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This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

The Post-War Short Story in the

Atlantic Monthly, 1919 and 1946.

presented by

Susanne E. Price

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

M degree mm

 

M—

Major professor

Date Augget 15. 1955

0-169

 

 

 

"4“.
'V r
"V i

 

THE POS’-NAR SHCR' LTOhY IN [ME 2“FVFIs 1(T1 it
1919 and 1946
and gb14090f1y

An analysis of Subject, Style,

By
11.38 mm Edmunds 3:;1}?

A THESIS
Submitted to the school Cf Graduate gLTCl£S of Michigan
State College of L5: rwituru 51$ Applied Science
fu1filluent of the requirements

in partial
for the degree of

MASTEA OB

D€kaTh€nt of English

TH ESJS

Introduction

”There has been a kind of coming-of~age of the American
short story."1 It is this coming-of—age which I have found
most oronounced in every phas , choice of subject, style
of writing, and philosoohic imolications, in the short

stories from the Atlantic Monthly of 1946 when compared

 

with those from the fitlantig of 1919.

I have chosen to study these two specific years, 1919
and 1946, because each shows the immediate effects of the
Norld Wars on short story writing. Although ”it is a
literary truism that there must be a period of distillation
before the real impact of some tremendous event, either
historical or personal, can emerge in writing,"2 and there-
fore th se stories may not represent the best of the war
short stories, still they are imoortant as first impressions
and as such they may be compared. 3y confining my study
to a single magazine, one which has been in continuous
publication since 1857 and whose editorial policies have
changei little, I believe that the comparisons may be
valid. Each issue of the Atlantic since the first has
contained two, usually three short stories. The Atlantic
has encouraged new writers and has been among the first

to publish unknowns who are now well established in the

aosar‘

field. Since 1946, an Atlantic First, the first published

 

 

short story of a new writer, has appeared in nearly every

issue. many of the stories from the Atlanti have been

 

chosen as the best of the year by the Edward J. O'Brien
collection and by the O'Henry Memorial Award. The gtlaptig
has shown over a long period of time skill and success in
the selection of short stories of high quality. A study
of its stories gives, I believe, a just appraisal of the
tone of the better perioiical writing of the time.

Because Americans are constantly in a hurry, the
short story has become the most widely read type of fiction.
It is also the most widely written, serving as the trial
flight for new authors and as the field for exoeriments
in new styles and unusual subject choices. The short
story therefore reflects more immediately than any other
form of fiction what peOple are thinking and feeling, a
sort of literary barometer. Sometimes what is felt is
put into a form excellent enough to survive after its
timeliness is gone. More often the fate of the short story
is that designated by critic Frank Norris when he wrote
in 1902 that he believed the short story to be "a thing
brillantly done, timely to the moment, with only a month
for its life...1f very good, it will create a demand for
another short story by the same author, but that one
particular contribution, the original one, is irretrievably

and hepelessly dead."3

Nith two or three exceptions, Norris' verdict would
serve accurately for the stories from the Atlantic of
1919. But his criticism is definitely dated when apolied

to the stories from the 1946 Atlantic. While remembering

 

that these later stories cannot be looked at with the same
perSpective in time and that there are nearly twice as
many stories in the later volume, I believe, nevertheless,
that the quality of the 1946 stories is as; rior to :,.t
of the stories from 1919.

In choice of subject, the 1946 writers have been
discerning and bold. They have written of the negro
problem with sympathetic perception; they have accepted
the child on his own terms and portrayed him accurately;
they have probed the unhappy marriage, the out-patient
heapital, the mind of the insane; and with the best of
their skill they have written of the Second World War,
of what it effected in the lives of the individuals who
fought it, who were fought around, and who were fought
for. These subjects shine when placed next to the majority
of those from 1919, where children are treated as dolls
or as small adults, where the real or the unpleasant is
by-passed, and where the war is treated primarily as a
glorious if awful adventure.

Only in the folk tales, the stories which find con-
genial humor in the wholesomeness of plain country people,

do the two years blend in a homogeneity. V. L. Parrington

has said, "America is a city today, but day before yesterday
it was still country, and in the backgrounds of our minds

is a country setting and love of simple people...Phere is

a reaction from too much pavement and the rubbing-down

of individual differences from city contacts. 'Characters'
are bred in isolated places."4 It is of these 'characters'
that peeple in 1919 and 1946 both loved to read, and both
years found writers to present them with skill.

In style, the 1946 volume gains if possible even
more over the earlier volume than in subject. most of the
1946 writing is vital, fluid, original, and realistic.

In 1919 the writing was predominately wordy, sentimental,
heavy, and often dull. Much of the conversation in 1919
is oratory; in 1946 it has an every-day liveliness. fhe
1919 writer could not keep himself out of his pages; he
indulged frequently in obvious moralizing. Phe subtlety
of the 1946 work adis much to its charm.

In comparing the philos0phies behind the writing of
these two years, we find many of the reasons for the
differences in subject and style. Pretentiousness and
artificiality abounded in the thinking as well as in the
writing of 1919. All of the flilifiiifi stories of that
year, whether of war subjects or not, are laid against
the background of the First World war, with its fervor
Of patriotism, heroism, and victory. The giddiness of

success glossed over the essentials; all was so right

with the world that whatever was not right was ignored
as though it did not exist.

The bitterness and sense of frustration following
World Mar II led to more sane, sympathetic thinking, not
so pleasant but in general more meaningful. dhen it is
off balance, it is on the side of pessimism rather than

of optimism.

Part I: The Non-Jar Stories

There is a timelessness and a feeling of relaxation

about the folk-type tale in the Atlantic Monthly, so that

 

if one does not know which year created the stories, whether
1919 or 1946, it is difficult to guess. In both years

the humor comes from the 'folksy' language and from the
oddness of the country characters, who are, nevertheless,
shrewd and able to outwit the city slickers. One's sym-
pathy is invariably with the country people, echoing
Parrington's observation that America's background is a
country setting and love of simple seople. We laugh with

rather than at them.

 

The Photographer of Silverggguptain, 1919, a rambling

mining town tale, compares easily with Uncle Deck, 1946, a

 

story of backwoods Texans. Tabby, the mining town hero, a
man of seemingly nine lives, saves a photogradher and one
of his own lives from a fire by burying them both in a
mossy swamp until the fire passes. There is a tall—tale,
Paul Bunyon quality to the story.

Similar barely credible events make up the plot of
H§§l§_2§g£. The backwoods Texans beat a depression monry
Shortage by staging a pole—sitting event, attracting crowds,

and serving dinners for a dollar a plate. The pole-sitting

is a hoax, accomplished by a pair of twins who take turns,
but no one is the wiser. Toe rural colloquialisms are
typical for this type of story: "they QJlt giving awry the
calves for tiree four dollars a'iece;” "the money had were
out;” "store bought teeth.”l Typical appealing type of
'charac er' is Aunt Dole, woo ”would have been an artist if
sie hadn't got off on tie wrong foot and married a tenant

farmer and ikel it adi stayed wi n it; a who, when she

came into a room, was sdch a mountain of flesh that you had

‘ ‘ ‘ w 3 ‘7' v- ‘I n V “ r- l" r ' r- ‘. " v~
to steady yoursetf oecause yoi Gav? ad uncanny fee ing

that your part of the floor is going to buck up, because
if it goes down so much in one olace it's got to come up
a bit somewhere else."3

Milky Jay and The Vacation of Charlie frencz, 1919,

 

paint similar lively portrayals of characters in a snall
Western town. The 'city' wi e of Charlie is the villain
who causes Charlie to take a vacation, with the sympathy

of the entire village, anl in keeping with the oremise
mentioned earlier that in C1939 tales the city—iwellers come
off badly.

fi

juttondoles anl How Sadiy C;au: Cote to the hiver, 194b,

 

81%? of the same fabric. 11 feet, duttonholes, with its

 

WOI‘Ly though whimsical images, would seem very much at home
in the earlier volume. Miss Shila Snink, small town

ceanistress, made buttonholes which would outwear the garmentsz

H 7" x A. ‘ '
tlifs FTGantS to fancy a vast array 0: garmentless buttonholes,

merching ani countermsrching, oerheps slaying croquet or
53009108 30 prayer,"4 Some of the images are somewhat

. . ,. E.
strained: M183 omink hed eyes like "frightened skim nilk.”/

Others are involved, yet original:

From Miss 3mink's waist, there denglei conven—

iently three strips of ribbon, clucterei, and

each bore a prooerty of her calling. One ribbon

tethered her buttonhole scissors, the second

her emery pad, fashioned like a strawberry, with

which to sharpen a tired neeile, sni the third

a beeswax lump for the thread. Sonehow...these

dangling proberties gave her dignity, as though

she wore side arms.)
One significent difference puts this story in the leter
volume. It is a sketch, with no plot. I shall iiscuss
this sketch—type story at greater length in consiiering the
cheracter stories. Nhether the subject is chosen, as here,
for its 'folksiness' anfi simplicity, or, es more frequently,
for its complexity, this kind of story hes grown in popu-
larity in recent years along with an increased interest in
and study of psychology. the various facets of a single
character are consiiered sufficient material without the
necessity for any overt action to or by the character

Within the limits of the story.

How Seniy Claus Come_to the diver hes a smell plot:

 

 

‘ n
1 ' ~(3 - .»—»,~‘~.~ P'j’" \-s~y.~-\. ! -(_'

a hmckwoodsnen iresses us _;n¢ slits :, .u.,.l- 3 Hit
Its chief winsomeness is again in the language: "they kept
P1g*m on a—setting considerable store by Christmas;" ”like

She'sselways hankered for;" "they was gone long before your

tiTNB, wasn't they? A man kind of forgets.”7

Closely allied to the folk type story is the human
interest story, which has little plot and a humorous twist
but does not depend upon 'folksy' people. fhis type also
has become more popular recently, for 1946 has four stories
which may be grouped in this category while 1919 has only
one. The upsurge of new writers is partly responsible for
this increase, for this is a medium in which a beginner
can frequently do well. The story is usually taken from.
first hand eXperiences and often written in the first person.
It depends for its success upon keen and original obser-
vations, with the same sort of skillful interpretation that
is found in the serious war stories in 19A6. Yet these
lighter stories, while delightful reading once, are scarcely
worthy of rereading. fhey belong to the mass of stories
created to satisfy the appetite for short amusing reading
matter, an appetite which has increased considerably since 1919.

The four stories from 1946 cover a variety of subjects.

fly Hotels is a first person narrative of an immigrant boy's

 

experiences on the Jest Coast; he is snared by the manager
of a "50% and Down hotel,"8 who, with his unscrupulous
cronies, gets him a job as an elevator boy in a seri-elagwnt
hotel and subsequently takes all his earnings from him.
lflith material that could have been given an Oliver Pwist
Sentimentalism, the author laughs at it all and treats his
Inisfortunes with light irony, a procedure not found in the

1919 volume.

- 10 -

It may be noted here that there is more laughter as
well as more bitterness in the 1946 volume, but fewer
tears. Situations either called for humorous treatment or
for serious consideration. l9l9 instead felt impelled to
call forth frequent tears, both of joy and of grief.

Saint Patrick‘s Day is Like Christmas Now is a humorous
conversation-niece: a committee from a local union is
planning a St. Patrick’s Day dance. Ironically they find
that they must pay the orchestra double-time for playing
on a holiday. To get around this, they decide to have the
dance on St. Patrick's Day Eve, making St. Patrick's Day
"Like Christmas Now." fhe humor comes through the racial
clashes, the committee being composed of those of Scotch
and of Irish backgrounds, with St. Patrick's Day as the
fencing material.

. 9933p is an odd little sketch of a Jest Indian maid

on a trip to Bermuda with a family from New York. She
meets and secretly marries Danny, who drives the family's
carriage and eventually becomes a chef on a steamer so that
he may see his wife back in New York. The naid's accent

is achieved by odd spelling, not very satisfactorily: ”You
Just never ahsk about ting like that." "I never eat ahfter
he." Danny was an "ungahdly" man.9

Last mites at Dardanella, the fourth from this 1946
T'Tuman interest group, is an account of a Syrian family

fhdneral by a boy who has a summer job helping an undertaker

-11..

in a small town. The humor is in the assortment of characters
and the strange, old-country proceedings.

Change of Venue is the only story from 1919 which com-

 

pares in subject matter and style with these humorous, human-
interest tales from 1946. It is a narrative by a New York
lawyer about a case brought against a New England farmer

who had procured clothes on credit for his entire family by
offering as collateral animals which he had only borrowed.
The young lawyer gets him off in what the author, H. T.
Aveiy, describes in the Contributor's Column of that issue

H?"

H I, .J

of the 5;;antic as one of the most ridiculous legal episodes.
The story has more plot than do the comparable ones from
1946, but it is similar in its account-like nature and its
momentary interest.

The 1946 Atlantic published two Irish stories, Man From

the Sea and Serpent Versus Donovan. They are also humorous

 

and full of human interest, but their Irish background
sets them apart; they are gems of their kind. They mix the
inimitable Irish mysticism, witticism, and charm in prOper
proportions. Both have a surprise denouement which is

t

00

really a surprise. They are fresh, intriguing, and
times emotional in the manner of Irish drama.

There is lyric beauty in this passage from Man 17‘rom

And Brigid O'Faollan cried for the first
time in ten years - cried a slow soft rain of
tears, for all the things that were past and

_ 12 _

the long lonely nights by the fire, for the
death of her man and the endless toll of the
sea. She cried for the hunger of all lonely
creatures who have died to hOpe and fear; she
cried for the beauty of a man's ripe body that
is cast on the see like a broken bough from
the tree of life. drigid O'Faollan cried for
the shadow of death that is laid over life as
the night lies over the day.11

Quickly as the Irish temperament can leap to explosion,
Brigid returns to the house and finds her sister snooping
into her hidden savings. She snaps: "Hadn't ye better...
get the Holy Father to wash the sin av the Seventh an'

Penth Commandments off yer narrowogutted soul? Ye snivelin',
whinin', kneecreepin' oul' snake thief that ye are'."12

The second story also catches the contrasting elements
of the Irish temperament, its powerful emotions, its clever—

ness its vivid color. Serpent Versus Donovan has a complex

9

 

plot which even when unraveled is so subtle that the reader
is brought up short and finds himself rereading the con-
eluding paragraphs to be sure all the threads can be justi-
fiably tied in such a surprising manner. Irish thugs, with
their rough colloquial dialect, contrast oddly with their
own superstitious use of the serpent pin and their fear
of ‘aunts.

fhe good writer of Irish stories must know his subject
and must use care in ncn overdoing the Irish eccentricities.
Phese stories display their many—sided charm and match
it with their frequent lack of scruoles in plots which show

txoth to full advantage, and most entertainingly. They are

- i} -

good examples of the greater appreciation for and under~
standing of other races which is a part of the coming-of-age
found in the 1946 short stories.

