The art of studying short stories

Short stories are sometimes rather tricky to answer on in an exam.

With a novel or play you can:

• Trace the development of characters
• Work out how the plot is layered and structured
• See how recurrent imagery develops themes the writer wants to convey.

Studying a collection of short stories is rather different, particularly if they do not contain recurring characters or settings.

• As opposed to novels, short stories frequently start in the middle of events, rather than providing significant exposition of character and situation
• Rather than showing the long term development of a protagonist, they capture a moment in a person’s life and/or a shift in awareness
• Instead of the satisfaction of a ‘closed’ ending, short stories often leave the reader to suppose what might happen next and create their own resolution. 

A collection of short stories is inevitably a more multi-faceted way for an author to communicate their ideas. They can play with different perspectives, bring out contrasting nuances, experiment with different styles. Because of this, the student needs to engage in each individual episode, yet also be able to stand back and pick out key similarities and ideas which run throughout the collection.

A new text guide on James Joyce’s Dubliners

Launched today is a helpful, free student guide to help you get to grips with Dubliners, by James Joyce. Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories that depict the everyday lives of the inhabitants of early 1900s Dublin, Ireland.

Each story focuses on different characters, but the Dubliners text guide demonstrates how several themes recur throughout the book:

• Religion
• Politics
• The backwardness of Ireland
• The desire for escape
• The passage from childhood to adulthood. 

The collection starts and ends with death - the passing of an aging priest and the loss of a young lover.

An alien culture

As the title suggests, all Joyce’s stories are linked by being set in one Irish city, which has its own distinctive culture. Because the Dublin slang and customs of the early 1900s may faze some readers, the Crossref-it.info Dubliners text guide provides clear and concise explanations of unfamiliar terms to help you navigate your way through the narratives.

Meanwhile, as a handy reference, you can also read each Dubliners story online.