Some Anomalies of the Short Story (from Literature and Life)

"Some Anomalies of the Short Story (from Literature and Life)" by William Dean Howells is a literary essay from the late 1800s that thinks about short stories. The book considers what makes these stories special and how good they are as a type of writing. Howells looks at why people like reading short stories one at a time, but might not like them as much when they are all together in a book. He talks about how short stories make readers use their imaginations, and if reading too many can get tiring compared to reading a novel. Howells believes short stories are still very different from novels, even though they have a long history and lots of possibilities. He also thinks about how short stories have changed over time in different places and what they are like now in America, pointing out both the good and bad things about them.