There is nothing more contentious than trying to define what a "short story" is and of what length, and differentiate it from a novella. Some of the broadest categorizations will put the number of anywhere between 7,500 and 30,000 words. The development of the modern "short story" is situated in the 19th century.

The shorter works of many 19th century German and French authors are often referred to as "novellen" and they may comprise 20 - 30 pages, sometimes upwards of 50-80 pages. Many of the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe are long, 20-40 pages, but some of his stories are short. The stories of Thomas Hardy tend to be long 20-30 pages.

Thomas Hardy did not write very many short stories, and the short story collections published in his life time usually consist of eight short stories forming a book of about 200 pages (modern format). Most of Hardy's short stories were wtitten alongside his novels. Personally, I find Hardy's novels more interesting than the short stories that seem somewhat underdeveloped, as if they are "too short".

Hardy's elaborate and precious writing style asks for careful reading of the stories. The short stories are more like the later novels; not like Under the Greenwood Tree, which I did not like very much. Still, not every story seems equally “gelungen"; some are beautiful and memorable, while some could not capture my attention.

On LT many selections of Hardy's short stories are lumped together. This volume in the series Wordworth Classics was originally published as "Selected Short Stories in 1995, but in 2002 reissued with an introduction by Claire Seymour and given the title Life's little ironies. Strange, lively and commonplace.

Life's little ironies was first published in 1894, containing eight stories, nl. "The Son’s Veto", "For Conscience’ Sake", "A Tragedy of Two Ambitions", "On the Western Circuit", "To Please his Wife", "The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion", "A Tradition of Eighteen Hundred and Four" and "A Few Crusted Characters". The 2002 edition of Wordsworth Classics also consists of eight tales, but reshuffled to contain "An Imaginative Woman", "The Son’s Veto", "For Conscience’ Sake", "A Tragedy of Two Ambitions", "On the Western Circuit", "To Please his Wife", "The Fiddler of the Reels", and "A Few Crusted Characters". This is Hardy's own rearrangment of the contents of Life's little ironies for the 1912 Wessex edition.

While not entirely as satisfactory as reading Hardy's novels, I am still very happy to read his short stories. ( )

This collection of stories are linked by the Life's Little Ironies but more often pathos than just the wry humour of irony. I still enjoyed them very much, Hardy creates the places and characters in a few strokes and you want to jump in and save them from the mistakes they are making.

I found the tales in this collection a bit hit or miss. Can’t remember any specifics, unfortunately, as I’m reviewing this nearly six years after reading it, but as it’s Thomas Hardy, I would like to give it a second read some time. ( )

I always enjoy books of short stories where they are connected somehow, so Thomas Hardy's Life's Little Ironies was fun. Hardy shows many sides of life in the English countryside, where boys meeting girls and girls having babies are the whole point of life for most of his characters. The stories in this volume feel very much like one is hanging out with the town gossips hearing all the news. ( )

This is the third book of collected short stories by Thomas Hardy. Although it is a slim volume there 8 separate tales and, if you broke A Few Crusted Characters into its component parts, that number rises to 16. According to the back cover "The tales are thematically linked by a concern with the diverse problems of marriage..." It is certainly true that the course of marriage is seldom smooth when Hardy looks into it.

Another common theme is women getting pregnant out of wedlock. I can only assume, given the prevalence of this in Hardy's work, that it was a common occurrence. This somewhat gives the lie to Victorians being prim and proper and sexless.

I was surprised to realize that two of the stories "An Imaginative Woman" and "A Tragedy of Two Ambitions" were ones I had read before. I believe they were both in Tales from Wessex which I now believe was not quite the same as Wessex Tales. Very confusing!

My favourite of all these stories is definitely the collected vignettes in "A Few Crusted Characters". Using the device of a former resident returning to Longpuddle who has to be told about people he used to know, various riders in a carrier's van tell stories. Some of them are funny, some are spooky and all are quintessentially Hardy. If you have never read Hardy before this would be a good place to start. ( )