Transatlantic Print Culture and the Emergence of Short Narratives

doi:10.1017/9781009292863.004

Chapter 1 - Transatlantic Print Culture and the Emergence of Short Narratives

from Part I - Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2023

Oliver Scheiding

Edited by

Michael J. Collins and

Gavin Jones

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Michael J. Collins: Affiliation:
King's College London
Gavin Jones: Affiliation:
Stanford University

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Summary

The chapter explores the emergence of the American short story in the context of a “culture of wonder” that dominated the Atlantic world of print prior to Washington Irving. Although ghost stories, and tales of apparitions and witchcraft were often discarded as formless pieces, these “small tales” were widely reprinted in the pages of early transatlantic magazines, fostering sensational effects as well as transgressive stories about individuals whose behavior was outside the norm. The chapter examines the circulation of early short narratives in the context of serialized imprints such as magazines and newspapers. It focuses on popular topics such as ghost stories and sensationalistic tales. Moreover, the chapter unearths the rich archive of transatlantic storytelling, demonstrating how the short form combines oral and textual performances conditioning the nineteenth-century tale as it can be found in the writings of Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe.

Keywords

print culture transnationalism literary networks tale ghost story sensationalism supernaturalism gothicism magazine remediation

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Companion to the American Short Story , pp. 17 - 30

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009292863.004 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

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