The Best Short Stories of 1917 | Page 4

pessimistic criticism of the
American short story, some of it by Americans, and some by
Europeans who are now residing in our midst. To the European mind,
trained in a tradition where technique in story-writing is paramount, it
is natural that the American short story should seem to reveal grave
deficiencies. I am by no means disposed to minimize the weakness of
American craftsmanship, but I feel that at the present stage of our
literary development, discouragement will prove a very easy and fatal
thing. The typical point of view of the European critic, when justified,
is adequately reflected in an article by Mary M. Colum, which was
published in the Dial last spring: "Those of us who take an interest in
literary history will remember how particular literary forms at times
seize hold of a country: in Elizabethan England, it was the verse drama;
in the eighteenth century, it was the essay; in Scandinavia of a
generation ago, it was the drama again. At present America is in the
grip of the short story--so thoroughly in its grip indeed that, in addition
to all the important writers, nearly all the literate population who are
not writing movie scenarios are writing or are about to write short
stories. One reason for this is the general belief that this highly
sophisticated and subtle art is a means for making money in spare time,
and so one finds everybody, from the man who solicits insurance to the
barber who sells hair-tonics, engaged in writing, or in taking courses in
the writing, of short stories. Judging from what appears in the
magazines, one imagines that they get their efforts accepted. There is
no doubt that the butcher, the baker, and the candle-stick maker are
easily capable of producing the current short stories with the aids now
afforded."

Now this is the heart of the matter with which criticism has to deal. It is
regrettable that the American magazine editor is not more mindful of
his high calling, but the tremendous advertising development of the
American magazine has bound American literature in the chains of
commercialism, and before a permanent literary criticism of the
American short story can be established, we must fight to break these
bonds. I conceive it to be my essential function to begin at the bottom
and record the first signs of grace, rather than to limit myself to the top
and write critically about work which will endure with or without
criticism. If American critics would devote their attention for ten years
to this spade work, they might not win so much honor, but we should
find the atmosphere clearer at the end of that period for the true
exercise of literary criticism.
Nevertheless I contend that there is much fine work being
accomplished at present, which is buried in the ruck of the interminable
commonplace. I regard it as my duty to chronicle this work, and thus
render it accessible for others to discuss.
Mrs. Colum continues: "Apart from the interesting experiments in free
verse or polyphonic prose, the short story in America is at a low ebb.
Magazine editors will probably say the blame rests with their readers.
This may be so, but do people really read the long, dreary stories of
from five to nine thousand words which the average American
magazine editor publishes? Why a vivid people like the American
should be so dusty and dull in their short stories is a lasting puzzle to
the European, who knows that America has produced a large proportion
of the great short stories of the world."
I deny that the American short story is at a low ebb, and I offer the
present volume as a revelation of the best that is now being done in this
field. I agree with Mrs. Colum that the best stories are only to be found
after a laborious dusty search, but this is the proof rather than the
refutation of my position.
Despite the touch of paradox, Mrs. Colum makes two admirable
suggestions to remedy this condition of affairs. "A few magazine
editors could do a great deal to raise the level of the American short

story. They could at once eradicate two of the things that cause a part of
the evil--the wordiness and the commercial standardization of the story.
By declining short stories over three thousand words long, and by
refusing to pay more than a hundred dollars for any short story, they
could create a new standard and raise both the prestige of the short
story and of their magazines. They would then get the imaginative
writers, and not the exploiters of a commercial article."
I am not sure that the average American editor wishes to welcome the
imaginative writer, but assuming this to be true, I would modify