None

The short novel according to Wilfrid Sheed "is a form which the greatest masters find essential for certain effects." The masters are here in abundance, from Dostoevsky to Faulkner, Chekhov to Fowles, Mark Twain to Philip Roth. In his perspective critical introduction, Mr. Sheed explains why these stories had to be exactly this length and no longer, and what part they played in their authors' careers. Presenting a splendid group of writers at their best, this volume perfectly illustrates Mr. Sheed's bravura defense of a literary form that offers "such drama as can be taken at one sitting- a scale that literature can hardly afford to forfeit."--Publisher description.