For a critique of microfiction: Introduction

Abstract

This introduction assesses the critical reach of microfiction as a concept and problematizes the paradoxical status of the flash fiction, halfway between mind game and artistic imposture. We postulate the existence of a “suspense of brevity”, a procedural suspense entirely turned towards the mechanisms of writing, which integrates the work of reading –the very exegesis of the tale– as a part of the fiction. Between revolution and aesthetic impasse, the famous monophrastic tale of Monterroso, paradigmatic summary of all the paradoxes on which the genre feeds, serves as a common thread for reflection.