<\/p>\n
If there were a nineteenth century synonym for \u201cshort story,\u201d it would be \u201ctale.\u201d It is by far the most common term used by nineteenth century authors to refer to their own short fiction. However, its use was not limited to brief narratives; authors also used it to refer to novel-length texts, such as Elizabeth Gaskell\u2019s Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life<\/em> (1848), and to narrative verse, such as Sir Walter Scott\u2019s Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field <\/em>(1808). Anthony Jarrells explores the variable nature of the tale, arguing that unlike the novel, and later the short story, \u201cthe tale remained open to the forms and content that surrounded it and in many cases made no attempt at synthesis.\u201d1<\/sup><\/a>Anthony Jarrells, \u201cShort Fictional Forms and the Rise of the Tale,\u201d in The Oxford History of the Novel in English: Volume 2, English and British Fiction 1750-1920<\/em>. Eds. Peter Garside and Karen O\u2019Brien, Oxford: Oxford UP, 2015, 478-94: 491.<\/span><\/span>