"The novel is 300 years old. The short story is from the beginning of time"

Pritchett, Sir Victor Sawdon, British writer and literary critic (1900-1997). Autograph manuscript of his lecture "The Short Story", with additional notes, given at the National Book Exhibition on 3 November 1949.

$1,333.00

The lecture discusses the merits of the short story: "The novel is 300 years old. The short story is from the beginning of time [...] It is as old as human conversation, the eternal 'I said to her, I said, it isn’t right I said' [...] you sit on the bus and you hear this interminable story telling going on. What do you learn from listening? First, that while few of these stories have plots, they all have suspense, dramatic or emotional climax and pattern. Above all pattern". Pritchett demonstrates his argument through the analysis of works by authors such as James Joyce ("that masterpiece of atmosphere [...] The Dead"), Hemingway, and Woolf, claiming these as "the great originals of the short story". Pritchett continues, stating that these stories "are not English. They are Russian, French, and American [...] there life is [...] freer, more restless, and this is far more suited to the short story writer than our [...] English life with its set ways and its cult of privacy".

Aside from being a champion of the form, Pritchett was also a hugely successful writer of the short story, with his collections including "Make Your Own Life" (1938), "It May Never Happen" (1945), and "When My Girl Comes Home" (1961). These lecture notes are likely unpublished.