The Best Short Stories of 1918 Part 71

Soldier Men. Lane.

III. _Translations_

_Andreyev, Leonid Nikolaevich._ (_Russian._) (_See also_ Modern Russian Cla.s.sics.) *Seven That Were Hanged, and The Red Laugh. (Modern Library.) Boni and Liveright.

_Andreyev, Leonid Nikolaevich_, and _Bunin, Ivan Alexeivich_.

(_Russian._) *Lazarus (by Andreieff) and The Gentleman from San Francisco (by Bunin). Stratford Co.

_Artzibashev, Michael._ (_Russian._) _See_ Modern Russian Cla.s.sics.

_Balzac, Honore de._ (_French._) *Short Stories. (Modern Library.) Boni and Liveright.

_Barbusse, Henri._ (_French._) *We Others. Dutton.

_Baudes, Joseph_, _editor_. (_Czech._) *Czech Folk Tales. Macmillan.

_Boccaccio de Certaldo, Giovanni._ (_Italian._) Tales from Boccaccio. Stratford.

_Bosschere, Jean de._ (_French._) *Folk Tales of Flanders. Dodd, Mead.

_Bunin, Ivan Alexeivich._ (_Russian._) _See_ Andreyev, Leonid Nikolaevich, _and_ Bunin, Ivan Alexeivich.

_Chekhov, Anton._ (_Russian._) (_See also_ Modern Russian Cla.s.sics.) *Nine Humorous Tales. Stratford.

*Wife. Macmillan.

*Witch. Macmillan.

_Dantchenko, V. I. Nemirovitch-._ (_Russian._) *Peasant Tales of Russia. McBride.

_Dostoevskii, Fyodor Mikhailovich._ (_Russian._) *White Nights. Macmillan.

_Friedlander, Gerald_, _translator_. (_Yiddish._) Jewish Fairy Stories. Bloch.

_Gogol, Nikolai Va.s.silyevitch._ (_Russian._) *Taras Bulba. Dutton.

_Goldberg, Isaac_, _editor_. (_Portuguese._) *Brazilian Tales. Four Seas.

_Gorky, Maxim._ (_Russian._) (_See also_ Modern Russian Cla.s.sics.) *Creatures That Once Were Men. Boni and Liveright.

*Stories of the Steppe. Stratford.

_Latzko, Andreas._ (_German._) *Men in War. Boni and Liveright.

_McPherson, William_, _editor_. (_French._) *Tales of Wartime France. Dodd, Mead.

_Maupa.s.sant, Guy de._ (_French._) *Mademoiselle Fifi. Four Seas.

*Selected Short Stories. Current Literature Pub. Co.

_Mendes, Catulle._ (_French._) *Fairy Spinning Wheel. Four Seas.

_Mijatovich, Elodie L._, _translator_. (_Serbian._) *Serbian Fairy Tales. McBride.

*_Modern Russian Cla.s.sics._ (_Russian._) (Stories by Andreyev, Sologub, Gorky, Chekhov, and Artzibashev.) Four Seas.

_Nemirovitch-dantchenko, V. I._ (_Russian._) _See_ _Dantchenko, V. I. Nemirovitch-._

_Schweikert, Harry C._, _editor_. (_French._) *French Short Stories. Scott, Foresman.

_Segovia, Gertrudis._ (_Spanish._) *Spanish Fairy Book. Stokes.

"_Sologub, Feodor._" (_Feodor Kuzmitch Teternikov._) (_Russian._) _See_ Modern Russian Cla.s.sics.

_Tagore, Sir Rabindranath._ (_Bengali._) *Mas.h.i.+, and Other Stories. Macmillan.

_Taketomo, Torao_, _editor_. (_j.a.panese._) *Paulownia. Duffield.

_Tchekhov, Anton._ (_Russian._) _See_ Chekhov, Anton.

_Tolstoy, Lyof._ (_Russian._) *Death of Ivan Ilyitch, and Other Stories. Boni and Liveright.

*What Men Live By. Stratford.

_Underwood, Edna Worthley._ *Famous Stories from Foreign Countries. Four Seas.

