The Short Story (1948) Revisited: Sean O’Faolain’s Blueprint for Irish Writing

• José Francisco Fernández ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Almería
• Localización: Moving beyond the pandemic: English and American studies in Spain / coord. por Francisco Gallardo del Puerto, María del Carmen Camus Camus, Jesús Ángel González López, 2022, ISBN 978-84-19024-15-2, págs. 154-158
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro (pdf)
• Resumen

  • The recent publication of Sean O’Faolain’s The Short Story (El relato corto) in Spanish translation provides an opportunity to reassess this seminal text in the field of short fiction scholarship. The origin of O’Faolain’s study lies in a series of articles on the craft of short story writing published by the author in the influential journal The Bell, of which O’Faolain was editor between 1940 and 1946. The list of authors who found an outlet for their writing in The Bell constitutes a collection of the most accomplished literary artists of the time and, in this sense, his role as cultural agent cannot be underestimated. The aim of this essay, however, is to consider his treatise on the short form as a blueprint for wider concerns, namely, his ideas on a cultural agenda for Ireland.