Nothing is what it seems (Brief Reflection On Short Story)

The story is not better or worse than the novel, but something else. This is obvious, I must explain why the genre appeals to me briefly, like a gust of wind, which is never enough for those who like these winds are literary novels. The first advantage is that the rate at which obliges its brevity, you know right away if you like it or not the story. In the novel, however, one must go into it to gauge whether or not it's worth the effort of reading, if you will be after the just reward of an intellectual and aesthetic satisfaction. This is not a minor determinant in these times: with so many issues that demand our attention and so little time to devote to each one of them, the frustration has been mired in a bad novel is not recommended. If, by contrast, with a story that happens, nothing happens, then you will have spent just a few minutes before giving up.

You see I do not intend to perform here a theoretical justification, or epistemological or linguistic - what else would I be able to do it! - But it is a practical consideration and, ultimately, nothing banal. The other reason why one is alerted to certain novels is that the above are not such, but consist of minor arguments spiraling up to a minimal extent that justifies its publication as a unique and differentiated work. Basically, there are more stories artificially elongated and, for that reason, have lost the rhythm of the short story without even remotely close to the depth that requires a novel narrative as God commanded, saying our elders. For this reason, also, by their forced brevity, the story requires accurate and up dodge narrative technique of surprise in its outcome, to leave a pleasant taste in the reader. If the novel is like a river on the sources and tributaries that flow to be diverse and expanding and gaining volume until it empties, the story, in turn, is like water from a tap, flowing abruptly and with the same abruptly ends.

The novel claims depth, complexity and learn to fit a wide range of parts and materials that eventually form a harmonious whole. By contrast, the story does not allow such digressions, but urges him to take a direct path to the end. If this is obvious, if predictable, the story does not usually offer no interest and then goes far beyond being able to see as a more or less inconsequential anecdote ...