Twelve Men, by Theodore Dreiser (Boni & Liveright). These twelve portraits which Mr. Dreiser has transferred to us from life represent his impressions of life's crowded thoroughfares and his reactions to many human contacts. More than one of these portraits can readily be traced to its original, and taken as a group they represent as valuable a cross-section Of our hurrying civilization as we have. Strictly speaking, however, they are not short stories, but discursive causeries on friends of Mr. Dreiser. They answer to no usual concepts of literary form, but have necessitated the creation of a new form. They reflect a gallic irony compact of pity and understanding. The brief limitations of his form prevent Mr. Dreiser from falling into errors which detract somewhat from the greatness of his novels, and as a whole I command this volume to the discriminating reader.
The Emperor of Elam, and Other Stories, by H. G. Dwight (Doubleday, Page & Company). Those who read Mr. Dwight's earlier volume entitled "Stamboul Nights" will recall the very real genius for the romantic presentation of adventure in exotic backgrounds which the author revealed. Every detail, if studied, was quietly set down without undue emphasis, and the whole was a finished composition. In the title story of the present volume, and in "The Emerald of Tamerlane," written in collaboration with John Taylor, Mr. Dwight is on the same familiar ground. I had occasion three years ago to reprint "The Emperor of Elam" in an earlier volume of this series, and it still seems to be worthy to set beside the best of Gautier. There are other stories in the present collection with the same rich background, but I should like to call particular attention to Mr. Dwight's two masterpieces, "Henrietta Stackpole Rediviva" and "Behind the Door." The former ranks with the best half-dozen American short stories, and the latter with the best half-dozen short stories of the world. I regard this volume as the most important which I have encountered since I began to publish my studies of the American short story.
The Miller's Holiday: Short Stories From the North Western Miller, Edited by Randolph Edgar (The Miller Publishing Company: Minneapolis). These fourteen stories reprinted from the files of the North Western Miller between 1883 and 1904 recall an interesting episode in the history of American literature. The paper just mentioned was the first trade journal to publish at regular intervals the best short stories procurable at the time, and out of this series was born "The Bellman," which for many years was the best literary weekly of general interest in the Middle West. The North Western Miller printed the best work of O. Henry, Howard Pyle, Octave Thanet, James Lane Allen, Hamlin Garland, Edward Everett Hale, and many others, and it was here that Frank R. Stockton first printed "The Christmas Wreck," which I should agree with the late Mr. Howells in regarding as Stockton's best story. I trust that the success of this volume will induce Mr. Edgar to edite and reprint one or more series of stories from "The Bellman." Such an undertaking would fill a very real need.
Half Portions, by Edna Ferber (Doubleday, Page & Company). Edna Ferber shares with Fannie Hurst the distinction of portraying the average American mind in its humbler human relations. Less sure than Miss Hurst in her ability to present her material in artistic form, her observation is equally keen and accurate, and in at least two stories in the present volume she seems to meet Miss Hurst on equal ground. "The Maternal Feminine," in my opinion, ranks with "The Gay Old Dog" as Miss Ferber's best story.
The Best Psychic Stories, Edited by Joseph Lewis French, with an Introduction by Dorothy Scarborough (Boni & Liveright). This very badly edited collection of stories is worth having because of the fact that it reprints certain admirable short stories by Algernon Blackwood, Ambrose Bierce, and Fiona Macleod. If it attains to a second edition, the volume would be tremendously improved by omitting the compilation of irrelevant theosophical articles on the subject, and the substitution for them of other stories which lie open to Mr. French's hand in rich measure.
Fantastics, and Other Fancies, by Lafcadio Hearn, Edited by Charles Woodward Hutson (Houghton Mifflin Company). This collection of stories, portraits, and essays which Mr. Hutson's industry has rescued from the long-lost files of The New Orleans Daily Item and The Times-Democrat belong to Hearn's early manner, when he sought to set down brief colored impressions of the old, hardly lingering Creole life which is now only a memory. In many ways akin to the art of Hérédia, they show a less classical attitude toward their subject-matter, and are frankly experimental approaches to the method of evocation by sounds and perfumes which he achieved so successfully in his later Japanese books. In these stories we may see the influence of Gautier's enamelled style already at work, operating with more precision than it was later to show, more fearful of the penumbra than his later ghost stories, and with a certain hurried air which may be largely set down to the journalistic pressure of writing weekly for newspapers. Notwithstanding this, many of the stories and sketches are a permanent addition to Hearn's work.
Waifs and Strays: Twelve Stories, by O. Henry (Doubleday, Page & Company). This volume of collectanea is divided into two parts. First of all, twelve new stories have been recovered from magazine files. Three of these are negligible journalism, and six others are chiefly interesting either as early studies for later stories, or for their biographical value. "The Cactus" and "The Red Roses of Tonia," however, rank only second to "O. Henry's" best dozen stories. The second part of the book is a miscellany of critical and biographical comment, including also some verse tributes to the story writer's memory and a valuable index to the collected edition of "O. Henry's" stories.
O. Henry Memorial Prize Stories, 1919, Chosen by the Society of Arts and Sciences, with an introduction by Blanche Colton Williams (Doubleday, Page & Company). The Society of Arts and Sciences of New York City has had the admirable idea of editing an annual volume of the best American short stories, and awarding annual prizes for the two best stories as a memorial to the art of "O. Henry." The present volume reprints fifteen stories chosen by the society, including the two prize stories,—"England to America," by Margaret Prescott Montague, and "For They Know Not What They Do," by Wilbur Daniel Steele. Five other stories by Mrs. Frances Gilchrist Wood, Miss Fannie Hurst, Miss Louise Rice, Miss Beatrice Ravenel, and Miss G. F. Alsop are admirable stories. The selection represents a fair cross-section of the year's short stories, good, bad, and indifferent, but the two prizes seem to me to have been most wisely awarded, and I conceive this formal annual tribute to be the most significant and practical means of encouraging the American short story. Toward this encouragement the public may contribute in their measure, as I understand that the royalties which accrue from the sale of this volume are to be applied to additional prizes in future years.
The Happy End, by Joseph Hergesheimer (Alfred A. Knopf). Mr. Hergesheimer's new collection of seven stories is largely drawn from the files of The Saturday Evening Post, and represents to some degree a compromise with his public. The book is measurably inferior to "Gold and Iron," but shows to a degree the same qualities of studied background and selective presentation of aspects in character which are most satisfyingly presented in his novels. In "Lonely Valleys," "Tol'able David," and "The Thrush in the Hedge," Mr. Hergesheimer's art is more nearly adequate than in the other stories, but they lack the authoritative presentation which made "The Three Black Pennys" a landmark in contemporary American fiction. They show the author to be a too frank disciple of Mr. Galsworthy in the less essential aspect of the latter's art, and their tone is too neutral to be altogether convincing.
War Stories, Selected and Edited by Roy J. Holmes and A. Starbuck (Thomas Y. Crowell Company). This anthology of twenty-one American short stories about the war would have gained measurably by compression. At least five of the stories are unimportant, and six more are not specially representative of the best that is being done. But "Blind Vision," "The Unsent Letter," "His Escape," "The Boy's Mother" and "The Sixth Man" are now made accessible in book form, and give this anthology its present value.