The word story comes from the Latin term compŭtus, which means “account”. The concept refers to a brief narrative of imaginary events. Its specificity cannot be pinpointed, so the difference between a long story and a novella is difficult to determine.
A story presents a small group of characters and a plot that is not too complex, since the economy of narrative resources appears among its characteristics.
Fictional events are narrated in a story.
Story types
It is possible to distinguish between two main types of stories: the popular story and the literary story.
The popular story is usually associated with traditional narratives that are transmitted from generation to generation orally. There may be different versions of the same story, since there are stories that maintain a similar structure but with different details.
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The literary short story, on the other hand, is associated with the modern short story. These are stories conceived by writing and transmitted in the same way. While the majority of popular tales do not present a differentiated author, the case of literary tales is different, since their creator is usually known.
Stories of yesterday and today
Among the first stories written in the Spanish language appears “El conde Lucanor”, a collection that was written by the infante Don Juan Manuel between the years 1330 and 1335.
One of the publishers dedicated to the most important short story is Páginas de Espuma. It was founded in 1999, under the direction of Juan Casamayor, and its headquarters are in Madrid. In addition to storybooks, his other specialty is humanities essays. One of its most outstanding characteristics is the large number of authors from Latin America whom it publishes, despite being a Spanish house.
On the other hand we have Ediciones Siruela, also Spanish, founded by Jacobo Siruela in 1982. It is under the direction of Ofelia Grande de Andrés. It has in its catalog several of the most important short story writers, whom it publishes in its very extensive list of collections, among which New Times, The Three Ages, Lobo Antunes Library and Out of Collection can be mentioned.
Short stories are shorter than novels.
Great storytellers
Story writing is an art that many do not appreciate, incorrectly considering it below the creation of a novel or other more successful genres in the market. However, it is enough to approach this art with a little sensitivity to understand that it is a universe as magical and vast as any other. And this is due, needless to say, to the great talents behind him.
One of the most outstanding short story writers of the late 20th century is Valeria Correa Fiz, born in the Argentine city of Rosario in 1971. Although her love for literature accompanied her since childhood, she only became known in 2015. Her work has taken her to live in various parts of the world, such as Italy, the United States and Spain, focusing on activities as varied as directing a book club and teaching. We can highlight her books From her The animal condition and The winter at odd hours.
Nor can we fail to mention Andrés Neuman, born in Argentina and nationalized Spanish. In his upbringing, art always played a major role, as his mother was a violinist and his father an oboist. Some of his most relevant works are The one who waits and Playing dead.
On the other hand, the Royal Spanish Academy mentions that the word story can also refer to the indiscreet account of an event, the narration of a false event or a hoax. For example: “Pedro came with the story that he can’t find a job”.