Stories which may be classed as exotic or fanciful
are more plentiful in the 1919 volume, in keeping with its
generally less realistic tone. They are for me the worst
reading in the volume. Good travel literature is so plentiful

that The Last Dream of Bwona Khuola and £_Mother seem like

 

poor early attempts to catch some of the romance of Africa

and India. The pleasant fantasies, Blue noses and Tie True

 

Story of the Loss of Paradise, seem rather inane. Dried

 

flarjoram, by Amy Lowell, is the most memorable.

The Last Dream of 3wona Khubla is an imaginative sketch
of men on an African safari. They come at last to a watering
hole where, the natives tell them, a white man, called in
that land Bwona Khubla, died three or four years before,
raving of a far~off city where he had lived and of which
the natives thought he was the king. The city presumably
was London. Late that night the men see London all about
them, "transfigured into a perfect city...magnificant."13
The vision lasts for an hour, during which they are in the
quiet, late-evening hustle of the city, then fades slowly
away as ”a bull rhlntceros coming down through the stillness
snorted, and watered at the Carleton Club."14 The language
attempts a mysterious mood by phrases such as, "in that lonely

desolation where the Equator comes up out of the forest and

-14..

climbs over jagged hills," "steaming lowlands down by the
Equator, where monstrous orchids blow, where beetles big as
mice sit on the tent-roofs, and fireflies glide about by
night like little moving stars."15

Similar background and mood are found in A Mother, one
of a series of "unusual stories drawn by the Elderly Spinster
from her experience of many years as a volunteer worker

in

m

hospital in Northern India, where she was thrown into
relations of peculiar intimacy with Indian women of all castes
and kinds."16 The story is of strong primitive Indian
emotion in the fanatical love of ~ sot er for her young widowed
daughter. A brother kills the girl and the man she now loves,
believing that his sister should never love or marry again.
The son is imprisoned, and the aging mother, crazy with

grief, resolves to live until he is released so that she

can kill her own son. "'I will not die' she continued

calmly. 'I wait for hin. Jhen he comes home I will kill

him with my own fingers, because he hurt my flower.‘ That

was six years ago. She is still waiting."17

Dried Marjoram, in verse form, has a similar driving

 

force, fanatical mother-love. A boy is hanged in an iron
cage high in a tree because he stole a sheep for his mother.
She gathers each piece of him as it drops through the bars
and finally buries him at night in the churchyard and dies
on his grave. The tragedy is patterned after the early

ballads in subject as well as in form. Its grief is remote,

- 15 -

yet it has the folk-strength that gives character to the
best of the true ballads.

Blue Roses is based on the most routine sort of fairy

 

tale: a princess sends three princes on a search for blue
roses for her, saying she will marry the one who finds them.
The original twist with the third prince is that he tells
, the princess that he can get her lots of blue roses but that

most ladies who wear them find them extremal unbecomin,
9

"vulgar in candle-light." Of course then she does not want
them. "If you but know how to talk to a woman, you do not

need blue roses.f'18 This sort of over-clarification dates
the story, though it has some originality and playful under-
standing of human foibles.

A short fable, The True Story of the Loss of Paraidse,

 

is called facetiously the Hittite version of the story of
Adam and Eve's fall. Satan is unable to break down Eve by
telling her of the wonderful world beyond the garden which
will Open to her if she eats the apple. But Ennui, Dame
Boredom, succeeds quickly in getting both Adam and Eve to
eat the fruit to escape "the intolerable ennui that had
settled upon them."19 Again, with annoying reemphasis, the
last paragraph "assures us that there is much truth in this
version, and that in the Paradise of Love, after an un-
believably short time, one still becomes, as in the days of
Adam and Eve, a helpless prey to the same old and intolerable

boredom."20

-16-

More realistic but with the same moralizing tone is

The Invisible Garden from l9l9. It is so 'sweet' and

 

'good' that today I am certain that it could find publication

only in church sponsored literature. A girl on her way to

work in New York sees in an art gallery window a picture of

a house on a river. The stream was ”foreign—looking, without

the eagerness of an American stream,"21 one of the best

phrases in the story. A man, obviously German, standing

beside her recognizes it as his old home. He tells her that

he will buy the oictzre and go back to hang it in that

home some day, but there is uncertainty in his voice. The

girl looks encouragement at him. At lunchtime, the girl

is drawn by‘a crowd of street evangelists where an old man

prays for the crowd, saying that faith can move mountains,

that if you believe, ”it shall come to pass."22 The girl

sees the same man she had seen at the window in the morning,

and this somehow renews the man's faith that he will see

his homeland again, that faith will move mountains.
Delightful and far more satisfying to the intellect are

the two fanciful stories from 1946, The Chinese Story and

 

The hadiant flood. Instead of moralizing, The Chinese Story

 

pokes fun at stupid persistence and ignorant insistence in

a charming mock-heroic manner. The tale is this: Sloan
tells a story of a Chinese who dreamed he was a butterfly.
The Chinaman awoke sadly from his dream and told his friends

he was unhappy because, ”I cannot tell whether I am a man

_ 17 -

who dreamed he was a butterfly or a butterfly who dreams
'2 a
he is a man."2J The first person narrator corrects Sloan

.,

on several small points and finally says he knows that ne
is right because he invented the story. Sloan becomes
angry and so aggravated that he gets out to find proof
that the narrator did not invent the story. He spends
years at it, and finally loses his job, his wife, every—
thing. At last he finds what he believes is irrefutable
proof: a book published before the birth date of the
narrator, containing the story. The narrator then tells
Sloan that through transmigration of souls, he once was
NuChow, the Chinese who had the dream. In that case, says
Sloan, you did not invent the story; you lived it. No,
says the narrator, I invented it. I awoke unhappy one day,
and when my friends asked me why I was sad, I invented the
story to amuse them.
The underlining in this story is done with playful

mock-seriousness:

So it is with peOple like Sloan. You go out

of your way to help them and instead of loving

you for it, they resent it.

(Sloan) read thousands of books - scanned
them, rather. None of them left a permanent
record on his intellect...Yet the human mind
being the marvelous instrument it is, he trained
himself instantly to recognize a book he had
searched oefore. He could not tell you its
name, or what was in it, or who wrote it, or
the color of its binding. But he could tell

you that the Chinese story was not in it, and
he would be right?!4

-18-

Again, with tongue in cheek but with yet a hint of
earnestness, the narrator is filled with compassion for
Sloan, or would have been but for one thing:

His suffering had not improved his character.
He remained as stubborn, willful, and opinion-
ated as before...He was unregenerate. Love

was not in him.25

When the narrator tells Sloan that he was once NuChow,

Sloan does not believe him:

(It was) contrary to his eXperience of reality;
it did not Jibe with the facts he accepted as
true. He never stopped to think that the trouble
might be with him, that his receiving set might
be faulty, or that there might be waves of truth
beyond his perception.26

The nadiant flood is a less meaningful yet charming

 

fantasy of a child's dream.. In the dream the child's father,
who in reality is a non-entity whom the child doesn't know
very well, becomes a hero on horseback in a radiant wood.

fhe images are attractive and original:

the world is full of wheel tracks in fields.
No one remembers now the journeys that made them.27

fhe wood could be full of all manner of things
which only a child could imagine, but which a
child dare not think of.2
We have felt in the folk and human interest tales a
sameness of background mood through the two volumes, as
though the simplicity of the material gave it a common,
uncomplicated philosophy. In these fanciful and exotic

stories, we sense a shadowing of the greater harshness

behind the 1946 stories, a shadow that will deepen as we

- 19 _

consider the more serious droolem stories and will show
its darkest side in the war stories of 1946. In Blue

noses, fhe Last Dream of awona Khubla, Phe Invisible

 

 

garden, and fhe Prue Story of the Loss of Paradise, there

 

is no bitterness. Even A Mother and Dried Marjoram, while

 

totally tragic, seem removed from reality and cause a
feeling of wonder rather than of sadness.

But in The mediant flood all of the glory is in the

 

dream world; the world of reality is dull, confined, and

A“

frustratel. And for all the fun—making in Fhe thinese

 

Story, its humor is pessimistic, laughing at negative dual—
ities of narrow-mindedness and bigotry.

fhe general conclusions reached when studying all of
the 5tlantig stories from 1919 and 1946 are synopsived in
a study of the stories of children from the two years. fhe
19L6 stories show greater realism and understanding.

1919 has only one, showing a limited interest in children

as adult story material. That one, a poor one called EXplorers

 

of the Dawn, treats three little boys as Ioveable rascals

 

who have a big adventure sneaking upstairs to an attic
window to watch the sunrise, which they have been told is

a marvelous sight. Nhile there, they disturb the contents
of an old trunk, for which they are spanked. fhe youngest
talks impossible baby-talk, and they are all three most
remote from flesh and blood children, sentimentalized in the

dear-little-darlings fashion.

Fne 19A6 volume contains three stories of children,
two of which are among the best of that year. fhe third,

Unsgoiled Reaction, goes to the opposite extreme from that

 

of Eleorers of the Dawn and is no more successful. It is

 

a minute by minute account of the reactions of children

at a puppet snow, at which the people who are running the

810w display their dislike for children. Phis, of course,
upsets the audience. Every shade of emotion shown by the

children is scrutinized as a child psychologist might do,

until the life goes out of the children through an excess

of realism as surely as it was smothered by sentimentalism
in the forner story.

In Phe Nettle Patch and King of Daring, we have children

 

 

as they are, not all good nor merely reacting molecules,
but people, unlerstandable, sometimes Ioveable, sometimes
cowardly, sometimes astonishingly brave. The hero of Phe

figttle Patch is a boy of pioneer days who is bitten by a

 

rattlesnake; he cuts off his own finger with a corn cutter
to get rid of the poison. When he gets home, his mother,
usually uniemonstrative, shows great concern and love for
him. Neighbors gather to tell stories of other snakebites
and snake adventures. Jhen it is evident that he will
recover, the boy decides that the whole adventure was not
so bad:

he had his messy back. A mam like he had didn't

grow on every oush. He'd chop a whole finger
off for her any time she wanted it.29

_ 21 -

Old—time names, Ssyward, Guerdon, Salomy, Huldah, and
old-fashioned colloquialisms make convincing background:
”overei" a snakebite, meaning recovered from, ”Hell's

” for the marks of

neeiles” and ”the devil's thumborint,
‘ 1 1 '2. .

the bite, a ”catcn," a called-like song./O fhe story
combines the charm of a folk tale with good characterisation

of a child.

In King of Daring a negro boy is drowned in a daring

 

dive into a deserted rock quarry. the conversation of the

children, the negro and two Hexicans, as they work up to

the climax is lifelike:

Looks deep,’ said Pepe.

Man,‘ said Sam, 'nobody don' know 223 deep
that water is. That's a well, that is. ‘hat's
deeper'n any water I ever swam in.’

'Cen you swim?’ Miguel had never known
anyone who couli swim.

'Kin I swimi I wuz bohn swimmin'. My daddy
thowed me in the river whin I wuzzin' no bigger'n
'et stone over yonder. He seii, 'Boy, git to
swimmin' or I gonna whale the whey outta you.’
So I swum. neckon they ain' prackly nobody kin
swim good as me.'31

Phe terror in the Mexican children after Sam's dive is

excellently portrayed:

Miguel stopped holding his breath first. fhe
sound of it broke in the thick silence like a
roar in Peoe’s ears. He stood up. His eyes
played over the 3001 from one corner to another.
The feather-light Fingers of a strange fear were
beginning to thrum somewhere in his chest. with
an effort he thought the sensation away. He
made himself say something, to make the thought
more persuasive.

'Bet he's gonna pop up ani try to scare us,‘
he said. dis voice came out so weak and wavery
that it startled him. Phere was a dryness, a

-22-

contraction in his throat. Unconsciously he
ran his hani over it as if to rub it away. 4e
looked at Miguel, to find the smaller boy
staring into his f“ace, waiting For a cue on
what attitude to take. He got it. Poe fear
ran back anl forth between them, growing
stronger with each passage, becoming a current.
Bede felt himself becoming hysterical...He
threw himself, face down, on the ground at the
edge of the pool, and tried to force his eyes
to see through the Opaque skin of the water.

"3211le32
These three 19A6 stories study children as real human
beings, not as primarily cute, adorable, and mischievous,

but in Unsooilei deaction as startled and disappointed,

 

in Phe Nettle Patch as brave, and in-King of Daring as

 

 

daring to the point of tragedy and as very frightened.

Bhey offer understanding, respect, and intelligent interest.
While the first goes to analytical extremes, the other two
are of the caliber that come alive, that out into words real
situations with effective interpretation.

Fhe most important snort stories of both years among
those which do not have war as a orime mover are the problem
stories, usually including a serious character study, and
the character studies alone. Of these types, there are only
four from 1919, while the eleven from 1946 show the extent
to which the short story attempts today to present current
problems and to probe character depths. Phese stories are
the memorable ones, the best of them worthy op repeated
readings. fhese are the ones which fini their way into the
annual short story collections. fhese are the stories which

Show the short story writer at his peak, using his 300181

Pt)
kN
I

conscience to call attention to matters needing ‘orrection
or understanding, clarifyihé u pyan of character which his
been overlooked or unaporeciatei. Pne subject matter demands
the author's best in exoosition end levelooment.

fwo of the nroblem stories of 1919 are concernel with

D

financial matters; none ,rom 1946 are. Money drobless

F

0

could be considered without treading on rnyone's toes, f

«D

they were nersonal moral problems, not general conscienc
oricking questions such as the solder writers from 1946
considered: what attitude to tale towari a negro convict,

or an insane man or a frustrated tenement motier. One story

from 1919 fhe Unieriei Nursling, approaches the nroblem

 

of tne monotonou

(I:

life of the factory worker with a good
deal of sympathy and concern, but with unoojective sentimentality
that detracts for us today from its primary purpose.

Phe first money-oroblem story from 1319 is Qiugjt, in
which a young man of creative bent is caught in the money-
naking millstream eni allows his talents to stifle. It is
the same problem which frequently concernei binclair Lewis.
In fact this story w uli probably have made a better novel
of the Lewis type, for its lengthy, rambling nature, telescoo n;
the entire life of Gordon Hamilton, detracts from its strength
as a short story. Gordon, "i lf-baked author of still un-
written masteroieces...decided to shake the stardust from his
close—fisted 1ansas..."33 He 18

Soul...for near-visionei,

quickly financially successful, but ween he realizes thtt he is no

-94-

longer "President-of-his-'wn—Joul”, since he hes not done
the great writing that he houei to lo, he pinis thst he is
too much caught in the me‘censry worli to heve the strength
f will to pull out. Phe story lacks subtlety, and the
well-worn theme, while plausible and interesting, is treated
with little originslity.
Done with a finer touch is the second money story from

1919, Dreams sni Jonoound Interest. It oresents s more

 

comolex moral oroblem: whether to lend money with one's
heed or one's hesrt. fhe heroine, Jonet Gr ham, 2 lsdy
banker, refuses to lend to Mrs. Osborne, wife of e cattle
breeder who is slreeiy behind in interest oeyments on an 011
loan, but goes at once sbout the risky business of lenling
33300 to herself and her husband for e oley he is ettemoting
to launch. Phe story is successful in that it is not 2
condemnation of her action, but rather a careful study of
the circumstances which brought the two women into clashing
position. Phere is $00“1 arrangement of contrasting materiel:
first, exposition of anet eni her husband, then exoosition
of the Osbornes, the request of Mrs. Osborne to anet, with
touches of their mutual femininity es they compare their
baby-nursing oroblems, finally the refusal of the request,
eni the plans for granting the large loan to Mr. Grehem.

