For nearly a century of being underestimated as a literary genre, the short story is currently experiencing a revival. The editors of this collection of articles have brought together the contributions of nine outstanding scholars in the field of the short story to reveal some of the many directions in which the genre is expanding. This book is a reasoned and well-documented anthology which casts light on new aspects of the short story. It participates in the current trend of short story criticism, characterized by the gathering in one single volume of a diversity of approaches with the main aim of promoting discussion on this thriving area of literary studies. The editors of this volume believe that a fruitful tension may rise by putting side by side insights into a not so well known tradition, on the one hand, and fresh considerations on unexpected developments of the short story, on the other. All in all, the short story emerges as a dynamic and flexible form that reacts and adapts itself better than any other literary genre to the challenges of the sceptical times we live in.