Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-27
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEVELL.

novel," if that term means anything,
which it doesn't Like most stories, this
one will mean something or not in pro-
| portion to the life of the individual
reader. 1t is astounding how much or
| how little a reader may bring to a
book!
X X !, X
| We take the liberty of adding to our
novel preferences list of the short
| stories of Guy de Maupassant which, in
our opinion, are the best he wrote. In
making such choice, one is treading
on dangerous ground, but we have re-
| ceived so many requests for such a Sc
lection that we hazard it,
If we had to select one story as Maui
PEASANTS best we should unhesitatingly
choose THE Olive Orchard" some
times translated as The Mount of
Olives" The reader finds Maupassant
here at the height of his dramatic
and character-portraying power This
writer attained a veriSimilitude. at his
best which was simply astounding. He
might have been writing a real happen
ing for newspaper. SO straightly does
he tell this powerful story of a priest
visited by his past sin. There is here
none of the superficial trickery which
writer. "The Olive Orchard" goes
right along from first to last with the
powerful stride of the master story
teller in his element. The scenes in
the quiet cottage and the intrusion of
the son, with his subsequent conduct,
bring out with fine force the inherent
ability of Maupassant to do something
better than mere tale of sex. This is
better, bigger, on a par with Mont
Oriol" which for the first time demon
strated to both the writer and his pub
Usher that the author had moral lean
ings. The question comes, If this man,
who had a debased outlook upon life,
was forced, through his very genius, to
make his work at its best take on a
moral tone, may not morality be an in
herent force in life on this globe? And
can any amount of sophistication shake
its firm place?
Eff" a story of the Franco-P rus-
sian War, is one of the worlds great
short stories. Written in the incisive,
matter of-fact way which characterizes
all the stories of this master, it pos
sesses both plot and perturbation, if
one may put it that way. lola, for in
merely masses of description out of life.
Such plot as living has for every one of
us is to be found in his novels. A work
of art, however, requires more than
life. It must contain in the back
ground the mind and hand of the
master, just as this universe seems to
require, though invisibly. the hand and
mind of a superior Intelligence.
Three other short stories which we
would recommend are "Tallow Ball"
1.-THE Establishment of Nine. Teller"
and 1.-THE Necklace" The latter has
been declared universally to be 'the
greatest short story in world literature"
No doubt it is. both through method
and content. 1t belongs to the very
small group of Maupassant's stories
which are not tied up with the subject
of sex, and for that reason has been
seized upon as readily permissible in
any collection of short stories. Yet the
essence of this mans stories is what
Freud declares is the essence of life
itself. This is why "Tallow Ball" and
Mime. Telliers Establishment" are
superior as examples of MaupassantS
art. Surely the scenes in the first of
these two great stories are incompa-
rably we'll done. AS for the second, it
will remain as masterpiece OF its kind.
Our last recommendation is THE Sun
days of Partisan" five or six sketches,
not allowed by the critics as genuine
short stories, but which to us have
always seemed among the best things
Maupassant did.
We would caution any reader not to
be shocked at Maupassant. Compared
with some of the work of his cotempo-
raries his stories are of fairy delicacy.
Although his themes deal almost en-
tirely with sex, the subject is treated
in curiously detached manner which
makes his stories acceptable to any one
who values a good story we'll told. And
who does not?