Our essay deals with a literary genre, the short story, and we approach the short story from Literary Theory and Literary Criticism. On the one hand, we study its historical development, its definition, its essential characteristics and, also, other genres close to it, such as sketch, yam, Marchen, Jable, parable or novella. On the other hand, we analyse the critical theory of Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce about the short story in their essays "The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale" by Poe, and "The Short Story" by Bierce. Both writers agree with the fact that the most important quality of the short story is the unity of effect on the reader. That is an idea that remains still alive at present among authors and critics.
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