Evening star., 1949-07-17

oAio 3SSAo OAioo SAAS ViAcShS
product of travail" explaining: Il
the worst world war in history"
but their childhood and youth
were shadowed by the depression.
We may expect from them a diff
ferent kind of writing from that
of the first famous postwar gen.
Grafton of the 1920s."
This new note in writing she
finds 1t difficult to define. but she
feels that the authors are sensi-
tive and not without pity. And
she remarks, as the reader of this
book will. on the number of stories
concerned with childhood. This
preponderance is put down to
natural bent of young writer's.
AS usual. Miss Foley, who sue
ceeded to the title, if not the
mantle, Of the late Edward j.
O'Brien, the noted anthologist,
has selected most of her stories
from the little" magazines. She
has. however. made an evident
effort to find stories she con-
sidered worthy in the mass-cir-
culation magazines. There are
stories from Cosmopolitan. Har-
per's Bazaar and Good House
keeping. even one from Ellery
Queens Mystery Magazine. Those
old reliables for the anthologists,
Harper's Magazine. the Atlantic
Monthly and the New Yorker, fur
nish one or more each. Little
magazines or the more learned
publications of limited circulation
are represented by Story. Par
tisan Review, Tomorrow, the Hud-
son Review. Common Ground. the
Kenyon Review. Accent. Perspec-
tive. Bard Review and the Vir-
ginia Quarterly Review. That's a
partial list.
samplinE the Magazines.
The stories are effectively writ
ten. They vary in merit and per-
suasiveness. naturally. 1t may be
said for the little" magazines
and for the larger journals that
there seems to be less monotony
in their themes and methods OF
presentation. in their formulas or
lack of them, than there was a
few years ago. In the '30s the
smaller magazines tended toward
left-wing propaganda in fictional
form. proletarian stories that were
more angry than accurate. The
larger magazines stuck more close
ly to what is called escape-stories
that were supposed to please and
hearten readers and never by any
chance stimulate them to thought
or wonder. Those publications
still do that, in large measure.
But the more intellectual maga-
zines reflect the disillusion that
has shaken so many writer's of
theological bandwagons.
If there is trait common to
most of the stories in this collec-
ton. 1t Is not the Illustration OF
the '20s and '30s. but bewilder-
ment. Characters are confused;
they struggle, but through fog,
uncertain of their direction.
Two memorable stories Of in
tolerance. one of the mass kind,
the other individual. are In the
Flow of Time" by Beatrice Grif-
fifth. and Small Miracle" by
Adele Dolokhov. 1.-THE Farmers
Children" by Elizabeth Bishop. is
quiet. appealing account of a
tragedy. The old theme Of ma
chine against man is revived ef-
fectively in Exodus" by Borden
Deal. Ruth Herschberger in "A
Sound in the Night" touches with
subtle artistry a trapped per-
sonality. George Albee's Mighty.
Mighty Pretty" makes you feel
what it must be like to be we'll
meaning but ill-equipped for life
and so always misunderstood.
There is little humor in these
stories. "Of the River and Uncle
Pidcock," by Jim Kielgaard. is an
exception. T. D. Mabry's THE
Vault" is story that Poe might
have imagined. One could agree
with an editor quoted by Miss
Foley that there are too many
children's stories these days. One
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