Dictionary of Literary Biography: American Short Story Writers, 1880-1910

The three decades covered in this DLB volume demonstrate dramatic changes in the conception of the short story form in America. Remarkable upheavals were taking place in the Western world-shifts in culture and expectations for the future based on the dizzying speed of transformation brought about by the Industrial Revolution. The texture of daily life mirrored these changes, and the new age gave rise to a new literature reflecting its impulses-one which described and evaluated the tensions and complexities of American life and character. Because the short story had its first great flowering within this time frame, most of the 31 authors profiled here had a profound impact on the literary form it developed.

31 entries include: Mary Austin, Alice Brown, Mary Hartwell Catherwood, George Randolph Chester, Stephen Crane, Richard Harding Davis, Zona Gale, Robert Herrick, Jack London, Thomas Nelson Page, Edith Wharton.