pt. 1: Subject matter. The world of a story ; People and place ; Social problems ; The individual in his society ; Problems in love ; The idea of love ; The idea of morality ; Early period: moral principles ; The twenties: moral principles ; Morality as a subject of fiction

pt. 2: Form. The formal principle ; Comedy and romance ; Caustic stories ; Tragedy and pathos ; Fear and horror ; Magnitude and complexity

pt. 3: Treatment. Drama and narrative ; The narrator ; Dramatic particularity ; Order ; Economy ; The dramatic principle ; pt. 4: Milieu. Context and sequel

Appendixes. The canon of stories ; Classification by forms ; The identity of the protagonist ; The use of first-person ; Narrative and scene in "The middle years" and "Calla-Lilies and Hannah" ; A dramatic scene from "Under the lion's paw" ; A scene from "The teacher" ; A scene from "The doctor and the doctor's wife" ; The chronology of "In another country" ; An argument from "The long run" ; A scene from "An awakening" ; The use of sensations ; Inferences concerning thought and feeling.