[he co-euthors have fectuel knowleige of both banking eni
the Holstein csttle business, with resultingly authoritative

language.

I

_ 25 _

 

Fighter ani Bird Song, the two major problem stories
from 1946, tackle the problem of the negro and the problem
of the insane. In Fighter, written by a negro, Boke, an
ex-convict, has been unable to find work because of his
prison record. Jessie, his wife, and Country, his friend,
try to keep him out of trouble. When they leave him alone
for a few moments, a tussle starts in a bar and Poke gets
into it. He escapes the cops, but knows they will find him
soon and jail him again.

The author understands the negro's tremendous need for

physical outlet:

tangible energy was what he understood; and when-
ever he had hit a man and felt him ieeien an
drop, it gave him a strong sense of triumph

ani release. Violence offered a crazy kind of
peace because he was familiar with it without
unierstanding it. (Poke would) feel the need

to strike out at something visible - something
that could be solved or conquered in terms of

his limited powers.9

After he has fought again and realizes he will be jailed

KO

gain, Poke thinks back into his childhood hurts

(

, the beatings
from his father and the cuts of the white boys, and then of

his recent jail term:

each part indistinguishable, flavored with shame
ani fear and anger and the crushing endlessness
of walking up and down in a prison cell...Phe
power and the impotence were a distorting com-
bination resolving themselves into an uncertain
and aimless strength...

as he hudiled away from the chilly night air,
he shrank deeply into himself, feeling smell
like a child, and hurt, and wanting somehow to
find a way to let himself cry.)5

Poke has our sympathy; we see his world through his
eyes, witn his intellect, needs, and capacities. Phe writer
leads us to the emotional beginning point which must be
reached before intelligent and meaningful work can be done
to help the eX-convict of lower intellect, negro or white.
fhe story reaches a height of understanding and purpose

greater, to my mini than any from l9l9.

9

Bird Song won an O'denry award for lyhb. lts plot

 

concerns Geor e Beresfori, a oatient in an insane as lu1.

who is permitted to leave the hospital for the first time
for a buniay visit with his wife. He finds she is living in
what is orobably a brothel, can't face these realities,
and hurries back gratefully to the sanctuary of the hospital.
The author gets into George's mind in much the same way that
Poke's mind is penetrated in Fights . We feel George weaving,
graSping, sometimes sure, mostly very insecure. It is the
bird song which finally completely unbalances him. Just
before George is to leave for his visit with his wife, the
radio in the asylum lay room carries an ad accompanied by
the singing of canaries. In the apartment where he finls
his wife, there are several cages of canaries. While he is
eating a miserable dinner there, the same canary-singing ad
comes over the radio. All the canaries in the apartmen
join in the song:

The sound beat upon deresford's face; he felt

their wings drumming on his eyes and cheeks.
He was submerged in their song...Never had the

swing been so swift, never so crushing. Phis
was the eni...'l must go,’ George ggrced him—
self to speak. 'I must get back.'i
Back at the hospital, a fellow patient consoles George
with ironic humor:

'A guy sits here an forgets how screwy things

d
were in the world.'J7

James Cray, as literary editor of the Chicago Daily

 

News, wrote a definitive criticism of this story:

This story is particularly good because it is
admirably created from the standpoint of structure
and it...allows a handful of very real onple

to emerge out of the shadows of a tragic half-
world of failure...a story of quiet despair;...
there is a piercing sort of irony to the climax

in whicn the central figure, having found that

he simply cannot cope with the untidy realities

of his world, settles down into the protection

of madness. It isn't belabored; the irony

isn't overdone or insisted upon sentimentally.

fhe circumstances of inescapa 1e tragedy are
simply set before one with complete oercuasiveness.38

An interesting but less important problem story from

19A6 is The good Neighbor, in which a man gets into trouble

 

 

\

all round by trying to help a prostitute for the sake of ner
children. He is greatly relieved when she moves away with
no warning, absolving him of further feelings of 'ltruieti;
rrsponaihili‘y toward her family.

Closely linked in type and purpose to these stories
which I have classed as problem stories are the character
studies. Especially in the 1946 work, the stories in these
two groups can hardly be held in one category or the other,

for the are Fighter and Bird Son* in particular as much
’ .————.)-i——.—— ._b A ,

 

character studies as problem stories. Controversial social
topics can best be handled by relating them to one individual,
as has been shown. Je shall consiier as character stories
those whose chief interest lies in the character rather than
in the social problem.

Beautiful Golden-Haired Mamie, 1946, could be classed

 

in either group. There is a shadowing of the background of
the Juvenile delinquent problem. But primarily the story
is a character sketch of Mamie, a now overly-familiar type,
a tenement woman who escapes reality through cheap love
magazines, soap operas, and movies. In her mind she lives
the exciting lives of her heroines. She closes her eyes
and nonald, her hero, knocks out her husband, who beats
her frequently:

nonald picked her up in his arms and carried

her to his huge black car and they escaped to

the airport. She was beautiful in a new red

dress and high, high little heels that twinkled

on the aid walk and didn't hurt because her

feet were tiny—dainty, not gouty, to go with

her small glamorous shape. Ronald crushed her

to him and drank the nectar from her lips in

'7

one long, lingering kiss.29
She arouses more disgust than sympathy when pictured with
the children who come in from school for a lunch that is
not ready. Fhe boy, Johnny, ”was a fresh, mean kid,“40
the type who might soon come to the attention of the juvenile
court.

This story is a sketch in the modern manner with no

plot. Its importance is in its subject matter, a bored,

worthless person presented objectively, end in its style,
with the chein-of-consciousness device usei to interprete
the women.

The aeech 39y uses a plot to iraw a more complicetei

 

women, one with somewhat the some oroblem as Mamie, boreiom

and Frustration with a life of no purpose or sstisfsctiohs.

I‘]

los 3ixby at twenty hsi msrriei the owner of 3 summer

7(\

resort and was overjoyed to esceoe from her home in the wild
beckwoois country. She was grateful to jixby ”becsuse he
hei teken her From her home eni all her mother's chiliren
eni her thin raw—honed motherfzil But at twenty—five she is

borea

A!

childless, eni unhepo*. Jhen Skii Venner, en Iniisn
boy from her own northern lsPe country, comes to work for
them at the resort es 9 beach boy, she teels e kinship with
hin. She maneqes to be with his as much es possible, ishcihg
with his in the evehihts and getting talked about by the
resorters. 3ixby finally ieciies that there must be something
to all the talk and says the boy must leeve. Floss reects
to this news:
All around her, the room tightenei, eni she iesirei
to reach out to the boy stehding there (on the
beach below her room) ani touch his hand and feel
the f“smilier, ssooth, tsnhei skin these lake boys
Phe boy, only sixteen, has thought of their relstiOnship
only as a frieniship; he is iazei chi hurt when toli by

Sixby to leave. All three cherscters are helpless in a

set of circumstances where each misunierstenis the other,

and there is no real love between them. fhe tragedy is

that helpless type portrayed in Bird Song. It again

 

epitomizes the feeling of frustration, loneliness, and lack
of purpose found in many of these later stories.

Phe Linlen free carries this same theme of lonely

 

frustration in a character study of patients in a boarding
house near a large hosgital of the Mayo type where-most of
the sick 9P9 fer from home. A sai, young yir;
twenty—five is the center of the story, ani an olier laiy

ani man wonier about her brief incomolete life a

m
C'"
.7)
«1
{A
l—h
cf

3
in the shell garish unier the linden tree. Phe tree becomes

a symbol to them of life as sometimes beautiful but completely

N

'uncompromising, a pale reminie; of thekov'

Cherry Orchard.

0)

 

Phe girl would like to see the tree bloom, but she dies just

before it flowers; fhe oli laiy is angry with the tree for

not blooming a little early. one could heve hed that

‘j 7 ‘ . ‘
anyway."U foe gruff Sick old man authoritatively continues
the theme of helplessness ani bitterness:

Phe tree blooms when it blooms because it is 9
link in a complicatei chain of cause and effect...
If you couli alter one thing you could altar

them all. You could take back the pest and re-
arrange the present. Unfortunately the laws of
nature are logical, ani according to then you
can't change a thing.ML

king of Daring, iiscussed earlier in connection with the

 

stories of chiliren (pp. 17, 18), m st be citei here for
its skillful, brief character study of Glen, the father of

the negro boy, Sam, who drowned in the rock quarry. Clem,

”I
‘l

I— —
_/

'l

lust set there in

g,

in his numbed grief after Sam's ienth,

e hand—chair ani let time spill over him like rain over e
. I

smooth rock."45

The single CQWTQCEPF stiiy from l919, Christmas noses,

 

by Anne Uouglss Seigwick, contrasts Jell in subject eni style
with one of the two noet important cherecter studies from

\}’: ‘ '-‘\ " '31:
1 4o, Pne wuhlitx of éGlLJ

 

by the O'3rien Short Story Collection OF 1946. gnr s 398

 

 

ggsgs is iistinctively l919 in subject matter, style, and

social philosophy. fhe cheracter stuiiei in Christmas

 

noses is Mrs. Delafieli, a wealthy, competent English widow
of the type consilerei worthy of serious stuiy in 1919.

sent, the violent Cansiisn wheat fermer, would not have

U)

been thought worthy of keen inteze ted analysis thirty
years ego by Atlantic short story contributors, yet the

hero of Fhe Quality of Mercy emerges as by Far the more

 

imoortant, the more comolex, the more howerpul.

Mrs. Delafield, in a long story serielizei in two
issues, is characterized by her actions in den ing with
her niece, nhoia, who has run away From her husband and
baby with a young poet. nhoie's father, Mrs. Delafield's
brother, asns Mrs. Delsfield to prevail upon nhoda to
return home. 3ut she is so entranced with fihoie's baby,
which has been brought for her to teke cere of, thst she
entertains the ides o? keeoing the baby eni raising it as

her own, which of course she could not do i? Rhois went

back to her husband. After lengthy rotionelizations, when
mhoda comes to see her, she does not prevail upon her to go
home. jut nhoda decides on her own to do so. Eh: young
ooet then comes to ask hrs. Jolafieli to help him keep
nhoda. fie sees into Mrs. Delafield's motives for wanting
nnoda to stay with him, and while nhoda leaves him, he and
Mrs. Delafield reach a satisfying intellectual companionship
and she becomes his pntron anl friend.

Today the situation seems stilted and unrealistic; yet
there is skill in the anelysis of Mrs. belafield's ”beautiful
and terrible" mini. fhe young ooet who unerringly knows
the truth or is earnestly seeking it is a frequent hero
of this time: he was the asoiration of Gordon Hamilton

in Causht; he is the subject of the best war short story

from lQli, Autumn Crocuses. fhe seconi theme, lightly

 

touched in this story, that of the incomoatible marriage
between a stolid, unimaginetive husband and a wife with
poetic tendencies, becomes one of the main themes of a war

story also by Anne Douglas Seigwick, Eveningyprinroses,

 

Mrs. Delafield is characterized in wordy passages
such as this:

Widowed and childless, with many mournings in

her heart, griefs and devastations in her memory,
she, too, was a force, silent and ostient; and

it was as that that oeoole still came to her.
For'tkua aooe21_kirougnt tflu: answerx She “wad felt
herself, so often, benunber into lethargy, and
yielding to the mere mute instinct of self—
preservation, had so often folded herself up

and lapsed into the blank darkness of her grief...
out it had always been to near herself, as if in

a iream, callei to from the outsiie world, and
to feel nerself, in answer, comin; up again,
rising, if only to snows and tempests, in a
renewal of life which brovght with it, always,
a renewal of joy in life. “

“he language and phrasing is in keeping with the type of
person being consiierei, elierly, slow, meiitative.

Lent, in £fl§_iuality of Mercy, is given brief, iramatic

 

characterization:

Enough I never saw him do it, I think Lent used
to 50‘out at night ani stani ouny under the wiie
prairie sk‘, among his decaying buildings ani
lilaoiiated equipment, Bni shake nis fists up

at heaven ani defy God to come lown and fight
like a man. He thought more about Goi than any
-otner man I ever knew.47

Phe oower of fhe Qualityfof Mercy makes all the

 

amafications of Christmas noses seem like iile parlor

 

~chatter. "In the pooulatei areas," it begins, "it seems
God leaves men to act as their own leaven, but in the lonely
olaces, He either lets them stagnate or tries them power-
fully.”+8 God tried Lent, the wheat farmer, powerfully.

The English boy who went with the first person narrator
to work for Lent during the harvest season is the commenter

throughout. Of Lant's numerous misfortunes, he says,

I 1

"Gawd's doing 'im a favor... e s got guts, Lant 'as. Gawd
can see that for 'Imself."49 God’s Favors to Lant consist
of continuous breakiowns of.machinery ani the misbehavior
of the weather in the struggle to harvest the wheat. Lent
is a terror through it all, killing 2 horse in blind rage
when it Falls under too heavy a load, fighting with the men

who work for him.

fne climax comes when Lent has driven tne boys to the

station to go nome. As the trein comes in, 2 fire bursts

0

out in the cab. Lent rushes to try to save the fireman

who is being scsldei by steam. dis nonis ere badly burned.

Instead of teking the train, the boys go beck to tne farm

. .2 7 N ' . . ' v , H C‘ ’3' t ‘q Q g

witn Lent. Je ll stey end eln you out, /' -ey ~«Y.
Eerlier in the summer the evening conversetion had

once turned to Shekesoenre, sni Lent nei re?errei to the

'quelity of mercy' pessege es 'guff.‘ Now on the riie

beck to the ferm:

At lest Lent said: "I neve been tninking
of s oiece you started to quote once. 'Fne
quality of mercy.'"

"I tnougdt you didn't like that niece, I

said.

Lent stirred on the seat, eni tne silnouette
of his need dropped. "'It blessetn dim tnst
gives and him tnst tsles,'” no seid very quietly.

"'fis mightier then the migntiest,'" I seid.
Me rode on together in the darkness.

The 1919 Atlsntig found its serious stories cniefly
in the lives of tne leniei gentry, in formalized studies
of the comfortable upoer class. 1946 preferred lively
interpretetions of tnose whose struggle celled for tne use
of all of tneir potential end whose environment shaped
tnem into definitive, yet unpredictable molis.

