An historical and critical introduction to the Irish short story from George Moore, the founder of the genre, to Frank O'Connor, its most recent practitioner. The book is divided into two parts: Part I, an historical and critical introduction, and chapters on the four writers) Moore, James Joyce, Seumas O'Kelly, and Daniel Corkery) who contributed most of the emerging short story tradition, and Part II, which includes a brief introduction on the major writers of the post-Revolutionary period) Liam O'Flaherty, Sean O'Faolain and Frank O'Connor.