The Nineteenth-Century French Short Story

Allan H. Pasco is the Hall Distinguished Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature at the University of Kansas. Specializing in French culture, his critical and historical orientations are rooted in literature. The 19th-Century French Short Story focuses on reasons for the power of the French short story, and follows his earlier consideration of novel forms, Inner Workings of the Novel. Professor Pasco has published ten books on Proust, Balzac, romanticism, allusion, concepts of affection, aesthetic forms, and the thoroughly revised, expanded second edition of his anthology of nineteenth-century short stories. His articles have appeared in such journals as French Studies, Modern Language Review, PMLA, New Literary History, and the Revue d'Histoire Littéraire. While serving on eight editorial boards, he was recognized with the Civilian Service Award by the US government, and has been listed both in the Marquis Who's Who in America since 1999 and, more recently, the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also been named a Chevalier in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French government.

Chapter 1: On Defining Short Stories

Chapter 2: Sequential Uncertainty in Vivant Denon’s "Point de lendemain"

Chapter 3: Huysmans and the Bifocal Dilemma

Chapter 4: Sequence Denied in Barbey’s "Don Juan" and " Le Dessous de cartes"

Chapter 5: Sequence Framed in Mérimée’s Carmen

Chapter 6: Reforming Society and Genre in Hugo’s "Claude Gueux"

Chapter 7: Flaubert’s Talking Heads in the Cyclical Trois Contes

Chapter 8: The Power of Ambiguity in Balzac’s Open Closures

Chapter 9: Maupassant’s Exploding Closures

Chapter 10: Conclusion