Critical indifference to short fiction has been attributed to a general lack of attention to the intrinsic study of literature prior to the advent of 20th century formalist criticism.

• 从俄国形式主义和法国结构主义理论家对几部欧美经典短篇小说的解读中不难看出,在对短篇小说的态度上,20世纪形式批评与非形式批评并无二致。