This paper discusses R.A. Braudes’ short stories that were published in the second half of the 1870s, during his three-and-a-half-year residency in Lviv. This was a period of dramatic changes in Haskalah literature, and also a significant period in Braudes’ work when he first attained his status as a novelist. In light of this success, I will explore why Braudes persisted in using the short-story genre, one that was considered trivial and did not earn him the recognition he received for his longer works, and discuss what literary and conceptual possibilities the short story gave him that his novels failed to give.
 

This paper discusses R.A. Braudes’ short stories that were published in the second half of the 1870s, during his three-and-a-half-year residency in Lviv. This was a period of dramatic changes in Haskalah literature, and also a significant period in Braudes’ work when he first attained his status as a novelist. In light of this success, I will explore why Braudes persisted in using the short-story genre, one that was considered trivial and did not earn him the recognition he received for his longer works, and discuss what literary and conceptual possibilities the short story gave him that his novels failed to give.