The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-06-04
SOME NEW BOOKS.
The short stories Of the Year,

Heroes still live; one of them lives
In South Yarmouth. Mass. His name
= EDWARD J. O'I3RIEN, and he Is the
inventor. author. editor and compiler
OF . volume approximating 400 printed
pages. which bears a somewhat COM
prehensive title: The Best Short So
rice Of 1915. and the icdrbook Of the
American Short StorU tSmall. May.
nard Company. a volume Of curious
interest. too. for those who have any
sNterest in the most distinctive medium
VI American literary endeavor. Also
An exhibit which should command the
attention OF those able to appreciate
feats Of extraordinary mental and
physical endurance.
A. evidence OF this, take a single
sentence from the authors introduce
ton: During the past year" he de-
clares. II have read over twenty-five
hundred short stories in n critical
spirit, and they have made inc last
ingly hopeful Of our literary future"
We bow in silent astonishment before
. human being who ran read "over'
1900 short stories in a year and still
be hopeful about anything. The tasl;
Of eating a quail day for
thirty d%ays-even ten quail per
diem-would be nothing in COM
parison to this fiction orgy con
tinued day after day for twelve solid
months. Take out of that one short
year all the sundays. all the legal
holidays, at least two months neces-
sary for compiling. arranging. editing,
revising and reading proof Of the book.
and the vacation that the editor must
have permitted himself-for no human
beipg otherwise could have stood the
strain-and It seems that Mr.. O'Bricn
must have read "in n critical spirit"
about ten stories a day during every
working day Of the year. Ten such
stories, longer and shorter. possibly
would equal in extent the length Of an
average novel Of modern manufacture.
Imagine. II it be possible. the reading
novel a day every working day in a
whole year: then remember that in
mtAAA nf hating n nnnannttftNn nnrrnstN,p
the daily programme consisted OF ten
separate narratives. for the most part
having ten sets Of characters. ten dis
tinet plots or incidents around which
the stories were told. ten wholly
di~sassociated "atmospheres" to be
weighed. analysed. computed. adj
Judged with respect one to the others
Mr.. Edward j. O'Brien deserves a
Carnegie Hero medal. or at the very
least a sizzling letter Of approval from
Colonel Roosevelt.
Hand in hand with unparalleled in
dustry on the part of the man from
South Yarmouth goes courage Him
liable. Out of those ZOO short sto-
ries he has selected some SO as en-
titled to THE Roll of Honor for 1915
More than that. he selected twenty
which he decides are THE Best Short
Stories of l9l5"-almost all OF which
are signed by authors whose work i
practically new to the reading public,
And as the ultimate of temerity on tho
part Of a literary critic he fearlessly
announces the one very best short
story Of 1915, this being "Zelig." by
Benjamin Rosenblatt. which appearel
in the BcllmGn. Says Mr.. O'Brien
II suppose there a be no doubt that
'Zelig' is by all odds the most nobly
conceived and finely wrought story Of
the year We have carefully read
"Zelig." II seems to us TO he well
conceived and well wrought, with not
q little of real power: but II is pos
sible that this tragic little study. how
v e clear cut and convincing. may not
seem to other critical minds more sat-
isfying than the exquisite workman
ship displayed in stories by Mrs.
Wharton, Joseph Conrad. Alice Brown,
Howells. or Mrs. Deland. also pub
lished in 1915. II memory serves.
neither Matthew Arnold nor Richard
Henry Stoddard nor Henry Mills Alden
ever declared in public what was the
best short story published in American
magazines in any one year. Critics o.
their calibre and eXperience-and inter.
national reputation-naturally would
have some h~esitancy in such a matter.