A short story cycle (sometimes referred to as a story sequence or composite novel) is a collection of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

in which the narratives are specifically composed and arranged with the goal of creating an enhanced or different experience when reading the group as a whole as opposed to its individual parts. Short story cycles are different from

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

because the parts that would make up the chapters can all stand alone as short stories, each individually containing a beginning, middle and conclusion. When read as a group there is a tension created between the ideas of the individual stories, often showing changes that have occurred over time or highlighting the conflict between two opposing concepts or thoughts. Because of this dynamic, the stories need to have an awareness of what the other stories accomplish; therefore, cycles are usually written with the express purpose of creating a cycle as opposed to being gathered and arranged later.

Definitional debates

Scholars have pointed out that there is a wide range of possibilities that fall between simple collections and novels in their most-commonly understood form. One question is how well the stories stand up individually: chapters of a novel usually cannot stand alone, whereas stories in collections are meant to be fully independent. But many books have combined stories in such a way that the stories have varying degrees of interdependence, and it is these variations that cause problems in definition. Maggie Dunn and Ann Morris, for instance, claim that the stories in a ''story cycle'' are more independent than those in a ''composite novel'', and James Nagel points out that both ''cycle'' and ''sequence'' are misleading, since ''cycle'' implies circularity and ''sequence'' implies temporal linearity, neither of which he finds to be essential to most such collections. Rolf Lundén has suggested four types of cycles, in order of decreasing unity: the ''cycle'', in which the ending resolves the conflicts brought up at the beginning (e.g., ''

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''); the ''sequence'', in which each story is linked to the ones before it but without a cumulative story that ties everything together (e.g., '' The Unvanquished''); the ''cluster'', in which the links between stories are not always made obvious and in which the discontinuity between them is more significant than their unity (e.g., ''

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''); and the ''novella'', in the classical sense of a collection of unrelated stories brought together by a

frame story A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction * Framing ( ...

and a narrator(s) (e.g., '' Winesburg, Ohio''). ll examples are Lundén's.ref name=Lunden> Robert M. Luscher compares and contrasts the short story cycle and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

short stories combined into longer fixups.

History

In their study of the genre, Maggie Dunn and Ann Morris note that the form descends from two different traditions: There are texts that are themselves assembled from other texts, such as the way the tales from the Arthurian cycle are compiled in books by Chretien de Troyes,

Wolfram von Eschenbach Wolfram von Eschenbach (; – ) was a German knight, poet and composer, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of medieval German literature. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry. Life Little is known of Wolfram's life. There ...

, Thomas Malory and the ''

Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...

''. Then there are the classic serialized novellas, many of them with frame stories; this genre includes ''

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

'', ''

The Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; it, label= Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Da ...

'', '' The Canterbury Tales'', etc. Dunn and Morris show how in the nineteenth century, the genre appeared in such forms as the village sketch collection (e.g., ''

Our Village ''Our Village'' is a collection of about 100 literary sketches of rural life written by Mary Russell Mitford (1787–1855), and originally published during the 1820s and 1830s. The series first appeared in ''The Lady's Magazine''. The full t ...

'') and the patchwork collection (e.g.,

Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known as the author of the novel '' Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels '' Little Men'' (1871) and '' Jo's Boys'' (1886). Raised ...

's ''Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag''). J. Gerald Kennedy describes the proliferation of the genre in the twentieth century, attributing it in part to the desire "to renounce the organizing authority of an omniscient narrator, asserting instead a variety of voices or perspectives reflective of the radical subjectivity of modern experience. Kennedy finds this proliferation in keeping with

modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, ...

and its use of fragmentation, juxtaposition and simultaneism to reflect the "multiplicity" that he believed to characterize that century. Scholars such as James Nagel and Rocío G. Davis have pointed out that the story cycle has been very popular among ethnic U.S. authors. Davis argues that ethnic writers find the format useful "as a metaphor for the fragmentation and multiplicity of ethnic lives" insofar as it highlights "the subjectivity of experience and understanding" by allowing "multiple impressionistic perspectives and fragmentation of simple linear history".

The composite novel

Dunn and Morris list several methods that authors use to provide unity to the collection as a whole. It has to be noted that these organising principles pertain to their theory of the composite novel as a short story collection where the focus lies on the coherent whole. (the examples are theirs): The organising principles * a geographical area: '' The Country of the Pointed Firs'', ''

Dubliners ''Dubliners'' is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. The stories were wri ...

'', ''

The Women of Brewster Place ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'' * a central protagonist, which has the option of also being the narrator: '' Cosmicomics'', '' Winesburg, Ohio'', '' The Woman Warrior'', '' A Certain Lucas'' * a collective protagonist: '' In Our Time'', ''

'', '' Love Medicine'', '' Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza'' * patterns to create coherence: '' Three Lives'', ''

Exile and the Kingdom ''Exile and the Kingdom'' (french: L'exil et le royaume) is a 1957 collection of six short stories by French writer Albert Camus. First published in French, in translation, it was not well received by contemporary English critics. The underlyi ...

'', ''

The Golden Apples ''The Golden Apples'' is a short story collection with seven stories written by Eudora Welty, first published in 1949. The stories form an interrelated cycle, which explores the economic and social plight of the fictional Morgana Mississippi: � ...

