BOOKS OF SHORT STORIES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 122, 16 February 1935, Page 19

BOOKS OF SHORT STORIES

“Nine O’Clock Stories,” by Fourteen Authors. (London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. 7/6).; “Mr. Jorkens Remembers Africa,” by Lord Dunsany (London: Heinemann. 7/-); “The Banquet,” by R. H. Mottram (London : Chatto and Windus. 7/-) ; “A Thing of Nought,” by Hilda Vaughan (London Lovat, Dickson and Thompson).

“Nine O’clock Stoyies” is a collection originally written to be broadcast by the 8.8. C. in the National programme. From this book it is obvious the short story over the wireless has set writers new problems; it is interesting to notice how the several authors have attempted to solve them. The difference between the practised eye and the unaccustomed ear has certainly been kept in mind. The more successful then these stories are over the air the less so will they be to the reader. Since of these, probably substantial though when listened to, are a bit thin when read. The time limit, to which they must have been written, makes itself felt. The Coles’s detective story, interesting probably when broadcast, is obvious in print. Walter de la Mare, typically contributes a fantastic story about a man asked to speak in a “new series of talks.” Peter Fleming is his serio-flippant self in his exciting “Ace-high.” Richard Hughes spins an easy tale; L. P. Hartley writes on the edge of strange happenings. Other contributors include Graham Greene, Arnot Robertson, Dorothy Sayers and Sylvia Townsend Warner.

Lord Dunsany’s Mr. Jorkens specialises in making the incredible credible. From a London Club arm-chair, with a fog outside and the curtains drawn, Mr. Jorkens travels to places that have latitude and longitude that are on no known map. It is a gift he has picked from his creator, as readers of Lord Dunsany’s early stories know. “Any street in London leads to Africa,” he says somewhere. It Is no wonder Mr. Jorkens’s club conpanions listen to him so willingly: the reader readily does so too.

Mr. Mottram has published only two volumes of short stories, one of them in a limited edition from the Golden Cockerel Press. ’Chough less known than his novels they show their fastidious prose and perfect control. Mr. Mottram writes quietly; he never raises his voice; he has no need to, since the reader is always on the alert to hear what he has to say. In these pages, Mr. Dormer shows himself again, a French landed gentleman and his hunting rights recall the background of “The Spanish Farm.” The title-story relates a logical sequence of events that follow a suburban wife’s visit to London. In all of them, particularly in a story of three young men on a yachting holiday called “Strawberry Time,” the reader is led to believe that he almost knows these characters, that, though meeting them for the first time, he already knows them as people.

Hilda Vaughan’s “A Thing of Nought” is a long short story, gracefully printed and bound by the publishers with decorations by Lee Elliott. Her theme is simple and by no means new. A young girl’s lover goes from his Welsh hills to Australia ; his letters fail, she thinks him dead and marries unwillingly a few weeks before his return. It is neither the plot, nor the characters and their background that matter, though hills, river and sky are beautifully described, but it is the feeling and putting together of them all that carries this tale to its perfect conclusion. “LIFE STORY” CONTEST Sir Truby King Not Entrant Although Sir Truby stated last year that he would enter for Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton’s £lOOO “Life Story” competition, he now advises that he was unable to do so. He states that at first it appeared that the manuscript would be acceptable if it reached London not later than the end of 1934 but about a week or two before the end of November he received advice that no entry would be eligible unless it was in the firm's hands by the beginning of December, terms with which he found it. impossible to comply.