Most memorable to me of the lQAE stories in this cberecter

stuiy group is Such is mecnel. Its subject metter is modern

 

and unusual, the story of 9 Jewisn femily in Egypt gathering

to celebrete tne Passover Feast in the orthodox manner at

the insistence of the old grandfather. fhe conflict comes
through the leck of interest in eni ectuel ridicule of the
proceedings by the younger memoers of the family. The story
carries strong emotion. fhe grandfcther feels no joy et
having his family about him:
only the sadness of a Tying hone...fime hei come
for Jacob to die, 8 bitter lecth with none there
to take his niece. Jith ell hone deed. She
house of Jecob, crumbling es 9 Castle of send,
for were they not, his sons sni chiluren, sterile
greins of send to be blown swgy nni scettered,
useless, among otier people?93
fne character of the girl, nechel, unfolds gracefully.
She is seen first entering her grandfather's home, where
alone among all oresent sne feels no sdeme or embarrassment
y.

es she kneels before Jacob. Jncob feels orile in her, lor

(I)

v ‘V 1 ‘. [:7 ‘ n
"the girl necnel cerriei well her neme."/J AS 19 EeZGS 9t

‘0

the long Pessover table, she finis it so besutiful that en,
WliSQGPS to her brother Jeck, "Uon't you love it?” He

sees only the crowdedness of the room eni hinks it all

a

unnecessary. Jacob sees that on her fece alone is ”his own
emotion mirrored at Passover." ӎeeking 8 men to levi the
femily and take his piece, ”he hsi feilei to see in necnel

the Lord's gift. At length he does realize, watching

her es sne eats her own hitters and also her brother's:

alone the child had taken to herself the bitter—
ness of those who carry forth the Lori's ordained
task...ln her, by an irony of fete, twl worlds
were meie one, the beauty of an old tredition

wei to the vigor of s new age, so he (Jecob)

hed wanted them to be in his Chosen one.)

Jscob annoints nscnel to teke his place as heel of
the I“e'nily, saying, ”jomen there are who count es men, for
they ere wise when men ere foolish

, strong when men are

wean , brave w*mn1 men are cower'ns. ouch itsivachel."5t’

There is beauty in this story of unusual subject
matter, in wnicn e thirteen—yesr—oll girl is charecterizei
as a near-messiah. fhis iirficult materiel is trestel
Without sentimentality, wit: realistic settings, the crowien
room eni the incanveniences in serVing the feast. Yet the
resier is carried with jibicnl-type meaningfulness into
symoethy for the old Jacob ani the young mac el.

?rom this s'uiy of the subject matter, style, end

V

philosophy of the Atlantic snort st ries not concerned With

(J

war in the years, 1919 end laho, we concluie that the stature

O
'1)
C”
e
U)
. )
U
H
C"
’1')
C'*‘
J
*V
bx
H)

":8 shown considerable growth in this
twenty-seven year cerioi. In scope, it has broeiened its
choice of mnterial from an emphasis on upper or midflle class
oeoole of the more conventionnl type to negroes, Jews, the
insane, the tenement iweller, enyone, any situation which
contains human interest.

Fhe style of the stories has become tore vivid, word
choice more accurate and picturesque, chsrscter oortrnyel
more real. fhe pattern of the stories varies grestly, with
variety in type of exoosition and in conclusions. For the
most oert, the stories of l946 ere shorter then the earlier

Ones, yet seen to carry more in fewer woris. Mith wordiness

1.3
4.5)

gone, there is instesi often e stsrtlini brevity en
satisfying subtlety that were the best stories worthy of
rereeiings.

In qnilosoony, 191” finis few problems. Enore thst
ere oresent can be easily solvei by e feitn in Sol eni
in tee gooinese of men. lgéttfinis great ornblers to which
there are no ezsy solutions. fiere is growth in the cymustnetic
unicrstsniing on the sltuetions in which the negro, the Jew,
tke insene, ran? tn? sorei fini t enselves. There is 2 new,
deep eporecietion for tne unieriog, net glossed over
sentimentelly but anelyzei to see woet exactly is tne uroo em
of 2 certain iniividuel and how society treats his situdtion.
diet are his tamptstions? Can we judge him oy a ofit set of
standards, or can we by putting ourselves in his piece

discover new sh fies to 'rignt' and 'wrong' end gein new

'30

synostny for his problems? Pne writers in 1946 fini the
problems, nni they show insight into the personntities
affectei by jifficult situfitions, iut they offer no solutions.
dnerees the earlier writers were able to clear up everything
the later writers find Goi herier to reecn.
Pfiere is more iepth to their struggle and more genuineness

to tfieir grief; there is bitterness, disillusionment, mni
frustretion ”or which there is no answer. If the 1919
Writers Touni the worli too 5003, the lake ones fini it

1

too bai. Pne pendulum nss swung full.

Part II: fhe War Stories

fne war stories from tbe Atlentic Montrly of 1946
snake the render witn tneir intensity eni their seriousness
of purpose. Althougb oesce nei come, it was an uneasy
peace, and tnere were many who felt tbet Jorld Jer Ii hei
not been wortn tne fignting. Inese stories reflect tnis
bitterness eni iisillusionnent.

Followirug florid Her Ll, tnere vnas for t>m>1most pert e
buoysnt sentinentelity carried on a wave of feeling tiet
the war sci ssved msnkini. fne war stories from 1919 9re
sccordingly Optimistic, but st the same time less jotent
tnen tne inter stories.

file difference in the climate of war feeling merls
the types of authors wno contributefl to tbe fitligtig in
tnose two yeers. Pne 1946 stories can .mostly from the
soliiers themselves, from tnose who had fougnt the war and‘
knew its realities at first bend. The contributors in
1919 were not the soliiers, but were those who knew of tne
.front lines only st seconi neni.

fne Atlantic of 1919 oublishei ten war stories by
e1Ent different authors. Pnree were women, two of whom,

Margaret Brescott Montague and Anne Douglss Seigwick, although

Americans, wrote in Englend of English subjects. fne five

-39..

male authors were all connected with the war, but only one
was actually engagei in bottle, and he wrote a less-thon—
serious story. seven, therefore, of these eight 1919 writers
hsd no direct sunfire connection with the war, ani their

work inlicetes this. Whether the work of s soldier in the

1 W

front lines of Jorld Jar l wouli ncve ii'ferei considerably

D

from that of these who were in the beck*rounis o- toe war
s

we cannot tell, of course, from a study or tee work of this

particulfr year in this periodical where such work is not

"3

represented. It is signi icsnt, nevertheless, that there
is no such work here.

Evidently the young soldier of 1919 Wes less anxious
to oublish his thoughts himself, more willing to allow him-
self to be interoreted by those who were scarcely close

enough to his exierience to do the ob accurately. Probably

.3
the general reticence of the period to talk frenkly of, much
less to write of, distasteful subjects exolains in part the
sentimental, unrealistic interpretation given here to the
First World Jar. Most influential wes the feeling that there
ives a patriotic, heroic job being done, gloriously, with
'bands playing. This spirit carried into the writing and left
little room for presentation of he horrors of war or for
the worried questioning that surrounied l946.

Phe mind of the thoughtful young men of 1956 burned

With questions and problems for which he found no answers.

He felt impelled to write, to try, by putting down the

— AD -

.roblems for all to rend, to call attention to the sores
that neeiei the s\nosthy eni attention of the many before
they couli be healed.

Of the twelve different authors of the seventeen.wer‘
stories in the 1946 volume of the itlentig, seven were young
men under thirty who fought in dorld dar II. All but one
were oublishing their first story. Ewo of the remaining
five were establishei writers, Geoffrey @ouseholi ani h. E.
Bates, both of whom also hei an active oart in the war.
householi was a major with the British Army Intelligence,
serving in Central Europe end the Middle East; Bates was a
volunteer for the RAF, who rose to the rank of souairon
leader. Phe last two men, John hershey and Vincent Mchugh,
were war corresoonients who have ione considerable writing
and who sew the war at close'renge. The sin‘le woman author

J

from lQhé was Aonica Sterling, the Atlantic's raris corresoonient

 

at the eni of the war.
I believe that the most powerful ani meaningful work
of all of these war stories was that done by the seven young
men who served actively in the war. It will be heloful to
see just what sort of war experience these men hni as we
discover how these exgeriences became a oert of their writing.
Alan Marcus servei with the American Military Governnent
in Bavaria and came home to write with a feeling of mission
ani ouroose. his reasons for writing fhe Girl {ithout a

Name are significant because they express the kind of

- A1 ;

reesoning that comoellei much of the best writing of 1946.
It was ”the monstrous irony: where broken, homeless, un-
wanted survivors live on in a martyrdam efter the war which
was supposei to have been fought, hmong other things, to

accomplish their liberation."1

His seconi story, hetachusky's neturn, was written to

 

point at the injustices ani enormous iifficulties facei by
the American Military Government. In a note to this story,
in the August, 1946, Atlantig, he wrote, "Phe incidents
were wiiely scetterei... It has seemed rather innortant

to me since arriving home to synthesise certein random

inciients into this form for a nunber of reasons... During

my eight months of MG, 1 sew the exoius of 9 good many
talented men, for reasons akin to those irenatized in the

enclosed niece, and in its way I believe the point to be
rather significant,"2 Alan Marcus wrote to eXplain both
the difficulties met in the work of the military government
with the oeoole of the nations unier its rule ani the
personnel problems within the government itself.

nobert Lewis was a translator in the Americen Government
Section of the 7th Army iuring the invasion of southern

France ani Germany. Hrs story, Little Victor, is token

 

directly from his own exoeriences; he uses the first person
and his own name, sergeant Lewis. Frencis droierick haniles

his story, meturn by Faith, in the sane manner, the first

 

person narrator, referred to in the story as Frank. Broierick

wes a 8-24 navigator with the 7th Air Force and his story

is of his difficulty in convincing c Cetholic family of the

death of their son in 2 plene cresh which he Frank, witnessed,

when their faith assures them that their son will retirn.
Victor Ullmhn, a hospital corosmen with the Navy, told

c oowerful story of e crisis of decision in a field hosoital

r.

n, 1‘ ' ~‘ I - > . . - ' ‘. n ’ f-‘v ‘1" 4" 1‘ .1' r, ". '. :f\
in the faci.ic, oometines You _I9h. uv?n. liomas Mlnll, vi

 

wrote of sollier

U.)

s bout with malaris, served for four years

*4

I
1? 9.3":

With the Air Force as 9 weather observer in Austrh

\

New Guinea, where Lie contracted the disecse hissel

no
> 1;
F"
[D

factusl handling of the nauseating osoects of maleris would
never have been sooroeched in 1919; by it, the resier under-
stands the misery of the disease as he never couli if it

given only oolite mention.

Cord Meyer, whose Haves of Darkness is the most moving

 

 

piece of writing from this 1946 volume, was severely wounded

7

while leading a Merine platoon on Guam. {is story comes

from this first hanl experience. He outs into greohi

woris whet it is like to withstand a fierce night sttsck

and to fall Wounded next to your deed comphnion.
Jest known of these young men of 1946 is fhomas Heggen.

Fnis Atlantic volume contains three of his stories, all

taken from his book, Mister noberts, which wes ouolished

 

in the fell of long 933 Ppgn which the successful stage
olsy was teren. Heggen knew the phcific as a Navy lieutpfi”nt

serving on Guem, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

Phese leWflhn merleLo vermi'vctive III the jecvwri.vorld
Jar wrote of whet they knew of wivt toey di“ectly hsi seen

wrii done. Pirir“1?rk in; inidrI/int fcn“ its

(\
H.

30' El iniect,
for its comments snl impressions from those who livei in

the thick of wer. It gives us so insight into the horror

of war to an individual; it reve ls wor's soecific de-
vsstation, to one refugee, to one soliier's family; it shows,
these horrors baring men to the’r best or their worst
se~lvr*s.

I believe that these stories are imodrtcnt, 9loo, as
literature, for the way in which they ere written as well
r=s for whet they soy. fhe conversation is lively sni life-

like; the 139508

In

re original; the situations ere developed
with skillful exoosition, direct, yet subtle. In suite of
the serious subject matter, humor abounds, showing the enor-
mous resiliency of human beings hni adding greetly to the
recicbility of the volume.

foe stories from 1919 have had time to be surveyed

with the disinterested gaze of thirty—three years. Of the

eight writers from 1919

, only Anne Douglas Seigwick and
Margaret Prescott Montague are now considered worthy of en
occasional rereading. Pheir stories were judged at the time

they were written to be among the best of thet ye“r. EiWEPi

J. O'Brien's 23st Short otories of 1919 gives the two stories

 

of Anne Douglas Sedgwick, Autumn Crocuses and Elening

 

rrimroses, and MSFESFGt Montague's Englend to America each

 

-44-

three asterisks to ”iniicste tne more or less permanent

literary value of the story, eni entitle it to 2 place on

‘ ! 7 -t _ --, *I 'w
tne ennusl molls of nonor'."J nargsret nontsgue's Ene_uift

 

 

received two asterisks in the ssme index, to iniicate only
sligntly less iistinction.
Poe 1919 stories are filled with a sentimental iiealism

tnet begins with the noice of subject matter oni curries

0

through the style of toe writing sni toe general obilosoony
benind Whnt is written. In 19A5, the treni is ter in the

opposite direction, as we sew in tne stories not concerned

[‘1'

with war. Ens ‘itter, searching—without—finiing Feeling

is strong. I snell consider in ietail one of the best stories
From each yesr, bringing into tne iiscussion other stories

98 they may pertsin. Anne Douglas Beigwick's Guy in Autumn

I a

ivny’ <3;

4.

-, August, l919, is so concernei witn the

 

war as is Cord Meyer's lieutenant in waves of Warlness,
January, lgfié. The manner in whicn escn of tbese young men
faces bis oroblem is typical of the writing of toese two yesrs.

fhe subject of Autumn Crocuses is the basic problem

 

f‘

of a man's adjustment to war. uuy's best frieni has been
killei beside him in battle ani he cannot get over it. He
goes, at the suggestion of s cousin, to a cottage in toe
English countrysiie, the home of a Mrs. Baldwin, who has nzi
as guests other boys su?fering from battle soock. one
succeeis in helping him to a comnlete recovery. He learns

that she has sufferei s greet personal tregeiy, the death of

her husbend by e lingering cencer, eni she is still able
to fini life besicelly gooi end to live it cheerfully eni
fully. Her exemple is e powerful insoiretion for him.

Autumn Crocuces is s symbolic title. Mrs. fieldwin

 

is the autumn crocus for Guy. Phese flowers ere in orofuee
bloom at the time.when he visits her in the country, end
they become iienti?ied in his mini with her:

3 eie nim at once thinl of the crocuses, or
they of her. Their gentleness wee like her,
their simplicity, eni something, too, - for he
felt this in her, - of uneerthliness. Ecre,
perhaps then any other flower tney seemed to
belong to the air rather then to the grouni,

and with their feint nele stalls, their fragile
petals unconfined by leef or celyx, to be rising
like emenetions from the sci uni reyiy to dis—
solve in mist into the sunlight.

