America has a strong association with the short story and I had always been taught that the modern short story began with American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Then I came across a piece which suggested an earlier chronology:
l74l -- First American magazines appear: Andrew Bradford's
American Magazine and Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine, and Historical
Chronicle.
l789 -- Beginnings of short fiction in American magazines:
"Azakia: A Canadian Story" in Monthly Miscellany and Vermont
Magazine, "The Story of the Captain's Wife and an Aged Woman" in
Gentleman and Lady's Town and Country Magazine 6 (Oct-Nov).
l8l5 -- The North American Review established. l8l9 --
Washington Irving's The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. published
serially in the United States, and in volume form (l820) in England.
l82l -- The Saturday Evening Post established. l822 --
Irving's Bracebridge Hall: or, The Humorists published in England.
l824 -- Irving's Tales of a Traveller published in
England.
l830-2 -- Nathaniel Hawthorne's earliest tales
("Provincial Tales" and "Seven Tales of My Native Land")
published individually in Token, Salem Gazette, and Atlantic Souvenir.
Clearly, America has played a
key role in the development of the genre for well over 250 years.
John Dean
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