Modernist (Hi)stories

Abstract

[Abstract] Chronologically speaking, the rise of the modern short story coincides with the very years of inception of the Modernist movement in England. Formally speaking, aesthetic innovation as carried out by certain writers in their short narratives predates technical achievements in their most renowned novels. This round table will focus on some short narratives by Henry James, Virginia Woolf and Rebecca West, revolving around the idea of the short story as a privileged site for path-breaking literary innovations we normally identify as “modernist”, which encompass new attempts at viewing the literary tradition.