This volume explores the varieties of the short form in American literature, art, and culture as well as different ideas and aesthetics of simplicity, plainness, and brevity from the 19th century to the present. The contributors discuss how these ideas were translated into widely diverging practices, serving an equally broad spectrum of cultural and political functions. The essays survey a range of media and genres, including short fiction, plays, popular rhetoric, songs, photography, film, and Twitter.

Isabell Klaiber is Akademische Rätin in American Studies at Universität Tübingen. Oliver Scheiding is Professor of American Studies at Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz. Jan Stievermann is Professor for the history of Christianity in the USA.