The Best Short Stories of 1920 | Page 5

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 period under consideration. These stories
are indicated in the yearbook index by three asterisks prefixed to the
title, and are listed in the special "Roll 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 Rosenblatt, Richard Matthews
Hallet, Wilbur Daniel Steele, Arthur Johnson, and Anzia Yezierska, so
it is my wish to dedicate this year the best that I have found in the
American magazines as the fruit of my labors to Sherwood Anderson,
whose stories, "The Door of the Trap," "I Want to Know Why," "The
Other Woman," and "The Triumph of the Egg" seem to me to be
among the finest imaginative contributions to the short story made by

an American artist during the past year.
#Edward J. O'Brien.#
#Forest Hill, Oxon, England,# November 8, 1920.

THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1920
#Note.#--The order in which the stories in this volume are printed is
not intended as an indication of their comparative excellence; the
arrangement is alphabetical by authors.

THE OTHER WOMAN[2]
BY SHERWOOD ANDERSON
From The Little Review
"I am in love with my wife," he said--a superfluous remark, as I had not
questioned his attachment to the woman he had married. We walked for
ten minutes and then he said it again. I turned to look at him. He began
to talk and told me the tale I am now about to set down.
The thing he had on his mind happened during what must have been
the most eventful week of his life. He was to be married on Friday
afternoon. On Friday of the week before he got a telegram announcing
his appointment to a government position. Something else happened
that made him very proud and glad. In secret he was in the habit of
writing verses and during the year before several of them had been
printed in poetry magazines. One of the societies that give prizes for
what they think the best poems published during the year put his name
at the head of their list. The story of his triumph was printed in the
newspapers of his home city, and one of them also printed his picture.
As might have been expected, he was excited and in a rather highly
strung nervous state all during that week. Almost every evening he

went to call on his fiancée, the daughter of a judge. When he got
there the house was filled with people