short story

Images & Videos

Analyze short fiction elements evidenced in “The Gift of the Magi,” “The Necklace,” and “The Magic Shop”

Learn about Ernest Hemingway's short story “My Old Man” and his time as an expatriate in Paris

The Panchatantra

Follow a dramatization of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic American short story “Dr. Heidegger's Experiment”

Learn why Herman Melville's enigmatic hero in the short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” prefers not

Explore Herman Melville's classic American short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” with Charles Van Doren

See Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky's short story “The Crocodile” brought to life

Examine how to direct a film adaption of Walter van Tilburg Clark's short story “The Portable Phonograph”

Know about Katherine Mansfield, her writing technique, influences, and contribution to literary modernism

“The Pit and the Pendulum”

For Students

“The Pit and the Pendulum”

short story summary

Read Next

Duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, illustration after a painting by J. Mund.

10 Famous Duels

Chapter 4 pg 42 - Chapter header of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Published in 1884 by The American Publishing Company

Periods of American Literature

poem. A poet in a Heian period kimono writes Japanese poetry during the Kamo Kyokusui No En Ancient Festival at Jonan-gu shrine on April 29, 2013 in Kyoto, Japan. Festival of Kyokusui-no Utage orignated in 1,182, party Heian era (794-1192).

World Poetry Day

Discover

Vietnam War. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson awards the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant Marty A. Hammer, during a visit to military personnel, Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, October 26, 1966. President Johnson

Vietnam War Timeline

Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles

Why Is Pluto No Longer a Planet?

Ice Sledge Hockey, Hockey Canada Cup, USA (left) vs Canada, 2009. UBC Thunderbird Arena, Vancouver, BC, competition site for Olympic ice hockey and Paralympic ice sledge hockey. Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Vancouver Olympics

10 Best Hockey Players of All Time

Orange basketball on black background and with low key lighting. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

The 10 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time

In this aerial photo, structures are damaged and destroyed October 15, 2005 in Balakot, Pakistan. It is estimated that 90% of the city of Balakot was leveled by the earthquake. The death toll in the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005 is believed to be 38,000 with at least 1,300 more dead in Indian Kashmir. SEE CONTENT NOTES.

6 of the World’s Deadliest Natural Disasters

Secret Service Agent Listens To Earpiece

Secret Service Code Names of 11 U.S. Presidents

bird. mourning dove. pigeon and dove. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) family Columbidae.

Nikola Tesla's Weird Obsession with Pigeons

short story: Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos and Videos

The Panchatantra

“The Pit and the Pendulum”

Analyze short fiction elements evidenced in “The Gift of the Magi,” “The Necklace,” and “The Magic Shop”

Learn about Ernest Hemingway's short story “My Old Man” and his time as an expatriate in Paris

Follow a dramatization of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic American short story “Dr. Heidegger's Experiment”

Learn why Herman Melville's enigmatic hero in the short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” prefers not

Explore Herman Melville's classic American short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” with Charles Van Doren

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

literature novel children’s literature tragedy dramatic literature comedy biography folk literature epic romance poetry

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

German author

Mark Twain

Mark Twain

American writer

Liu Cixin

Liu Cixin

Chinese author

Writer at work

Ismat Chughtai

Indian writer

David Unaipon

David Unaipon

Australian inventor, writer, and activist

Norman Maclean

American author and teacher

Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay

American writer and cultural critic

Celeste Ng

Celeste Ng

American author

George Saunders

George Saunders

American author

N.K. Jemisin

N.K. Jemisin

American author

James McBride

James McBride

American musician, journalist, and author

John Boyne

John Boyne

Irish author

Han Kang, 2024 Nobel Prize winner for literature

Han Kang

South Korean writer

Ted Chiang

Ted Chiang

American author

Ottessa Moshfegh

Ottessa Moshfegh

American author

Jeffrey Eugenides

Jeffrey Eugenides

American author

Olga Tokarczuk

Olga Tokarczuk

Polish author

Percival Everett

Percival Everett

American author

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes

Spanish writer

Voltaire

Voltaire

French philosopher and author

Quiz

Row of colorful books on a bookshelf. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

The Literary World

Nobel prize-winning American author, Pearl S. Buck, at her home, Green Hills Farm, near Perkasie, Pennsylvania, 1962. (Pearl Buck)

Novels and Novelists Quiz