THE BEST SIXTY AMERICAN SHORT STORIES

JANUARY TO OCTOBER, 1918: A CRITICAL SUMMARY

_The sixty short stories published in the American magazines between January and October, 1918, which I shall discuss in this article are chosen from a larger group of about one hundred and twenty stories, whose literary excellence justifies me in including them in my annual "Roll of Honor." The stories which are included in this Roll of Honor have been chosen from the stories published in seventy-four American periodicals during the first ten months of 1918. In selecting them I have sought to accept the author's point of view and manner of treatment, and to measure simply his degree of success in accomplis.h.i.+ng what he set out to achieve. I have permitted no personal preference or prejudice to influence my mind consciously for or against a story. But I must confess that it has been difficult to eliminate personal admiration completely in the further winnowing which has resulted in this selection of sixty stories. Below are set forth the particular qualities which have seemed to me to justify in each case the inclusion of a story in this list._

1. _A Simple Act of Piety_, by _Achmed Abdullah_ (The All-Story Weekly).

To those who enjoyed last year Thomas Burke's "Limehouse Nights," the series of Pell Street stories which Captain Abdullah is publis.h.i.+ng in the Century Magazine, Collier's Weekly, and the All-Story Weekly will be welcome. To a vivid sense of color and an economy of dramatic situation, "A Simple Act of Piety," which is the best of these stories, adds a fine appreciation of the Oriental point of view. The characterization is almost subjective it is so real, and the story is a fine crystallization of the poetry inherent in New York Chinatown life.

2. _The Man of Ideas_, by _Sherwood Anderson_ (Little Review), points the way to a new American realism. Those who have read Mr. Anderson's other Winesburg stories in the Seven Arts and the Little Review will remember that he has set himself the task of portraying the spiritual values of a small Ohio community without sentimentality. These stories suggest the Spoon River Anthology, and indeed the tradition inaugurated by Edgar Lee Masters, Sherwood Anderson, and other realists of the new Chicago School seems likely to carry on the vision of Walt Whitman to new goals of achievement.

3. _Cruelties_ (Harper's Magazine) and 4. "_G.o.ddess Size_" (Harper's Magazine), by _Edwina Stanton Babc.o.c.k_. When Miss Babc.o.c.k published "The Excursion" last year in the Pictorial Review, I expressed my belief that it was one of the best five American short stories of the year. I regard these two stories as marking a significant advance in Miss Babc.o.c.k's art. Her characterization of these Nantucket folks has a subtle humor and poetry linked to a faithful realism. Miss Babc.o.c.k continues to prove herself a leader in short-story regionalism. "Cruelties" is very quietly done and no point is over-stressed. In fact I find a greater reticence in these stories than in Miss Babc.o.c.k's earlier work, and this is all to the good.

5. _The Bell-Tower of P'An-Ku_, by "_John Brangwyn_" (Century Magazine).

This story by an American novelist, whose name is not to be revealed, comes with a definite message to Americans from China. It is an allegory quietly setting forth the essence of the imaginative att.i.tude toward life. Like a s.h.i.+fting tapestry, pictures weave to and fro, and the way is opened to us to see the vision that the unknown Chinese master saw.

6. _Buster_, by _Katharine Holland Brown_ (Scribner's Magazine). Here in clear swift portraiture Miss Brown has caught the spirit of America, youthful and eager, living dangerously and happily, and prepared to face danger, and, if necessary, seek it. "Buster" is a study of the typical young American who finds himself at last as an aviator in France. No story could better interpret our spirit to the English and French imagination.

7. _The Sorry Tale of Hennery K. Lunk_, by _Ellis Parker Butler_ (Harper's Magazine). This tale of a mournful mariner ash.o.r.e on the banks of the Mississippi would have delighted Mark Twain. I hope Mr. Butler will forgive me if I state that it contains more poetry than prose. But after all, mournful mariners come and go, while their stories go on forever.

8. _The Black Pearl_, by _Katharine Butler_ (Atlantic Monthly). This story, redolent of the East, is an admirable study in atmosphere. It has all the nostalgia of a half-forgotten dream, and yet it is so confidently set forth that we may enter its background without difficulty. Style is not a common quality, I regret to say, in American short stories, but the picture portrayed in "The Black Pearl" is well nigh flawless.