Note 9 — AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE SHORT-STORY
Reading edition
The Italian novella was popular in England down to the late Elizabethan period. It is a diverting little story of human interest but told with no moral purpose, even when it is reflective. In purpose it is the direct opposite of the exemplum, which is a moral tale told to teach a lesson, and may be compared to the “illustration” which the exhorter repeats in the pulpit to-day.