What distinguishes short fiction from very short fiction, besides length?

Subject: What distinguishes short fiction from very short fiction, besides length?
From: Bloomyberg (bloomyberg@usa.net)
Date: Wed May 10 2000 - 19:34:50 GMT

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Greetings to all fellow bananafishers. I would like to ask what everyone's
opinion is of very short fiction. If length is not considered, how does one
distinguish a short story from a very short story? (By very short fiction, I
mean the stories that are included in such books as Short Shorts, edited by
Irving and Elaine Howe. An example of such a story would be Hemingway's "A
Clean Well-Lighted Place").

I suspect that the distinguishing mark of very short fiction is its absolute
concentration on a single event or theme, but I also suspect that such a
description could just as easily apply to many novels. Besides, even very
short stories can be multithematic.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Bloomyberg

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