This article examines the short story genre, which is popular among academics worldwide and literary scholars. Identifying the stories, their unique traits, and how these traits have changed from the first short story works to the present is the studyʼs goal. The following tasks made up this goal: a theoretical assessment of the importance of the short story genre in world literature. In addition, through the evolution of the short story, it is necessary to reveal how this genre has developed over time through examples of short stories in world literature, and to highlight the specific aspects of the short story genre against the background of historical conditions, literary currents and socio-political views. To analyze the evolution of the short story, this article uses the following research methods: comparative historical and sociological methods. The results of the study include the discovery of genre characteristics, terminology and concepts. The conclusion is that the study of the conventions and characteristics of the short story genre has been echoed by literary theorists, from Geoffrey Chaucerʼs Canterbury Tales and Giovanni Baccaccioʻs “The Decameron,” to the genre requirements of contemporary short stories, to the main theme motif of short stories. To deepen and enrich the analysis, the authors include Edgar Allen Poe, Brender Matthews, V.G. Belinsky, Dilmurod Kuronov, J. F. Guimaraes, Anton Chekhov, R. and M. Shapard and W.S. It draws on the work of scholars and literary theorists such as Penn, providing valuable insights into their specific views of the genre. This article will reveal the importance of the short story genre not only in the previous era, but also in the modern literary artistic culture.