Short Fiction Before the Nineteenth Century: Missing Links in the History of the Short Story

The history of short narrative is a complex matter of debate. Most critical analyses agree on the considerable success of the genre during the 19th century, triggered by the production of magazines and serial publications, while less attention has been devoted to 18th century production, probably due to the cannibalizing effect of the new genre of the novel. This contribution tries to settle the question of the apparent gap between a rich production of short narrative in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and the “rebirth” of the genre in the 19th century, after a silence of two and a half centuries.