of the short stories read formulaic and feel like they have been polished so much that they have lost some of their authenticity.
I fell story-telling is an art that has evolved over the centuries and the old greats were simply not that good at it. Time is an important element of narrative. It is what light is to paintings. A short story, being of a shorter length, has a compressed arc of time, which is what many people struggle to get right. Telling a story without fully developed characters, bringing them to life is far fewer words than a novel, is quite difficult. Compressing the arc of time without attenuating the narrative is a challenge. In my opinion, the Americans are much better at short-story writing than British authors. But, like everything else, the Americans have turned short story-writing into a cottage industry. A lot of the short stories read formulaic and feel like they have been polished so much that they have lost some of their authenticity.
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