conten.2
/kɒnt/, U.S. /kɔnt/ a. A short story (as a form of literary composition).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > other fictional narrative > [noun] > novelette or short story
novelc1500
novella1677
nouvelle1680
novelette1780
novelet1815
long short story1877
short story1877
conte1891
short1912
long short1929
shorty1934
1891 A. Lang Ess. in Little 205 Few men have succeeded both in the conte and the novel.
1908 Daily Chron. 26 Feb. 3/3 There is no demand for the conte in England.
1929 Encycl. Brit. VI. 328/1 The most perfect modern writer of contes is Guy de Maupassant.
1948 F. R. Leavis Great Trad. i. 2 The use made of him [sc. Defoe] in the nineteen-twenties by the practitioners of the fantastic conte (or pseudo-moral fable).
b. spec. A medieval narrative tale (with express or implied reference to Marie de France's Guigemar, lines 19 and 883).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > types of narrative or story generally > [noun] > medieval narrative tale
conte1906
1906 Mod. Lang. Notes XXI. ii. 49/1 The author of Sir Orfeo makes here the same careful distinction between the tale (‘conte’ or ‘aventure’) and the Breton lai that Marie had made.
1929 M. Wattie Lai le Freine p. xvi Obviously the Celtic lais arose out of narratives (contes).
1954 A. J. Bliss Sir Orfeo p. xxxii There can be little doubt that these passages refer to a genuine Breton lai, not to a narrative lai, still less to a strictly Classical conte.
Derivatives
conteur n. /kɒnˈtəː/ a composer of contes; also, a narrator.
/kɒnˈtəː/ a composer of contes; also, a narrator.ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > other fictional narrative > [noun] > novelette or short story > writer of
story writer1747
conteur1857
novelettist1883
noveletter1907
short-storyist1936
1857 A. Mathews Tea-table Talk i. 153 Theodore Hook's..real disdain of..dancers, ‘reminds me’, as determined conteurs say, of another..more memorable evening.
1908 Mod. Lang. Notes XXIII. 205 (title) Thomas and Marie in their relation to the conteurs.
1908 Mod. Lang. Notes XXIII. 207/2 We are apparently dealing here with a writer and one or several ‘conteurs’.
1965 R. S. Loomis in Bessinger & Creed Medieval & Linguistic Stud. 236 All these Welsh tales..were..adopted by the people of Vannes..and coming to the attention of the professional conteurs excited their imagination.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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