26th Annual Student Research Conference
The Atomic Model of the Novel: The Novel as Short Story
Kirk A. Schlueter
Dr. David Partenheimer, Faculty Mentor
The study of the novel as a genre is marked by confusion and chaos. I propose to attempt to dispel some of this confusion by positing that the form we think of as the novel is actually one of two things. Either it is a collection of short stories arranged in a sequence so that they function as an episodic narrative, or a novel is an extended short story. By defining the novel in this way, much of the disagreement and confusion surrounding the study of the novel as a genre can hopefully be made clearer, with the novel being studied from the bottom-up rather than from the top-down. In this manner, a new way of studying the novel can be formulated, by viewing the short story as a basic unit of genre on which the novel is constructed.
Keywords: novel, short story, genre studies
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 405-1
Location: VH 1320
Time: 2:30