It was Poe who emphasized the idea that a short story should give a single impression and should be of a length that allowed the reader to read it within an hour. From Poe’s early definition, it’s only a small step to a definition of the short story as we know it today – a brief narrative that focuses on a single incident or character and treats it so concisely that the reader is left with a dominant impression.

It is this brief narrative form that you find today in popular magazines such as The New Yorker, Harper’s, as well as the Sunday supplement of many newspapers, various literary journals, and anthologies.