Fhis heavy, sentimental over-writing is e just exemole of
the style of this story. The beeuty of the scene is inked
in so heavily as to meke it unreal and unbelievable. The

”rising.like emenetions prorn the sod” is, like many

figure
from this 1919 writing, vague, exaggerated, and unsatis-
factory, bringing no clear picture to mind.

fhe scene for Jeves of Darkness is e Foxhole somewhere

 

in the Pacific wer. A lieutenant end his companion weit

at night for an attack which finally comes, kills the
companion eni wounis the lieutenent badly. rhe lieutenant
believes that he is blini and hopes tbet he will also iie
Soon, until he iiscovers thet be still hes sight in his right

eye. Then his hone eni will to live return.

Although the time limits of this story ere brief, an
hour or two, the time of waiting for the etteck end the
time just efter show us the entire mini of tne lieutenant,
his fears, his hopes, his feelings about the wer and 113
role in it. Ne ”re given 9 complete unierstsniing of the
wer 98 it envelooei one thoughtful boy, ohysicelly end
emotionally.

Phe writing in the ection scenes is the best, vivii

0 reel that it becomes a oert of our own exvcrience.

eni

m

Phis excerpt is from the beginning of the bottle scene:

Phe berrege fell on them It rippei sni nlowei

the eerth into smoking c eters nni lit the night
with tie hot flash of ti explosions. Pie leep

roar of the shellbursts mingled with the high,
desosirinb weil of jegged splinters of steel

flung st random egeinst the n ght. Iniiccriminntely
the seicllss irotrxal.

A neer misv cruotei in s geyser of flame and
sound close to their hole. flis heci ‘
the concussion, and the fine eerth siftel iown
over their boiies. fhe stinging smell of tie
high explosives lingerei in his nostrils for e
moment to remind nim now tenuous we: his hold
on life...

{A bullet sxrsoped over*wvei. he ituflwsi in-
stinctively, Veer-by 2 man screomed in the
universel lenguege of oein eni he couli not tell
if it was frieni or enemy. All human thoight
and emotion vitherei eni iiei. Animal—like,
he crouched, nenting. Like a cornerei beest
run to e rth et lest, he eveitei the fierce
hunters. He couli near them nt their sevege
work, uttering snort cries of triumph, nni he
imagined them olunging long beyonets through
the twisting bodies of his com onions. He cauli
see nothing.5

('7) *"0

ye have been there. Our senses, souni, toucn, Smell,

have all been cellei upon: ”the smell of high eXplosives,"

-47..

"the fine earth siftei down,” the "wail of...steel Plune...

,. .: ,.. '- .‘ l|
?t?inot L19 niynt.

diort, crisp sentences with ection

verbs catch the irems of the bottle: 9 shell burst; e

bullet snsnpel; he luciei; he crouchei, nenting. Phe

Ferling of the Pi ht is ceuynt by the rhythm o? the sentences,
direct, abrupt, active. Few moiiTying woris arc usei.

When the lieutenant is hit 2 Few moments ls tez, Meyer

hendles that most iifficult scene by strong, simple, un-
senti cnte l writin ng, lone Czom>1etrl v in terms of the physical

V

impsct on the hen.

I

A greet club smeshei him in the fPC'. A l' ht
grew in his brain to egonizing brig: -tness ; then
eXploiei in e roer of sound th.t wes itself lile

e physicel blow. He Fell eckweri eni en iron
ioor clashed shut egsinst his eyes... He pressed
his henis to his temples, es if to hold his
disintegrating being together by mere physicsl
effort. His breath ceme chokingly.. He ellowei
his heed to fell to one side and felt the warm
blood stream iown his neck. Fhere were frs emrnts
of teeth in his mouth eni he let the hlooi wssn
them sway.6

\‘0 F’
5—" C
p-J J

Fhrouehout the story the writing combines e picturesque
(originnlity of exoression with skillful observetion o?
'ieteils to schieve s gripping reelity:

Escn silent minute seemei s tiny weight sided
on a scale that slolly tippei toweri iestruction.7

A coli, thin rein began to fell... the esrth
in the narrow hole turnei slowly to s sticky
. , (.2

mui, and his clothes clung to him.«

doth the lieutenant nni the corpsnen knew in
their hearts tiet there was no hope For the wound-
efl men, but they tightened the benieges mechan-
ically, as one might shut a house at evening

to keep the night out.9

-243-

Like a poor swimmer, ne struggled througn tie
successive waves .f osin test crssnei over
him... fne memory returnei of now 0s a boy no
nci almost irownei. It sxwvmxi that egein he

strugglei uswqri through the black wster.~3

By his style 0? writing, Meyer enlsrges tne subject

of which he writes to incluie more 0? the war srene tnvn
iii inne Douglas Seigwick or eny of the eerlier Atlant;_
writers. Because of his wiier eX}€F10flCQ wltn his subject,

for ce wee himself, es nss been mentionei, wounied in tie

Recipic wer, beceuse of his inc? of reticence in giving

"0
.‘0
O

tual, yet literary reports of the horrible, OGCQUCQ

of hi

03

ceutivus use of sentiflent enl over-obvious feelings,
presenting instesi tee numoei reslity that war fives tne
emotions, his writing, Like test of tee otne: younc sen of
1956, fines what it must do it it is to rucceel in both a
literery 9nd zuorel sense. It econ-IS us w‘cet wsr is Lj‘ni ‘.‘!’l"-t

it ”338?.

When Autumn Crocuses pictures the wsr, it is ineffectual

 

in comperison. Guy is telling M‘s. fleliwin whet the war
was like:

Do you realize at ell, I sometimes wonier, weft
it hes ell meant, this nigntmsre we are living
in — we, that is, to whom it cemef Gen you
imagine what it we to me to see boys, ieei boys,
buried steeltdily ,t night, unier fire? Boys

so mangled, so uis igurei test tieir moteers
woulin't have knawn them; featureless, iismenberei
boys, seepei one uoon the other in the mud.

Hes your mind ever dwelt upon the comjunity of
corruption in which tney lie, as their mother's
minds must iwell?1

l} U}

, 1.)

fiiuy comes the nearest of the 1919 characters to ststing the

actualities of war. But the feminine sutnor, by the rep—
etition of the 'notner' tneme eni by the hesvy, ineffective
community of corruotion” imege, detrscts from wnst might
neve been a realistic account of 9 battle scene.
Both Guy anl the lieutenant neve had to struggle with
tfeir fesrs in tiies of quiet. fie lieutenant retionelized
nis fesr of ieetn in orier to live with it:

Jnst was be frsij of, be eskei himself. Destn,
wss tbe sin: e newer.. qe could not nenv this
foot on wnicn dis “ear r irf;"ei "n? it"...io t
of nis cunjanions bsi s ”userstitious Lsiti in
tneir own luck... We ireferred to think iestn
inevitable. 3y bso lVin nieself of all dogs
prior to e.Ci be ttle n. cosi found himself pre-
oored for tie most iesoerete eventualities...

He stripoei the nigbt of its hideous_oretensions
to find only death, an old femilier comosnion.
Enough his fear retained, it beceme controlleole
eni this was sll he sslzeifl'2

9

Ibis writing is netter-of~fsct, not overly emotional, very
creiible.

Guy sufferei in somewnst tie same way. At nose, sway
from the bettle, fie hsl no csuse to fear immeiirte death;
his fear wss psycnolgicsl rstner tien sctusl:

Bedtime had been, for many montns, nis most
iresdei moment. The ioor shut bit in eni shut
pwsy the lest chence of ellevistion. Pbere we:
notiing for it out to stretc n ninself on his
coucn sni cling to every deteil in two isy's
events, or in the morrow's orosoects, that might
oreserve him from the past. To first not to
remember qu a losing game, sni fillel one’s
brain witn tne white flomes of insomnia. He he}
found that it wss ween, exhausted by the fruit-
less effort, he suffered the waiting vultures

to settle upon him, ebanizne” himself to tne
beaks sni tslons, test, tnrough the €18 r p9 ssivity
of anguish, oolivion IUOE t often 09 me.l3

_ 50 -

fnis writing, too, is convincing anl droos its sentimentality
in conveying the universality of tne mental tortures in—
flicted by war, a basic emotion uncbenged by time or style.

Yet, All too frequent in Lutumn Crocuses is the

sentimental:

fne leer oli Dutch coffee pot and ju; on the
mentel, and tne bowl of mignonette tnut sre, of
course, nai rrrenged. He sank nis face into its
fragrance, ani neéce seemei oreetnei upon him
from the flowers.1

In the climactic moment of tbe story, when Mrs. jsldwin

succeeis in lifting Guy out of his morbid mooi, the mystical

W

infiltrates tne sentimental. Its effectiveness is e matter

of taste, I believe. It shows a world far removel from

the more practical one of lvho which was not able or had little
inclination to escape into tne vague or tVeoretical:

fne crocuses beneath tbeir feet, her sunlit
s‘nsoe beside him, ‘ner voice, as s‘ne sod/.9 to
him thus, with ber very soul, bleniei togetner
in s rising wsve of light, or music, piercing,
sweeping him, lifting him up to some new specity,
leaving the oli inert and dangling, lifting and
still lifting him, until at lest, as if with a
grent, emerging brentb, be came into a region
bright ani fair, wbence, looking down on tne _
nark and tattered past, be saw all life iifferently...13

In Charles Johnston's A Great Little Soliier from 19l9,

(1)

young soldier writes from a rest camp in Europe to a
f‘1'“;ienci in toe States of now noxious be is to get back to
kJ—lling tne Bocbes. He carries witn him everywhere a cosy

0f the B‘nagsvad u‘rita. lie writes: "I think t’nis is like tne

 

wszr‘ in the Shageved Gite, 2 war of spiritual forces...tne

 

- 51 _

Germans having given tncmeelves up to the powers of evil."16
His feelings ere very different from Guy's, but witn M‘s.
Beldw n he would be in comolete sympathy.

As the soldiers go off to war, Johnston writes of 8
scene at a station, ”wnere nilitery trains ere now 9 msg~

nificent daily experience:"17

It wes redlly s heart—moving scene. One feels
in tn solendors of tnis war, so much that is
skin to tesrs; much, too, tnst‘:ssees the deotn
of tesrsi... the awful eternelness of tbe issues
made ticir way into every heart enl reised it

somewhat ebove personal feeling, the poignancy
of psrting vss hushed by the very presence of
the Eternal.1

Of 2 osrting kiss of a girl end soldier, ne wrote,
"Purity could not beve been ourer."19

fnere is e neivety ncre tnet, looked at from this
Idistsnce in time, is o t etic end trngic. Ner was a novelty
in 1919, something grand end glorious. Guy's voice stands
Eflone; there are many Mrs. ledwin’s.

Host the 1919 writer does not succeed in doing - end

deet the 1946 writers do well — is to paint e oicture tnst
WJJll cell forth in_tne mind of tne render some feelings of
fi1.s own. Instead the 1919 author inflicts his own emotions
U;N3n the reader and insists upon tneir acceptance. He says
it is e ”neart-moving scene." In the best of the 1946
WC>r1&, the scenes are written so tnst cur beerts ere moved,
bl1t the writer does not tell us in so many words tnst that

is anet be is doing. If he succeeds, ne does it an‘ we know

(‘0

that he has done it without his telling us so.

fwo of these earlier stories do still have the power
to move tne reader, altnougn even tnese are too obvious
about what they are up to. Margaret Prescott Montague's

England to America is frequently included in High School

 

English anthologies, and it certainly can be fully grassed
by the 13th grade mind. It has a surprise ending, the main

<

nt manner in whi n

.0
CD

part of the story being tne odd but g ll
an English family treats an American soldier who spends

a leave in their hone, at the invitation of their son, who
has been his companion at the front. He learns at the end
that they had received word of their son's death just before
he arrived at their home. fney did not wish to spoil his
leave by telling him of it, but have been under great strain
trying to give him a pleasant time while feeling deep

persona‘ grief. It is a noble story nod has much in it

tLdat is convincing and charming. fhe Ertflsh as a people
<3ome off well. Skip, the Pmerican boy, thinks this of them:
fhese are they who have washed their rarments -

having come out of great tribulation."93

,.
-

«3th this Bibical sort of wording is unconvincing for a yount
SOldier's thoughts, as are the words of the English father
tCD Skip in exolanation of their fine action:

'It was a matter of the two countries...when
America was in at last, and you fellows began

to come, you seened like our very own come back
after many years, ani,‘ he edied with a throb

in his voice, 'we were most awfully glad to see
you — we wanted to show you how England felt.'21

fhe throb in the voice appears often in this 1919 writing,
along with a sicky sweetness of expreSSion. Phe idea of
Anericans being Britishers come home seems unconvincing
when exores ed in l919; it night have been acceptable in

l?

U)

1 .

d finl much the same sentimental atmoschere in

(D

 

Evening_?riaroses, by Anne Uougles Leigwick. iere is the
same oersonification of a flower that we found in this

author's gutunn Crocuses : Pamela, a women of thirty-three,

 

is a ”sweet, oli—fes*ionei hozely creature; like the evening

orinrose... an atmosohere of schoolroon tea sni the nurture

of rabbits still hanging about her."22
fhe overly sweet mooi continues as we read that

dear old parents clung to her."93 In fact the entire pattern

of the story is difficult for us to accent as credible.

The plot is this: mosamoni, the wiiow of Charles, who iied

the year before in the war, feels guilty because she does

not miss him. She returns to the garden of their oli home

to try to stir up some iecent feelings of grief. She finds

there Pamela, her forner neighbor, and iiscovers that

Pamela is grieving deeply for Charles, whom she hai loved

at a distance and has now ilesligel. fhis ole sea mosanond,

for she feels that there is now someone to ”love and remember

Charlie."24 She is able to exclain this to Pamela and thus

I

to comfort ner. mosanond "felt that she onenei the yate,

drew Pamela in, and out into her keeping all the keys that

hsi weighei so heavily in her unfittei heni."35 It seems
to be much 310 about nothing to our minis, unaccustomei to
this sort of sentiment to the point that we look at it
with skepticism.

Much more refreshing, vivid, sni weeningful ere ihomss

%eg5en's stories from gister asserts. Piey ss‘ wore of life

 

and deeto, of good and evil, of joy soi grief, than do the
1919 stories, but wits beautiful suotiety. Phe result is
that tnese stories actually is bring a tear to the eye now
end then, whereas the former stories, striving oeri to 10

Just thet, leave todgy's resier skeoticsl sci unmovei. Poe

b

1946 stories allow r‘or- interoretetion; they exoect eoi °eTcoi

more from the intellect 0? their reeie's. I believe that

this is one of the strwqg joists of growth is short story
writijg From 1919 to 1946: the ebilitv to tell : story with
more objectivity, with less thrusting of tee writer's Feelings
uooo the resier, lenving the reeier free to conciuie as he
Will, with grauiic pictures before him rather then s1 over-
abunience of emotionel outpourings.

