This essay will consider four of this type of story, by short story

This essay will consider four of this type of story, by short story writers of the period; Dickens’ The Signal Man, The Monkeys Paw’ by W W Jacobs, H G Wells The Red Room and The Dream Woman by Wilkie Collins. LOOKING AT THE ATTUTUDES OF THE PERIOD, EXAMINE HOW A RANGE OF 19TH CENTURY WRITERS CREATE MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE IN THEIR SHORT SHORIES The rise in popularity of magazines in Victorian times and the era’s fascination in the unknown and supernatural led to immense interest in the short story genre. The key to the success of short stories is holding the reader’s attention by the use of interesting and meaningful subject matter, by using a condensed style of writing in order to maintain suspense and intrigue. The Victorian era saw great development in science which led to conflicts in belief between faith and science, and rationalism and the supernatural. Many of the 19th century short stories concerned the supernatural. This essay will consider four of this type of story, by short story writers of the period; Dickens’ ‘The Signal Man’, ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ by W W Jacobs, H G Wells’ ‘The Red Room’ and ‘The Dream Woman’ by Wilkie Collins. These authors create mystery and suspense in a variety of ways; in the location of the story, the technique of narrative blurring where the readers’ imagination is allowed to conjure up its worst fears, inconclusive endings leaving some vital questions unanswered, unseen terror, mysterious characters and the type of language used. I will explore all of these aspects of their writing. The location of all these short stories plays a very important role in setting the scene. They were written at the beginning of the Romantic Period which gave rise to a taste for... ...ecame very popular as they came around at a time of change, and looked at the possibilities of the supernatural which were unheard of before this time. There are many methods of creating mystery and suspense; the effective use of language and writing styles to create characters of intrigue and mystery. Using locations to create a feeling of loneliness, isolation and despair add to the suspense of a short story. Additionally, short stories often include characters of mystery that the reader never has the opportunity to learn more about, thus maintaining the feeling of suspense. In my opinion one of the most effective ways 19th century writers created mystery and suspense in their short story writing was by quickening the pace and rhythm of the text by using short, snappy sentences and chapters which cannot help to engage the reader and quicken their pulse.