'', '' A Yellow Raft in Blue Water'' * focus on storytelling itself: ''

The Way to Rainy Mountain ''The Way to Rainy Mountain'' (1969) is a book by Pulitzer Prize winning author N. Scott Momaday. It is about the journey of Momaday's Kiowa ancestors from their ancient beginnings in the Montana area to their final war and surrender to the United ...

'', '' Pricksongs & Descants'', ''How to Make an American Quilt'' Multiple of these organizing principles may be used in order to create a composite novel.

Titles using cycle technique

*''

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain ''A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain'' is a 1992 collection of short stories by Robert Olen Butler. It received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1993. Each story in the collection is narrated by a different Vietnamese immigrant living in th ...

'' *'' A Hero of Our Time'' *'' A Sportsman's Sketches'' *'' A Visit From the Goon Squad'' *'' A Young Doctor's Notebook'' *'' Annie John'' *''

Cane Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking *Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance *White cane, a mobility or safety device used by many people who are b ...

'' *''

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

'' *''

The Conjure Woman ''The Conjure Woman'' is a collection of short stories by African-American fiction writer, essayist, and activist Charles W. Chesnutt. First published in 1899, ''The Conjure Woman'' is considered a seminal work of African-American literature compo ...

'' *'' The Country of the Pointed Firs'' *''

Dark Avenues ''Dark Avenues'' (or ''Dark Alleys'', russian: Тёмные аллеи, Tyomnyie alleyi) is a collection of short stories by Nobel Prize-winning Russian author Ivan Bunin. Written in 1937–1944, mostly in Grasse, France, the first eleven sto ...

'' *''

The Finer Grain Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

'' *'' For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf'' *''

'' *'' The Golovlyov Family'' *'' Hearts in Atlantis'' *''

The House on Mango Street ''The House on Mango Street'' is a 1984 novel by Mexican-American author Sandra Cisneros. Structured as a series of vignettes, it tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, a 12-year-old Chicana girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago. Based ...

'' *'' The Housebreaker of Shady Hill and Other Stories'' *'' How the García Girls Lost Their Accents'' *'' I, Robot'' *'' In Our Time'' *'' The Joy Luck Club'' *''

The Last of the Menu Girls A last is a mechanical form shaped like a human foot. It is used by shoemakers and cordwainers in the manufacture and repair of shoes. Lasts come in many styles and sizes, depending on the exact job they are designed for. Common variations in ...

'' *'' Legends of the Province House'' *''

Linmill Stories ''Linmill Stories'' is the title of a short story cycle written by the playwright Robert McLellan in the Scots language. He began writing the stories in 1939, publishing some of them piecemeal and separately throughout the post-war years until, i ...

'' *''

Lives of Girls and Women ''Lives of Girls and Women'' is a short story cycle by Nobel Prize–winning author Alice Munro, published by McGraw-Hill Ryerson in 1971. All of the stories chronicle the life of a single character, Del Jordan, and the book has been characteriz ...

'' *'' Love Medicine'' *''

The Martian Chronicles ''The Martian Chronicles'' is a science fiction fix-up novel, published in 1950, by American writer Ray Bradbury that chronicles the exploration and settlement of Mars, the home of indigenous Martians, by Americans leaving a troubled Earth tha ...

'' *'' Monkeys (novel)'' *''

Mrs. Spring Fragrance ''Mrs. Spring Fragrance'' was a popular short story collection by Sui Sin Far, pen name of Chinese-British-Canadian-American writer Edith Maude Eaton. The work is notable for being "the earliest book of fiction published in the United States b ...

'' *''

Old Creole Days George Washington Cable (October 12, 1844 – January 31, 1925) was an American novelist notable for the realism of his portrayals of Creole life in his native New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been called "the most important southern artist ...

'' *'' Olinger Stories'' *'' Olive, Again'' *'' Olive Kitteridge'' *''

The Piazza Tales ''The Piazza Tales'' is a collection of six short stories by American writer Herman Melville, published by Dix & Edwards in the United States in May 1856 and in Britain in June. Except for the newly written title story, "The Piazza," all of th ...

'' *'' Pictures of Fidelman'' *'' Pulp Fiction'' *'' Red Cavalry'' *''

Sinbad the Sailor Sinbad the Sailor (; ar, سندباد البحري, Sindibādu al-Bahriyy; fa, سُنباد بحری, Sonbād-e Bahri or Sindbad) is a fictional mariner and the hero of a story-cycle of Persian origin. He is described as hailing from Baghda ...

'' *'' The Seven Wonders'' *'' The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.'' *'' The Things They Carried'' *'' Three Lives'' *'' Three Tales'' *'' Uncle Tom's Children'' *''

The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 ''The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963'' is a historical-fiction novel by Christopher Paul Curtis. First published in 1995 by Delacorte Press, it was reprinted in 1997. It tells the story of the Watsons, a lower middle class African-American fa ...

'' *''

The Wide Net Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel ''The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerous ...

'' *'' Winesburg, Ohio'' *''

References

{{Reflist * Literary genres Fiction forms