(I

3y the skillful use 0: s smell ievice such as s repeated

clause, Seggen catches doberts' tefiiim more effectively

than if he had triei to descrioe it lcrgtcily:
Roberts hsd the wctco. Tor msybe the thousandth
time io_two snfl a half yeers noberts had the
wetch.¢©

Yet he can use words For fine descriotion:

The ship slid through the water with an oily Miss,

 

:,....ll»|. ,... 1.5!...

 

\_W
U1

eni the bow out
it the stern, tne
rut, out furtner
so wide, and fer,
and oer€ect egsin

'er f“; 1!". e
beck it

.97
of

n in tnis recollection

F)-

.11

-'.

ncisco heavy with eijcct

9

nostelgie )e envis cgei

the sir bri gjfiit eni
and tne clink of gles ses
fidenti - talk sni over
eni really sstonisningly
rnytnms of American dance

(1 1
.4 1
I ‘ ,

fhe bitter boreium and its tre

wno set out the wsr on 3 Ship in 9

of tne cific ere caugnt by Heggen

‘
.Jt"

Cord Meyer usei in

the fabric

W O, S
W 3
fez"'becl

mobe rt 8

.LVCS

13 UPI? 11 TO us 0

it

x' '-‘
C.)

conneretively safe

Waves of Dsrlness

r.

Mssu l knife.
[10L ling

ing and not

?eoric was wdvle

like

wiie,
s fies?
t 916?

r)
J

,.
r)

' st leeve in

, tne scene with its

most effectively:

'V'i t '.-.
sni tee fool is‘n
C‘JOft

tre leugbter
con-
inneeri
L O ‘n'

9

ic fTect upon the men

H

D

a“! i t L) a

to iescribe the action

 

of the war. Jnen fulver, noberts'

d

eats, he goes iown to the werdroom

to tell ebout it. jut he reelizes

would care enougn. fne saveness

It Was all just the some.
night, ieys without eni.
and now Bulver saw
ever couli happen to
centers where action was
inspired and iesires
shut off and allowed
remained was en irritable
setisble

friend,

1
1’11‘: S

that in
these
absorbed,
spoke,
to stroohy,

leerns of moberts

hoping to Fini someone

ssily tnet no one tneze

killei these men

9

It was just as every

Notning hei nonpened;
olsin trutn nothing
men. fne bigner'

wnere thought

had been determineily

eni all tnst

surface with an in-

hunger for triviality.

rulver fi nelly res orts hoberts' ientn in this sentence,
H .
He 188 on a cen end the cen took a suiCide plane off
Kyusna."30 Inst, I am sure, is the way it qu. Pfi3t is L39

way the boys of tliis war tsllei,

int is the way they

.r

wrote of it when they got home. It is to oe greatly re-

gretted that there is so little work in the 1919 itlantig
by those who fought in Jorli Jar I, for tie comparison is
even more weighed by the fact that the earlier work is taken
from second-hand information ani is pr.nonierantly feminine.

In Spite of the feeling of pnilogophic brooiing that

permeates these Mister nooerts stories, there is about

 

them a continuous sense of humor. Lnen hooerts has stood
all that he can of the stuoid captain, hr throws overboeri
tne oottei oaln tree that is the captain's oriie. Chis

strikes the reaier as it iii moberts' crew

9 9

Fhe crew makes him a neiel for his gallant action. fhe
reaier now hates the unoending, bigottei captain, ani when
doberts picks this method of reorisal, he delights us. It
surprises us, for noberts is not the sort of person who
throws things at any time. He is calm and reflective. Phe
situation is successful beoause the reeder hes by now
associated himself completely with Roberts. doberts un-
exoectedly does just the sort of thing we want his to flo
but iii not dare think he wouli. He has been almost too
good; now he is human, yet discreetly so. He does not hit
the captain in the nose; that wouli not have been nearfly
as funny.

But if this story had been written in 1919, ch~nces

are that he would have hit the cantain in the nose. One

strange little story in the Atlantic from that year,

Military Madness, attempts that sort of humor; it comes
off badly at this iistanoe. Albert, a soliier, is eXplaining

how he got his nickname, tne Duck:
'Oh,’ says ne, 'when the rain began to pour iown
I just looked up ani said, ”guack”.'

Now he is Albert the Duck.

3

Another soldier named raiser is called Resist, or nesy,
for short, Kaiser spellei backwaris. mesy plays a Joke on
the Duck:

fowards the enrl of a oerfect iay he met the

Dual wit: a nicely calculated aoruotness that

left tnr Duck rufflei ani outragei. For there
had been where the Duck lenied, a pail of red

‘a
7’)
paint.ae

Phis is reminiscent of the pie-throwing early movies. The
characters and situations are not ievelooei, as they are in

Mister hoberts, to a ooint where we care at all who does

 

what to whom. fhere is no humor in this picture of one
soliier shoving another into a bail of red paint. It is
indeed strange that this little piece reachefl the oages of
the Atlantic of 1919 or of any year. In any case, it offers

a strong tribute to the growth of our sense of humor.

Phe Crusad rs from l9lj, by Hilliam McFee, carries

 

another sort of humor, but one whicn is scarcely more satis-

factory to us toiay then that from Military Manness. when

 

the bombs fall on a snip in the Mediterranean, the sound
is described as if "several thousand waiters, each with a
tray of glasses, had fallen iown some immense marble staircase

_. / /‘ 2—2 , , J,
in one grand debacle,"2/ In 1940 tne sounds of battle

512

are rarely comoared in a jeeting mooi. It is as if tne
horror of th- war's results sobrred the soliiers until
falling bombs were not tne subject for humor of any sort.

Nor was beino wounded, as it seemed to be to mr. Terguson

‘Is
V

A plane Plutters slowly over toe water, on.
float smnsnei, Jings slit, observer looking
rather sick witn a bullet in his thigh. dell,
1e will get a meial, never fear. According to
mF. Ferguson, every air man receives tnree
ieials a wee} just as he receives tnree meals

While tiers is sometning degrading about this casual smugness

as if there men had yet to realize what was happenin.

(‘q
n
(o

a child might laugh at a funerenl, still the sentimental
is absent from these war scenes.
More detached, more ironic, and not as vehement as

Guy of Autumn Crocuses, Mr. Ferguson of Foe Crusaders stands

 

along with Guy as a bellow realist, two discordant voices
in the general cnorus of 1919 Mrs. Baldwins.

Although tnis story by mcF'ee belongs to 1919, we can
see in it a forerunner of the bitter satire of 1946. It
stands as a lukewarm ancestor to Sometimes You Break Even.
Phe jesting about tne three medals, done by an observer in

The Crusaiers, becomes in Sometimes You Break Even jesting

 

by the Woundei tnemselves, without smugness ani unier far
more sympathetic circumstances, in this scene from a field
hospital:

He started to laugh, but each indrawn gasp
caught at tne muscles oP his stomach. fne tears

\O
I

K."

stre::nei ion“ ‘iis Face errirtixei w
19 bit nis 1138.
"You don't hove to be 3 nero, Carl,” Miss

Morten ssii. "I know it hurts
iis face relaxei sni he winked at Hsrtnung.
Joe's s FOJfii i cue toler, Doc. I'm tne sickest
uy in tiis ital sni sue talks like I ncve
call. if I couli move, I'd get out my Rurole
ieert, if 1 bed it snl if I 1110 to get it. ”‘5

L I'.‘ SW95. C .

PJ-

,_)
O
U

(D ( :5

1946 ed its lirnt moments

L.)

(‘7‘

, nevertreless, as shown in

two stories turthmoffrey iougefioli. ??irst 31001 is a sketch.

 

of a civilian chosen at toe beginning of the war to is wsr
work in Egypt. He feels most astriotic cni proui. ”e is

quite s drinker, end unsblc to get liquor on the

x}
t.)
F"

‘ x)

J

goes tnrougn sgony end finelly iies just as toe snip is

:0

leniing. foere is tongue-in-cneel-ness about this tyoe
of neroism es tie first blood sned in the war.

Poe scconi story is more fortnrigit dugor. in 33;;5233
Harvest, the harvest is s ouncn of grepes growing on a
railroad tower. Everyone claims them, communists, resistence
with toe result that toe quarrel for
the grapes gives opoortunity nor poking fun st all of these
groups of neoole in Vrcnce just after the war, escn wnry
o? toe other, escn trying to be authoritative. Gnarles
Cortel, tne engineer, ”lovei little else but Zulu (his
locomotive) enj all humanity, For he wes s communist. jut
nunenity is too large to love witn entnusiesm. His'true
affection wes for Lulu.”iC Mme. Uelage snotner cnief
contenier, "had 9 block must

one an! her rotuniities,

9

0)

though WESSiVP, were more squsre tnnn rouni."/:7

- CC) -

More Frencn feeling is ceugnt in First Love, a moving

 

story of the emotions o? wartime Frence sni of young love
in its midst. Poe lovers, about to oe sewerstei by tnv war,
go for tneir last evening topetier to near 9 quulvr singer

of tne Joy, Viitn risff who eoitvmizel For tnem tie Frence

9

tney were living in:

one song From her guts...qer simnlicity end

viOLcnce were such tnet be: she live? lining
a revolution sne would prooebly no r g e
as toe rebels' mascot; and ner gooi humor sni
common sense wouli ncve mnie ner : £00 0
In her nerson wws en inventory of the ouol‘

of the oeoole of France - tne ooor and bur '
neoble woo torong morletolcces and rcilwsy
brothels sni floss nouses, factories en? de
ment stores; the ‘K: Le 31o s-Le rwvclttions
eni sle tne First to surfer from the-mac

‘-

foe words 'guts' sni 'numsnity' sooesr es frequently
in the lghé writing cs Eoes the 'tnrob in toe t’rost' in
1919. Poe ccntrest serves es s commentary on tne styles
of writing as well es on tie innersnt emotion and ohilosoony.

Poe 1919 writing shows little concern or s.orecietion

'0

for the people or lands in wbicn the wsr was fougnt, over

0

wnicn tne ermies tremoei. One story only, Poe Jonier cl It,

 

_\

so roaches a real proble;

3

, ani even tnct seems to find on

.—
s

snswer Wiicn is too pet and too easy to be vslii. Pie prsblem
is tnct of the military government in Germany after he wsr.
fne military men nsve great difficulty in governing until

they discover that tne German oeople went to be bossed, went

to be told just wnst tney must do. Ede Geruons are told to

report ell crimes to tbe militcry government, end all fines

collected will go to their own vil‘hge government. Phere
wsssza LIEMEMIiOUE} amount (if criiws unti‘_1.ne or*k9r was. cnsngeri
saying that the fines woull go iirectly to the militery
governscnt; tien crime miraculously venishei. foe nutior

ssys tiet this siows s weakness of chslncter, s oeoole who

would chest escq other. In tyoicnl 1919 fesnion, he stoo

t
A

(Q

in the midile of his story to comment on whet he hop enei.

1

he enclyzes the Germ:n character, eviiently feeling that he

hes not presents] it well enough in the story for his renders
to io this for themselves. Phis tyoe of unierlining sci
over-emph sizing is found in much"of this 1919 writing

4 y is which is uncble to move without
an order, eni which is disloyel to itself, be
self-governingfi..sll its inienenient iless
hove been crusnei...(there is a) vague feeling
thst tney should like to be free, but tney did
not know now to be free...

A onple which cennot hold together in
sdversity...cs.not exoect much success in s
venture (iemocrstic government) whose very ser—
vice is self-sacrifice ani s regsri for common
rather than 9900191 interests.39

Phis story does, nevertheless, show a serious concern

for the oroblen of governuent for Germnny. P ere are some
800i German chsrscter oortrsysls. Phis was the Burgerneister:

2 person who lookei like a white rot that bed

been thoroughly soskei sni shevei. and he had

the feculty which all male Germans have of con-
gesling his cords sni muscles at s moment's
notice, and could assume the rigor of an eoilectic
in the presence of superiors...slide into your
office, uncover his teeth, esoy you, and sudienly
streighten himself up in obeiience to en un-
spoken '=vc"1tung'.z+0

A penetrating study of the same oroblen is tocklei

bv Alsn n rcus in l946 in his two stories, fhe Girl without

 

g Nsne eni ustschusky's meturn. his 3eiicste3 Feeling in

 

the writing of these stories op the militsry government
in vermsny after the war has been mentionei earlier (oege f).

In lDK? Girl. Jit unit 3 Thrue, rxarcr' concen71.is witxi the

 

refugees, those who were lioer tel after Germany's iefeet,
sni who were l iving on in Germany, esiecie ly tre Jews,
unwanted sni treetefl miserably. this story is nbout two
Jew 5-] girls who ho3 been in 2 concentrstion cemo ell during
the wer. Mercus describes them greohicslly:

is slike in shoesrsnce es the two of them were,
wit:i tieir bellies eouelly blo tefl, eyes equelly
cevernous , heir equs ll y lusterless, :nkles end
wrists eq uslly s 'ollen, and with their left
fore:“ms SllilST y tsttooei with s slsu:hter
numoer, tiere was s oro oun nentsl 3 fference
lustwerwi twe.n. ‘L

One girl, Anne, was still eble to cope with life nn3 to
strive to get food For then both. Che other hni lost that

ability sni wes comoletely fienenient upon Anna.

er friend...seeme3 to neve voni ted ye rs of
ussociation cleanly and bolily out, unler the
pressure of too much horror, olooisned, snj
iniuman intimiietion.

CE

0

Pheir oroblems are treated carelessly by most of the soldiers
in the Am¢OP o fice eni cruelly by the Germans in the town,
who hete them nni all thet they steni for.

Marcus presents the situction with blunt honesty, yet

with original artistry. Ann; hss to obtain 9 governmental

form in orier to bi; some clotn. one stsnls nefore the

German office girl in tatnetic cont'ss "He tne liberated

’ ’

one, the German girl, tie con uered one:

Pne sound of tbe Germen girl efficiently
gathering forms eni data into bl ce on ner deck
wes like the quick exolosive rattle of some
rather complicatel slot mscnine where you pusn

3 coin in ani six or seven snowy things commence
to hupjefl it once.4;

Jhen the girls are killei, by s comoirstion of AAGOP

1..

carelessness and Germen cruel‘y, their few Jewisn friend

(I)

leave the cemetery wnere tney neve buriei the girls:

Qohesively, keeping close togetner, tne eleven
liberatei allies movei iown the street, tnresding
tneir wey tbrougn the oooulous renks of tne
beaten, subjugstel enemy.A“

Irony, wnicn sbounis in til; leter writing, is non-existent
in the earlier volume, with the exceotion of the story by

fl

l‘flc: ee , I'ne Cruse de rs .

