From scarcity to atomization: a history of the canon of the Spanish microfiction

Abstract

Canon has been one of the most important concepts in contemporary literary theory. This is a controversial but very useful concept to study literary genres such as the flash fiction. This article will study the history of the Spanish microfiction in relation to the establishment of its canon. After establishing some basic notions about this concept, the different stages in which the history of the genre in our country can be divided will be reviewed. In the first place, the relevance of this temporalization will be justified in order to later analyze the characteristics of the micro-story in each one of them. Likewise, the configuration of the canon in this period will be studied and the most important books and authors of each stage will be cited, indicating the reasons for their inclusion in the canon. The article will end with a reflection on the challenges that the flash fiction must face in its immediate future and how social networks influence the establishment of its canon.