Single Effect Theory: Edgar Allan Poe's theory about what constituted a good short story. According to Poe, a good short story achieved its unity by achieving a single emotional effect on the reader. He writes of it in his review of Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales and describes it as 'a certain unique single effect to be wrought out' (Quoted in Thomas Woodson, ed., Twentieth-Century Interpretations of 'The Fall of the House of Usher' from Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1969.)

 

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