O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1921 | Page 6

of short story structural laws.
"The Victim of His Vision," by Gerald Chittenden, dramatizes the
missionary's reverse, unusual in fiction, and presents a convincing
demonstration of the powers of voodoo. Readers who care for
manifestations of the superstitious and the magical will appreciate the
reality of this story as they will that of "Rra Boloi," mentioned above.
They may also be interested in comparing these with Joseph
Hergesheimer's "Juju." Mr. Hergesheimer's story, however, fails to
maintain in the outcome the high level of the initial concept and the
execution of the earlier stages.
A number of 1921 stories centre about a historic character. F. Scott
Fitzgerald's "Tarquin of Cheapside" (Smart Set, February) offers in
episode form the motivation of Shakespeare's "Rape of Lucrece"; Mary
Raymond Shipman Andrews parallels her "The Perfect Tribute" and

eulogy of Lincoln with "His Soul Goes Marching On" and warm
reminiscence of Roosevelt; Fleta Campbell Springer's "The Role of
Madame Ravelles" is apparently a tapestry in weaving the stately figure
of Georgette LeBlanc. Ranking highest among these personal narratives,
however, is Mildred Cram's "Stranger Things--" Besides calling up,
under the name of Cecil Grimshaw, the irresistible figure of Oscar
Wilde, the author has created a supernatural tale of challenging
intricacy and imaginative genius. The only other stories of the
supernatural to find place in the Committee's first list are Maxwell
Struthers Burt's "Buchanan Hears the Wind" and Mary Heaton Vorse's
"The Halfway House." In all of these, suggestion, delicately managed,
is the potent element of success.
Animals figure in vaster numbers and under intensive psychological
study. That a race-horse owner goes nowadays to the astrologer for a
horoscope of his racer is a fact that insinuatingly elevates the beast to
the plane of his master. In the short story of 1921, the monkey, the tiger,
the elephant, the dog and all their kind are treated from an
anthropomorphic point of view. Courtney Ryley Cooper's
titles--"Love" and "Vengeance," for example--covering stories
dominated by the animal character, betray the author's ascription of
human attributes to his hero or villain. "Reynardine," by Donn Byrne,
retails with haunting charm the friendship between the Fitzpauls and
the fox, in an instance that tests the friendship. Foxes, for Morgan of
the story, "took on for him now a strange, sinister entity.... They had
become to him a quasi-human, hypernormal race.... They had tabus as
strict as a Maori's. Strange, mystical laws."--"Corkran of the
Clamstretch" uniquely portrays the ugly and heroic "R.T.C."
throughout as a gentleman, "who met triumph with boredom," and
"defeat, as a great gentleman should, with quiet courtesy and good
humour." Samuel A. Derieux adds "Comet" to his list of
superintelligent dogs in a story the Committee regard as one of his best.
It should be compared with R.G. Kirk's "Gun-Shy" (Saturday Evening
Post, October 22). Similar in theme, in sympathy and in the
struggle--that of a trainer to overcome a noble dog's fear of the powder
roar--the stories diverge in the matter of workmanship. Yet "Gun-Shy"
is based on a plot superior to that of "Comet." Oddly enough, the

Committee preferred not one of the humanized-beast stories, but
Edison Marshall's "The Heart of Little Shikara." The preference was
because of a number of counts, however; moreover, the man eater takes
second place beside Little Shikara, whose bravery and loyalty motivate
the thrilling climax of the narrative. And it is just this: a superb story,
with underscoring for "story."
Anthropomorphism is found at its height in "A Life," by Wilbur Daniel
Steele. Dr. Edward J. Wheeler places this story first of the year's brief
fiction, on the score of originality, power, and satisfactory evolution of
the struggle, with its triumphant dramatic reverse. Other members of
the Committee, though sensible of its claim to high distinction, believe
it is a novelette, not to be classed as a short story, and therefore barred
from consideration. Its spirit, one affirms, lacks something of the
vigour which made of "Guiablesse" (Harper's, 1919) so convincing a
work of art. Another member finds its value somewhat decreased in
that its theme had been used similarly in John Masefield's "The
Wanderer."
The child's place in the democracy of the short story was assured years
ago. No remarkably outstanding examples have come from the pen of
Booth Tarkington, amusing as are his adolescents and children of the
Red Book tales. The best combinations of humour and childhood
appeared to the Committee to be "Wilfrid Reginald and the Dark
Horse," by James Mahoney, and "Mr. Downey Sits Down," by L.H.
Robbins. For laughter the reader is recommended to each of these, the
latter of which is reprinted in this volume. For humour plus a trifle
more of excitement, "Mummery," by Thomas Beer, is included. Mr.
Beer has succeeded in handling Mrs. Egg as Miss Addington manages
Miss Titwiler, the "Cactus"; that