How to Study The Best Short Stories by Blanche Colton Williams (1919)

How to Study "The Best Short Stories" 

AN ANALYSIS OF EDWARD J. O'BRIEN'S ANNUAL VOLUMES OF THE BEST §HORT STORIES OF THE YEAR PREPARED FOR THE USE OF WRITERS AND OTHER STUDENTS OF THE SHORT-STORY 

BY 

BLANCHE COLTON WILLIAMS

Only the other day a student demanded, " Why can't I get an author to tell me every step in the development of one of his stories?" Although, as I tried to point out, such a thorough proceeding is neither desirable nor easily possible,' yet the essentially valuable part of the author's progress may be most illuminative, and it is obtainable. As one of these writers has said, the artist is not analytical beforehand and is not so, of necessity, after completing his work. But even from those who progress only, as they assert, by inspiration come clear and helpful statements concerning their starting.

Read the story before taking up the exercises.

Consult the biographical data in the Yearbooks for 1915, 1916, 1917, and 1918 to study this book. 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1922 are links to more best stories for your enjoyment.

Observe to what extent the various authors have reflected the country or region in which they have lived. What conclusions do you draw?

Many of the stories conform to the laws of the "Greek Unities" Name them.

The following list is composed of the stories analyzed for the study of this book.

* I will add stories from "How to Study The Best Short Stories," as I find them.

1. A Simple Act of Piety by Achmed Abdullah
2. The Sacrificial Alter by Gertrude Atherton
3. The Excursion By Edwina Stanton Babcock
4. Cruelties by Edwina Stanton Babcock
5. Onnie by Thomas Beer
6. Miss Willett by Barry Benefield
7. Supers by Frederick Booth
8. Buster by Katharine Holland Brown
9. Fog by Dana Burnet
10. The Water-Hole by Maxwell Struthers Burt
11. A Cup of Tea by Maxwell Struthers Burt
12. Ma's Pretties by Francis Buzzell
13. Chautonville by Will Levington Comfort
14. Laughter by Charles Caldwell Dobie
15. The Open Window by Charles Caldwell Dobie
16. The Lost Phoebe by Theodore Dreiser
17. La Derniere Mobilisation by W. A. Dwiggins
18. The Emperor of Elamy by H. G. Dwight
19. The Citizen by James Francis Dwyer
20. The Gay Old Dog by Edna Ferber
21. Blind Vision by Mary Mitchell Freedley
22. Imagination by Gordon Hall Gerould
23. The Knight's Move by Katharine Fullerton Gerould
24. In Maulmain Fever-Ward by George Gilbert
25. A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell