The Best Short Stories of 1919 | Page 4

I am not at all interested in
formulæ, and organized criticism at its best would be nothing more
than dead criticism, as all dogmatic interpretation of life is always dead.
What has interested me, to the exclusion of other things, is the fresh,
living current which flows through the best of our work, and the
psychological and imaginative reality which our writers have conferred
upon it.
No substance is of importance in fiction, unless it is organic substance,
that is to say, substance in which the pulse of life is beating. Inorganic
fiction has been our curse in the past, and bids fair to remain so, unless

we exercise much greater artistic discrimination than we display at
present.
The present record covers the period from November, 1918, to
September, 1919, inclusive. During these eleven months, I have sought
to select from the stories published in American magazines those which
have rendered life imaginatively in organic substance and artistic form.
Substance is something achieved by the artist in every act of creation,
rather than something already present, and accordingly a fact or group
of facts in a story only attain substantial embodiment when the artist's
power of compelling imaginative persuasion transforms them into a
living truth. The first test of a short story, therefore, in any qualitative
analysis is to report upon how vitally compelling the writer makes his
selected facts or incidents. This test may be conveniently called the test
of substance.
But a second test is necessary if the story is to take rank above other
stories. The true artist will seek to shape this living substance into the
most beautiful and satisfying form, by skillful selection and
arrangement of his material, and by the most direct and appealing
presentation of it in portrayal and characterization.
The short stories which I have examined in this study, as in previous
years, have fallen naturally into four groups. The first group consists of
those stories which fail, in my opinion, to survive either the test of
substance or the test of form. These stories are listed in the yearbook
without comment or a qualifying asterisk. The second group consists of
those stories which may fairly claim that they survive either the test of
substance or the test of form. Each of these stories may claim to
possess either distinction of technique alone, or more frequently, I am
glad to say, a persuasive sense of life in them to which a reader
responds with some part of his own experience. Stories included in this
group are indicated in the yearbook index by a single asterisk prefixed
to the title.
The third group, which is composed of stories of still greater distinction,
includes such narratives as may lay convincing claim to a second
reading, because each of them has survived both tests, the test of

substance and the test of form. Stories included in this group are
indicated in the yearbook index by two asterisks prefixed to the title.
Finally, I have recorded the names of a small group of stories which
possess, I believe, an even finer distinction--the distinction of uniting
genuine substance and artistic form in a closely woven pattern with
such sincerity that these stories may fairly claim a position in our
literature. If all of these stories by American authors were republished,
they would not occupy more space than five novels of average length.
My selection of them does not imply the critical belief that they are
great stories. A year which produced one great story would be an
exceptional one. It is simply to be taken as meaning that I have found
the equivalent of five volumes worthy of republication among all the
stories published during the eleven months under consideration. These
stories are indicated in the yearbook index by three asterisks prefixed to
the title, and are listed in the special "Rolls of Honor." In compiling
these lists, I have permitted no personal preference or prejudice to
consciously influence my judgment. To the titles of certain stories,
however, in the "Rolls of Honor," an asterisk is prefixed, and this
asterisk, I must confess, reveals in some measure a personal preference,
for which, perhaps, I may be indulged. It is from this final short list that
the stories reprinted in this volume have been selected.
It has been a point of honor with me not to republish an English story,
nor a translation from a foreign author. I have also made it a rule not to
include more than one story by an individual author in the volume. The
general and particular results of my study will be found explained and
carefully detailed in the supplementary part of the volume.
As in past years it has been my pleasure and honor to associate this
annual with the names of Benjamin