is theory of the
species:--

"The ordinary novel is objectionable, from its length, for reasons
already stated in substance. As it cannot be read at one sitting, it
deprives itself, of course, of the immense force derivable from
_totality_. Worldly interests intervening during the pauses of
perusal, modify, annul, or counteract, in a greater or less degree,
the impressions of the book. But simple cessation in reading would, of
itself, be sufficient to destroy the true unity. In the brief tale,
however, the author is enabled to carry out the fulness of his
intention, be it what it may. During the hour of perusal the soul of
the reader is at the writer's control. There are no external or
extrinsic influences--resulting from weariness or interruption.

"A skilful literary artist has constructed a tale. If wise, he has not
fashioned his thoughts to accommodate his incidents; but having
conceived, with deliberate care, a certain unique or single _effect_
to be wrought out, he then invents such incidents--he then combines
such events as may best aid him in establishing this preconceived
effect. If his very initial sentence tend not to the outbringing of
this effect, then he has failed in his first step. In the whole
composition there should be no word written, of which the tendency,
direct or indirect, is not to the one preestablished design. And by
such means, with such care and skill, a picture is at length painted
which leaves in the mind of him who contemplates it with a kindred
art, a sense of the fullest satisfaction. The idea of the tale has
been presented unblemished, because undisturbed; and this is an end
unattainable by the novel. Undue brevity is just as exceptionable here
as in the poem; but undue length is yet more to be avoided."

=The Formula of Brander Matthews.=--From the very outset, the currency
of Poe's short-stories was international; and his concrete example in
striving for totality of impression exerted an immediate influence not
only in America but even more in France. But his abstract theory,
which (for obvious reasons) did not become so widely known, was not
received into the general body of critical thought until much later in
the century. It remained for Professor Brander Matthews, in his
well-known essay on "The Philosophy of the Short-story," printed
originally in _Lippincott's Magazine_ for October, 1885,[4] to state
explicitly what had lain implicit in the passage of Poe's criticism
alread