The theory of the contemporary short story emerged from The Philosophy of Composition, a critical text written by Edgar A. Poe to explain in detail how he created his poem The Raven, insisting that no part of his work has to be referred to chance or intuition. Poe, known as the master of the short story, especially horror and mystery, was the first writer to define the story in this way and demonstrated his artistic theory in some of his own stories, manipulating settings, characters and dialogues to inexorably create in the reader the mood conducive to the perfect crime. This brevity and need for condensation recommended in principle for the center demonstrate its kinship with poetry. Proof of this is that The Philosophy of Composition is based on the analysis of The Raven: the features pointed out in the text became the theoretical basis for the characterization of the story, as it ...read more