 

 

metncnuskyis Return, also by Mercus, is enotner story
involving the same iifficult problems of tne niece of tbe
Jews in post-war Germany eni of the enormous difficulties

ce. It is

Pic

of the military government in meting out just
Significant, for it calls attention to a bad situation, witn
memorable symoetny for those involveri'. roe: moor official
Strives nonestly to justify the Jewish accusations and to
mJHisn ix-guilty Germans but succeeis only in angering a
Je;visn Army officer who is his suoerior. Army loyalties

BIT? supplanted by racial ones. A controversiol problem

18 garesented, one which would not nsve been tacklei in 1919.

-C4-

Other stories from 1946 snow both tne greater iestruction
from Jorld Jar II snl tne greeter unierstcniing of tnis

tregely by tne writers. Green miver Prsin forms a contrast

 

with A Greet Little ooliier mentioned esrlier for e nicture

of soliiers on a troob train. In A Greet Little Soliier,

 

military trains were ”a magnificent isily exoerience."

In Green diver Ernin, s group of boys ere on their way

 

tnrougn from tne European wsr to the P

\. U

(xific, frfid2"YUI¥Tsniy
to Negessld." file sl‘etcn of tile trein is comfj‘lt by e
corresnonlent on s oessing trsin es tie two trsins rtou for
a short time in a smell Jyoming town. fne soliiers cell from

tne trcin winiows to a little boy on tne stntion olatform,

trying to Huess nis name, asking dim wnst 1e wants to be

k,

“'5

w'mai 1e gllxvs up. Ilmay wnistl£%:it e girfl.xvitn Air‘:v3rce
wings oinnei on ner sweeter. Piey ask wnere be is; sne

answers, "fle's missing,"

Ilv

rne soliiers ell nod tne same touslel, swesty look,

eni a curious, intimnte ”urtiveness, as if tney bei gone

moist snl slack thinking snout women wfen women were deniei

tncm.”45
Pne ntmosnnere of the scene liffers in every resnect

from the stetion scene in A Greet little Soliier. It is in

 

keeping wits tie times tnnt tne story from dorli Jar I nzs
as its setting a scene in wnicn the boys were going sway
to wsr for tne first time, filled with iieslism for their

Venture. fie story from Jorll Jar II picked its subject

from near tfiu3<fini of the wsrg vfwvltyur hwys were tizeri:ail

‘\

dirty, not thini 0L

5...
Po
'3

{V‘

wsr es gloriois, but only cs something
xhiich nsi cwmrhlt tlem sometiflij‘tfley'i be gflr”l‘to oe rid
of. Pheir conversation is filled with slenE, swearing.

Army fin; foreign exoressions. fine boys ere knownole, in

contrist to tne soliiers in A Greet Little oollier, who

 

Ilj

ere unbelievably noble, tninking of the "‘wful eternelness
of the issues.”léé
Phe subject matter chosen in 1940 was inevitably earthy,
st times coarse, always frank. It dealt with tne msny
different phases of the war sni its effects not in a honey-
conted or romenticized manner but as a reoorter might see
it, illuminatei at its best by the unierstsniing of 2 poet.
Nsr meens woundei eni sick sen mid hospitals. fnere

7

are two fine hosoit 1 stories in 1946, none in 1919, again

CD

~‘ n' . pn- - . w . . ' .-‘, a .0 , - .0 _.., ..,
lcent as an CXdel9 of tuft gerind s agility to ignore

the unplenssnt. Atebrine fan is s tale of e serhennt in

 

\

Q‘

s hospitsl wsrl about to be releesei 2s curei of mslcri ,
when he hes another attack. Mnleria becomes for the renier
unierstsnlible in its iresifulness. We know, to 8 Joint,
whet it is xike to have malaria.

fne writing is full of the type of images thst mske
for res ity. Jnen tie wsri boy comes in the nirht, 'Mcrty s

k-

. . ‘ . , o
fingers meme 9 frngile cege of coral for his flesnlignt."'7

L ttle iremas unfoll about minor characters. This ssme

MortV, only twenty—one, is working three shifts in a row in

an

o l . - .l m, l ., .4 o 't -, ,, ~..
order to get time off to go to see lis ills. f.e e nil
he consiiers his oecouce their fsther one night in the
I ' ‘ VI y 3 - " ‘ ~“ "a ‘ a ‘. vn . '~ I] ‘- 1 v~ ‘r— '.A (V
ooutslliwilfic, took Xblhqf's orlers ion :lim cmlflurwi warLy

I-

wss about to get susckel uo witn s bsoe over there nnl ne
. ~ 1‘ . , '! /J,8 In ’5 '1' . " ‘ ' I-‘ ' ‘ ‘
wentei to lo me a fever. In Colljldé out tie orlers,
the father was killci.

Again, es in Mister fioberts the telium, tne noreiot,

 

eni the red-toss is irsmstized, the little thinfs'thet
Cousei greet annoyance:

almost well, he was innurei in one of those
little hells of waiting to which tie irmy
habitually consigns imsetient m,n.*9

'tney' - Vsshington, the Army — hei it all

now, in bl ck sni white, that he hri been born,
cni when nni gone to school, and where, worked
here, livei there...secure in fireoroof files
in insnington, likely to be sround lone after
his fleshly nomeseke collei it s isy.5

{0

Ani the war—wesriness, in this glimnse of the girl waiting

by her husband's wordroom:

one of the sort you sow everywhere in the war
years - in crowded busses, traveling alone in

the transcontinental ioy coaches; worried, ontient,
faithful Benelooe.bl

In the other hospital story, Sometimes You firenk Even,

 

‘1

the writing is original sni lively in a good story o- adventure

eni iecision. fhe scene is e fieli hosoitsl in the Psci;ic.
The author was s hospitel corosmsn during the war, sni
Hertnung, the leeiing character, is a hospital corosnnn.
Hsrtnung risks his life in a tornado in an effort to procule

an extra tank of oxygen for two wounded boys. One flLes before he

sets back.

\_.

fnere is 3 'been there quality in the nosnitsl :tnosgnere:

Hortnung slicel the stesk_witn 9 scelnel eni friei
it on an instrument trey.2~ '

‘ - x . r ,1,
Hertnung sweéted nis supplies along tie runway.92

fne really sick men nsi oegun tneir suocres ed
nignt groen ng, mutefl self sitns tnet ounctuctel
eacn stcge of LlGlP efforts to sleeo in suite

of .",;e:.‘l.r1.314

r-

A kixi‘wno wcnzll gill; ruin the numitn of $Nl€?h0fly
pun always get toe snakes tie night before his
one: tion. jut it wasn't tee operation itself.
Even if they were 30in: to hove tneir guts lnii
ooen, they were fr ntic witn fear of tbe blessed

. ’ r‘ L ‘ 17 [—L
suinel onestnetic./2

Pne styles of writing in l9l9 sni l946 fiiffer greatly

because different things ere belnw ceil

n ‘ , ani trey are being
Ssii in iifferent ways, not vetei by different thougnts

sni feelings. Je have found tne style in l919 to be for

toe most pert worly, sentinentsl, oozing with surface emotion,

witn spoken feelings of glory sni nonor. It 1 cks coirage

‘13

of exoression, originality, nonesty, tne sympathetic greso
of single trogely. 1t ignores tne unbleescnt and the dif“icult.

It finds few woris for tne horrible. fne *ezts of rece

, .
' 1‘

U)

U?

(J

(

sni sex were not consilered in the stories of lil9. As the

problems interent in tnose realms were not mentioned, so

tney were not solved, out ley, unexolorei eni smoldering,

0')

waiting for ‘nOtWGT EenRPquOn to teke tnem out into the 0 en,
look at teem, become concernei sni use every eveilsble
word to describe them to those wno must understsni them if

tney are to be solvei. It is es if s frilly oinkness lies

over the earlier writing, making tne blood scilled not so

red, the guns not so loud. It is, I believe, faise and
incomplete; it fsiled in comsunicatinfi to the reading
public what war is anl what it does. Yet it wrote what
tnst public wented to road. It was, of course, a oroiuct
of its time, a time that enjoyei its own haogy leception.
It is at once fortunate anl tragic that this oresent generstion
can read of 'guts' without turning ourole, can consider the
problem of a starved half-crazy Jewish refugee girl objectively
end helpfully withoqt getting merely e throb in the throat.

Two stories yet to be mentioned from tne ten with war
themes from 1919 heve a goody—goody, do—your-bit theme.

In the Milky Nay a middle—aged milkmen leaves his milk

 

route to go off vaguely to do something for the war. In

Shipbuillers, a herd—hesrted juige is moved to leniency

‘1

in

m

c se of allowing a loan which would help soeci the
building of ships for the war by the lcwyer's reaiing of
a letter from a soldier in Europe. Hits the same idealistic

theme as the letter written by the sollier in A Great Little

 

_Solfiis£, the boy writes, ”I can't wait to get back again

(to the front lines) — Honestly, I want to live as much as
anyone, but I’d die a thousand times rather the have that
wicked nightmare of Gerran militarism impose its rule on

the world.”56 fhere is a high-flown, save-the-world feeling,
with no cynicism whatever. Mention is made of boys being

killed, but, as in no story from the 1919 Atlantic, there

is no real picture of battle. The letter device is much less

effective than an actual account.

In summarizing the stories from 1919, whet emrrges
es their phi osOphy is thst war, however horrible, is
glorious. Po iie for one's country is still the most ncole
end. fne snswers came easily. Poe war was shorter; it
ended with s more decisive, hooeful victory. Of those
few who felt impelled to write shout it in lQlQ, most iid
so with optimism, as of a necessary deei well done, or st
least as of an event containing more good than evil.

The feeling as exoressei by Guy's friend, are. Bnldwin,

 

in autumn Crocuses wss that it was not good to dwell on
ugly things or to write about them. Guy wrote some poems,

referred to in the story only by their titles, Half a Cornse

m

_

nd Eating Bresi sni JutteE, in which he invites ”them to
eat it with him in a trench with unburied comrades lying
in NO—Mgn's qud before them,"57 Mrs. Baldwin reads the

poems, and when Guy esks her what she thinks of them, soe

I

QYISWGI‘S:

'You ought not to write like that — with hetred
in your heart. Can greet noetry be written out
of hotred? And it's not only you-self it hurts:
it hurts other peoole...sorecis e mood of jerk—
ness and fever just when they ere so in need of
light and calm...You imorison them, force them
beck into their helnless suffering; when what
they prey for is strength to rise above it end
to feel all the goodness and love thst has been
given for them; to feel what is beautiful, not
what is horrible; so as to be worthy of their
desi.58

Mrs. Baldwin echoes what the people in 19l9 wented to hear.

_ 7Q _

she has, it seems to me, an ostrich-like philosophy: if
we ion't talk or write of the horrors of war, they will
cease to exist. She is the voice for the wave of emotion
that believei that the war to en? all wars hai Just been
fought. And her ahilosopny is tie one which preiojinstefi.
Guy, on the other hanj, reoreseits oitter, questioning
frustration. In lQl9 he is shouted inwn by Mrs. Baldwin.
3ut his thoughts ani feelings reappear ant iomihate the
ohilosoony behind the 1946 writing.

Guy argues with firs. 3aliwin that millions were

 

"slaughtered, tortured, iriven mai because of greasy, greeiy

O ‘ ‘ C\ R "V A
Wire—pullers in their leatner cnairs at hvme.”/9 In answer,

\

Mrs. Baldwin asks if he doesn't believe that tne crime was
Germany's. He laughs sneeringly. She continues:

'And weren't we all responsible...wasn't
the fuse sinoly our conception of our national
safety? of our national honor?...You are so
wrong, so ungenerous, so vinlictive...de all
hate war...

Phere Sre bad ani selfish oeoole everywhere,
—among ooets, I feel sure, just as much as
among statesaen; but hasn’t this war oroved -
since everyboly has gone — that no one group
is bal and selTish; that there are men in every
group who have been glad to iie for their country?'53

Guy has said the sane thing that the lieutenant in
Waves of Darkness says a decade later:

An unreason ng iniignation sdook him against
all who had placed Everett wnere he lay. For the
frightened enemy that shot Everett and was probably
alrealy deal he had pity. 'But I wish,’ he thOJght,
'tae all those in power, country men and enemy
alike, who deciied for war, all téose who nrofit
by it, lay dead with their wealth and their honors
and that Everett stooi upright again with his life
before him.‘bl

- 71 _

But this time no Mrs. Baliwin rises up to Contraliet him.
£515 W8? there were no fiollyannes.

Fne writers of 19l9 founi a soothing faith. In Atrgaret

Montague's fie_gift a minister whose Son has be n killed in

\L.

9

'LJ

rance has lost his faith in God anl humanity. On the day
oezore Easter, he is :ieorescecl anzi overcome at the t'ioug,‘::t
of having to preach of hope sni resurrection to his people
on tie following day. A women wao is iying of a long Snd

isease cones to him for help in her iistress over
the featn of her son, who was killei also in the war. one
says to the minister:

dhst I really neei to believe is that what my
son iii served some great magnificent purpose -
not Just the imneiiete one of beating back the
Germans - but something beyoni even thet...that
there is 5 G01 who cares for the unsoeakably
precious gift tnat my son offered...
Jonetimes...l seem to feel something bigger,
?l1 more tenier, an? infinitely more unicrstanling
tlan anything I couti ever have thought of...
someone to whom you wouli want to give your whole
self...°5
As she tells through her iroolens, she restores the minister's
faith as well as her own, until he is able to say:

we are all flaking extraordinary gifts to one
another in these great and terrible days. It
is the flaming gift of humanity, that God
insoires mankind to make to mankind.03

Horrible es the war was, it was concejed glorious to die
in it, for it was a war to save mankind.

In 1940, the emphasis is very different. Listen to

Mister moberts:

let ‘s try to soy

ugust t1is once JQFL tnis one war anyhow,
ue tniigs about tne ueso.

C’”

I“.
fiQLlC oy canceling the phrase "our honored

2.10:1, for that is not true: we forget tier};
we do not honor tnem except in rietoric, and
the‘:hrose is the beige of those who went some-

‘

tning of the ieed. If the desi of this wsr

A

must have a mutual cncomium, then let it be
"poor ieei bastards." fhere is at lerst a
little humanity in tn t.'0

Listen to Hertnung in sometineS‘You Bre<k Even:

wien they told us a human/life is s

Jhy,

go to war?

