Who developed short stories?

Answer 1

Short stories are an extremely old form of literature. Ovid wrote a number of them. Bocaccio did also. Two nineteenth century authors may be said to have raised the short story to a new level, namely the Frenchman Guy de Maupassant and the American O. Henry. These authors added the twist or sting in the ending which makes their stories even more pointed. But other authors which followed chose not to make use of such endings, particularly authors like Ernest Hemingway, whose short stories are very well regarded.