Distinctiveness of the literary art form of short story and the objectives of the Students as readers of short stories – Part - I

Dear Students,
What is a short story?
Since what time we do not know, stories have been giving delight to mankind. Tales of man’s experience have been told and retold to very keenly interested audiences throughout human history, and he was always inclined to derive suitable morals from them. In the prehistoric times, these were circulated by words of mouth through generations, and such had been the charm of them, that they were never forgotten or lost from man’s cultural heritage. One of the oldest examples of such story telling is said to be the Egyptian tale of “The Two Brothers” (3200 B.C.). The Jataka tales describing
Buddha’s earlier births and the Sanskrit fables about animals are also very well known in the story telling scene.
Man, being a social animal, had to tell and listen to anecdotes as his impulses forced him to do so, and this naturally began before he had learnt to write. In due course of time, in a natural evolution of this trend, there came a time, when the material of the story was worked upon and turned into much more entertaining and instructive form, which would, over a period o0f time, became more sophisticated and artistic so as to be called literature. Occasionally, mighty names like Solomon, Ulysses, Varuna and the likes were linked to the story line to arouse awe in the minds of the listeners, and to add historical and mythical importance to them. Great religious or historical events also inspired much story telling, and slowly but surely, the art bloomed into such finesse and lent such wonderful shape and form to the materials that numerous such narratives became timeless, and mankind preserved them as a precious inheritance.
Innumerable fairy tales, stories of gods and supermen of bygone millennia still gives us pleasure, including the tens of thousands of myths, folktales and legends of almost all countries. Our prophets and seers also told us parables which we have listened to avidly
over the ages to satisfy both our love of tales as well as to satisfy our spiritual quests.
Almost every country’s literary history is replete with such traditions of story telling and they have easily transgressed time and space, sometimes because of their ability to solve man’s spiritual crisis, and more frequently because of their wonderful capacity to impart pure joy. The glories of the Greek legends and their heroes were sung in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The extravagant tales of the Arabian Nights found a ready audience in all the corners of the globe, and the Bible, one of the most widely read books by mankind........