Marshall Brown, Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Washington and longtime Editor of Modern Language Quarterly, discusses the origins and rise of the short story as well as its characteristics.

The Department of English holds a biennial symposium focusing on literature, race, ethnicity, and other topics. Each symposium features a variety of distinguished guests—writers, professors, journalists, and others well recognized in their fields—who speak and lead discussions during the course of the three-day event. The theme for 2015 is “Literature of Status/The Status of Literature,” with a keynote address from Marshall Brown, Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of...