4 h 15 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 104 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 104 pagesAbout this book
What happens when ordinary city life leaves just enough room for the impossible?
In Tales of Fantasy and Fact, Brander Matthews brings the fanciful close to everyday life. Some tales turn toward the strange, the playful and the unlikely. Others enter the familiar world of cities, clubs and drawing rooms. Together, they invite you to look twice at the boundary between what seems possible and what feels true.
Matthews is both a storyteller and a critic who cares about the short story as an art. His fiction pairs a sharp eye for manners with a light touch. Here, the pleasure lies not in headlong action, but in polished tales, human observation and the way a clean ending gathers a story together.
What you’ll discover
- Fantasy beside fact Explore tales where the imaginary sits beside the ordinary, each sharpening your sense of the other.
- Clubs and drawing rooms Step into social worlds where manners give Matthews rich material for close, witty observation.
- A critic tells tales Discover fiction by a writer who thinks deeply about what makes a short story work.
- The pleasure of shape Enjoy clear, carefully built narratives whose clean closes draw their separate threads together.
- Wonder with a light touch Find gentle surprises in stories that balance playful imagination with an eye for everyday life.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who enjoy short, carefully made fiction from the late Victorian age, and anyone curious about how the American short story took shape. If you want fast action or deep psychological drama, you may find it too gentle.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A critic writes the stories he praised
- Fantasy and fact live side by side
- Manners and city life supply the material
- The form matters as much as the plot
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- 15-minute summary
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- 6 × 9 in, 104 pages: USD 6.95 when you start free, USD 13.95 on its own.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Tales of Fantasy and Fact
by Brander Matthews· 1896
Short stories move between ordinary social life and the strange.
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Language: English
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
A critic writes the stories he praised
Brander Matthews spent much of his life thinking about stories. He taught literature at Columbia University and wrote essays on the theater, on novels and on the short story. He argued that the short story is a form of its own, not merely a short novel. In his view it should aim at a single effect and should not waste a word.
That belief shapes his fiction. His tales are compact, and each one is built around a single idea, a single situation or a single turn of feeling. You will not meet long digressions or large casts of characters. The pleasure comes from economy and from a sense that each piece was planned before it was written.
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The author
Brander Matthews
1852–1929 · American literary critic and professor
Brander Matthews was an American critic, essayist, and story writer — the first full-time professor of dramatic literature at an American university and a fixture of New York literary life; Tales of Fantasy and Fact shows his lighter, inventive side.
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Questions about Tales of Fantasy and Fact
Can I read it free?
Yes. The beginning, from the first page to the end of chapter 1, and the first 5 minutes of the audiobook are free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 90 days, with the eBook to keep. After that, your first year is 50% off. You also get 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
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What if it is not for me?
Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. If you have paid and the library is not for you, ask within 60 days of your first payment and we refund it in full.
What is Tales of Fantasy and Fact about?
It is a collection of short stories by Brander Matthews. The tales mix fanciful or imaginative situations with realistic scenes of social life, written in a clear, light and often humorous style.
Who was Brander Matthews?
He was an American writer, critic and teacher who taught at Columbia University. He wrote fiction and drama, and he is well known for his essays on theater and for his views on how a short story should be built.
Is Tales of Fantasy and Fact hard to read?
No. The stories are short, the language is plain by the standards of the period, and the tone is easygoing. You can read one tale at a time without needing background knowledge.
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