Lt. Roberts is

'...tdcy lied to us in the schools end ciurcnes
rcrei. It

-nu Tl . vrC.
ion t. it s cxreninble. VJ

n to Jeves of Darkness:

e n tives hoi flei to the hills eni left
heir town to the foreigners who fought in a

r the inhsbitnnts coulfi not unierstani end

e ontcome of which could leave them no lifferent
hen before. Fe guessed that there were mnny
who hsd fought bravely on both siies who unner—
stooi it all no better than the natives eni had
es little stake in eventual victory...

fo Object or to struggle was lile shouting

into 3 big wind that tears the woris from the
corners of one's mouth before even oneself can
neer them. is, his friend, his country men,

the enemy, were all flying leaves cast on the
black waters of son mysterious river. Even now
the current ran faster and toe lesves wairlei
towrri the jerk lip of destruction.66

then did these boys fight at ell? Why did they

LA,

H

5

ani iieelism...fie wants to be in the wsr; like filings to

a magnet,

he is powerfully irewn to the war sni to the

genernl lesoletion of the time..."C7

fiT

l'.- {A.“.‘
‘L‘ CP~xuta

iJe lieutenant in Waves of Darkness hsi enlistei in a

 

service:

a young man of sensitivity, oerce:tiveness,

Not Cec:=

any C 11.138

~73;-

ise he believei

.rJ ;; TL "1

lying for.

1L “or-

the :
grew L:
6

war was cw
.netnri“, ne
,5

xwir cleariy’ams the finieinwi product CL.IJniVC Isel
ibnorence, tVarice, eni brutality. A littl

out of eioi_escent vanity, but mere uec'u e no
fiei fzilel to oec one 2 VHSCiCnLiOJS ooytctor,
as ne ought to have ione, 1e ciose to accept

tne consequences in en effort to reieen by :er-
sonll valor a lost consistency of our3Ho e. 68

Poe boys went

”the Fenersl 16:01

them from on ettit
tOIJeri e D¥Tt in t'
p

illusions 0
boys in 1917.

1‘.‘ g...
wuefi tne lieu

about to iie, his

much in tne min is
Lipe see
nimself
10 netze
ity.

I

."

:)

toe pointle

Hitn tie
eni coul
for a
time LET?

been better

given
ness,

1’10
HO

struggled
by ?n gyien universe in wnicn tney
'Jit 1iout them. ,
reoroiuce,

mei

to Jer oeceuse
etion
uge of comjlete
Event.

ie L3ig

f glory eni so

tene 11L 1T1

of the time.'

ivation tnfit 1n

Jnves

they were Cfiufiht in

Pneir youth Toot

iefam isynt?ni drew L*£fl]
3ut ttey went with few

0

svired tne

. ‘ [:7 , f‘ ‘4
of Derlness wounuei 1n1

 

i’iiifitic Lfi

of otner toys

so or a
9 Ta h:' V
d in his

JOO
Hg

heart

ssness of
certainty

above 2
t seemei to
1°C? 1:17]?.i,
trace of
ceou

Jitifully,

he

unwe rm£>1 strentp ere.
men might 113331-11 y eat,
Jitn wnet is. 69

But the story ioes not quite

completely black.

Sitflt in one eye,

Pbe lieutenant

when he thought

in this 12

staffing-t:
He consiierei tee
his
end conclusiveness of
i see him only a
moment forever
run nowhere.

gentleness,
city for love...Jitn them men
ani

nts were tfiose which

were

thing tnet he smiled to
fearei

to lose it. There wes
enyone, but rether
snortness of men's iays,
best hopes in comnerison
dreth,
Door creature struggling
escaping stream of

It wouli have
he had been
iesire for

,1
S c:

if
no

felt,
gooi-
nooei,
were totally defeated
wanderei es

en enimel,
and lie, one

end there. 1946 is not

discovers that he has

be was totally blind;

the will to live surges uo again, eni 3 Spark of hone

8 Joe," 1‘8.

,1 A ‘ r\ " “ l.‘ ‘ J

lne stiongest positive elcxtnt in tie 114C scene is
4. ‘ “r + ‘ - . f " Hr: " 1‘7. 1 v- ‘ "-("v ‘1- I 1w- ‘4‘ ""- :‘C. “ I“ >5 ‘ H . L‘ ,.J P
LI me 1 :J' CL. 4 -o- I :4 ‘1 if- M] a « ~ »&,\‘ L «tr LI . .‘ -‘ ' ' \‘ - - A 4 .~\, u“ L. J i l __ « ‘ ..

the war. Phey wrote so thnt everyone migdt know whet 1;

N88 like, not iq‘eulogisti; terms, but rether in term

U:
r
K...

‘I‘ . ' t.‘ ‘ , ‘A ‘ - ,. 1 , .9 , _ r 1, ,, ;- . 9 ' Q- ‘ t‘ V. A ,-
now it ielt to be one lone sildler in « toxxole wit; 4 itxd
cumosnlon, one hospital corosnen struggling to bring an

“ I‘ V ‘ ' N' ‘ " ‘.‘ r~ I c] '3 . O ‘ A ., r , . ', . _ ”n .5 . 3, 'I _.
oxygen tnnl t n.fl4,i.a fittilic LoIfL-h), one )CICGJLlVE, more},

frustretcd lieutenant on 2 this out of tie line of any sort

, courage,

b
x

of action, making the oliustment ”with gallantry
end fortitude...e kind of hQFO.HTO This SOPt 0f WOHGCt
sensitive interpretation brought the soiiier's war to the
uniersteniing of the oeoole.

. 1163

(D
c?-

A second imgortent oositive quality in 1936 1
death of concern For humenity in these Stories. rhe

lieutenant in Jeves of Udrkness feels no netred, but only

 

pity, for tie oat etic enemy who killed his friend in con-

trast to the letter-writer of A Greet Little Soldier, 1719,

 

who is onxious to get beck to the Front lines to run his
beyonet through enotier bloody Boche. Phere is Fe more
thoughtful, intelligent concern For the oroblems o? tne
military governnent, in terms of the effect on soecific

individuals, in the two 1946 stories, fie Girl Jitnout a

 

Nnme end netechusky's neturn, then in Tie Jonder of It from

 

1919, which sees the Germans as e oeoole who went Oily tO

‘ ’- 2 J ' '. < .—x_ . I‘ '~ “-Y C‘ r» a" 'I, .V“ ’I "‘ I" : 1
be bossed. From sittlc .ltt-r, 0 story o. a .Ienci trill

 

4. 1..»,.. .H,
.1 “Volv‘lflt .1.LQ AU‘JLJEI

«Q I ,, r , ‘ I '. ,-~ A x r i "3 4' ‘7‘ ' , .t.’ g“ 'o’ " 3 . " ‘ ,5 . i‘ f 4‘ '
Poi en Amerlcsn solilei, Die Americen we: rent serviig as

_ . . - ,1. '-,.,- . :4,
court interpreter makes tnis UOflrbflt, 'l hosed at his tlii,

uniernourisned bod;. I tnougnt, this is war, tiis slow

m

starvation of Ciiliren. beven ye rs oli, end he looks

pJJ

'3 this wer‘*R?Ut sni observmu

0

scrswny Five."71 SOLdiers
With intellireit syncctny; they felt gtpgquy enough to
write of uniernourisied coildren enl of 1istrewted refugees,
of Negro Colliers who orought ch colete to French children,

of all of toe

k-)

ittle bits of humanity thnt are effected by

1

F}.
0
’4

‘ ‘n \ ~’. 0' if 7 '
rouo en ioeca toe enelyt

- A ,

totel wcr. Piece stories, as e

{V

perception of txe greet nussisn end Fre on n velists. Piere
is tnet feeling for humanity in then which must exist if

life is to be accurately interpreted,

Altnoubn we nave considered them in two seoernte groups,
all of the stories from 19l9 end those from l946 belong
distinctly to their reseective years. In the comoleted
picture, the some unierstnnding end considerate interest

thet crested Tighter also wrote Javes o? Usrlness. And the

 

o bo

r_.J
(D

stilted sentimentalism of Christmas noses a 'ged iown

E;
\.

 

Autumn Crocuses.

 

In tie light-heartei folk tales we found greet similarity
in subject matter and style in the two yes 2; but es we turned

v‘

to the more serious stories, we founl the courses or twe

—76—

l§l9 end 1946 writers to veer fartner snl fsxther s ;It
until in tie war stories only toe slifintest conecetions
ere left, in toe persons of Guy end mf. Tergison, woo are?
out feelers in the l946 iirectioo. Pie msjority of tie
writing of l9l9 wes msrkei by pretentious unreslism. In

the 1946 writing a mastery O? reelietic interpretstion is

felt, Dn unierstsniing and symostny for nutsnity.

Footnotes

 

(Since all of tne magazine references are to tne

Atlantic Monthly, I have Eiven only volume and page numbers,

 

avoiding constant repetition of tne name. Since, also,
the footnotes are almost entirely reference to four volumes

of tee Atlantic Montnly, I have avoidefl the awkwsrd if not

 

confusing soosratus of Roman capitals by using firabic
numerals. The volumes concerned are CKXIII and CXKIV for

1919, CLKXVII and CLXKVIIIfor 1946.)

Introduction

 

MO1L21et ?oley, Pne Best snort Stories 1946, 9. vii.

21bid.

Jr. L. fiattee, Poe Deve1053.nent of tne Aterican snort Story, 9.

4!. L. EarrinEton, Pie jog inninE: 3 of Critical mealisn in
Atericg, p. 395.

 

 

 

 

 

Bart I: foe Non-War stories

 

 

 

g12§1(fiov. 1946), 91. 351b11. q"
31L11: 22101i<3 $25 1919)’ ”37'
b17T (Aug. 1946), 101. 251T8 (July 1946), 89.
1111.1L11., 59— 90.
1T1T., 132. 25Tbid. 91.
178 (Dec. 19461, 115. §5Tb11., 92. ,
:17; EMarcn 194?), 75. $5175 ( Sept. 1946),
917 Oct. 1946 , 112. 1b11.
53125 (Feb. 1919), 136. 59177 (Jan. 1946), 100.
1 177 (aprii 194s), 139. gilLidi, 98. 4 ) Z
21bid., 110. 177 June 19 c c+.
1:12T (sept. 1919), 555. 221111,, 65- 66. ) 6)
Ibid. JJ194 Nov1919 to.
1511.,9555-554. : ; '59177 (112y 1946), 109.
1 125 (21919), 153. . Wslbii 110,112.
1Z1b11. e252+. 5§T77 (”eb. 1946),
1312T (Nov. 1919), 615. Z’71__13____11., 85.

19124 (Dec. 1919), 788.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

53James Gray, O'Henrx Memorial 21177 (Avril 1946), 51.
Aweri Prize Stories of 1946, 2311311., 5?.
2o 9. x2 23;o:1., 54.
75178 (July 1946), 105. 23177 (June 194o) 5<.
401b1d., 104. 291933.
41178 (Nov. 1946), 80. 31124 (Dec 1919), 317.
991b1d.,.51. i91b11.
43177”(Jon. 1946), 55. 32124 (Sept 1919), L18
941o11. 341b11., 519.
45177 (June 1946), o7. 35177 (Feb. 194o), 92.
45124 (Nov. 1919), 674. 96177 (Jon. 194o), 49.
57173 (er. 1946), 91. 521o1i.
f51115. 35177 (Hey 1996), 65.
95131E., 94 39124 (oe‘f 14193. :7
“11211., 9:. 1212 , 371.
«91313., 97. 4 173 (Nov 1946), 100.
E” 7o (Oct. 194o1, 115—116. 491b11.
991311., 11?. 451o11., 134.
2‘1231., 116. 4i;o13., 196.
591Ui_., 117. Jiri (June 1946), 147.
bbloii. C125 (Mercn 1919), 552.
42173 (July 1946), 75.
Part 11: roe Var Stories 451211.
91o11 , 7:.
117o (Nov. 1946), 100. 591o1d., 75.
2178 (Aug. 194o), o5. 5l1g1g.
EEstri J. O’drien, jest 6n0ft 59177 (Feb. 1946), 78-
étories of 1919, p. 360-301. 5212;}.
$124 (Aug. 191971 152. 541b11., 96.
2177 (Jan. 1946), 77-73. 553313.
91913., 7o. ‘ 50125 (ng 1919), 672.
?;o11., 75. 5Z124 (Aug. 1919), 159.
31011. 531b1d., 161.
191313., 76. 591o1g., 160.
102222-, 78—79. 0011311.
11175 (Aug. 1919), 159. @1177 (Jon. 1946), 76.
15125 (Jen. 1946), 74. 95125 (Heron 1919), 371.
1J17o (Aug. 1919), 150. 921b33., :72.
191g13., 151. 95177 (May 1946), 49.
5;9;1., 161. 95177 (Feb. 1946), 142.
C125 (March 1919), 529. 96177 (an. 1946), 7o-77.
131221-, 552. 97177 (April 194g), 49.
131511. 98177 (Jan. 1946), 80.
191g13., 33:. 09.11111.
20T24 (Sept. 1919), 522. 70177 (Aorii 1946), 49.
211b11., 351. 71178 (Oct. 1946), 66.

2312Z‘(Ju1y 1919), 12.
?91011.,o.

£31211.. 17.

1J1:m_1.

3 I13 LI 00 11A?" fiY

 

firimery Sources

 

Pne Atlsntic Monthly. Vol. 125, Jen.-June, 1919.
fne Atlantic Montnly. Jol. 124, July-Dec., 1919.
The Atlantic Monthly. Vol. 177, Je..-June, 1940.

Pne_A lantic Monthly. Vol. 178, July-9ec., 1946.

seconieryLSOurces

Beach, Joseph J. American T‘iction, 1920-1949. Mec.rnille n 00.,
New York 1941.

 

’

Brickell, Herschel, ed. O'Henry Memorial 7ri7e stories of 1946.
Doubleiey 2ni 00., New York, 1940.

 

Cournos, John and Norton, Syoil, e9. 23st florli 31ort Ltories.
D. Appleton—Century 00., Inc., New York, 1947.

Foley, Martha, ed. fhe Best A1ericen 510rt o.cries l94§.
HouEnton Mifflin 00., 30stor; 194C

 

Foley, Aertne, ei. Pne 3est American Short stories 1947.
Hougnton mifflin 00., doston, 1947.

Frenantle, Anne. "Jorli Literature at Mid—Century,” United
Nations doglg, 4:00-62, Jan., 1950.

Millett, Fred B. Contemoorary A nericen Authors. Hercourt,
Srace and 00., New York, 1944.

O'Brien, Tiweri J., ei. Best Short Stories op l919. Smell,
Maynard and 00., Joeton, 1920

Pattee, Frei Lewis. Pne 9evelogment of tne Anericnn Short
Story. Century 00., 1923.

Bettee, Fred Lewis. Pne New American Literature. Century'
00., New York, 1930. ‘

 

 

Wuinn, Artnur qobson. American Fiction, an Histories} nggxf‘
Critical Survey. 0. Apnleton—Century 00., New 11111, 1950.
. \g

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.8." ‘4“; -5’n 1"”;‘3 ff"- " "
'1‘-‘ ‘ h! t . I‘ ' A. '

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“’2‘. .1195.”
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