Short Stories
The Cucumber King. By I Edwin Samuel. Abelard-' Schuman. 251' pp. In these 21 short stories I the author reveals an inti-1 mate knowledge of the Jewish [ character. His geographical [ locations range from China to! the West of Ireland; from the United States to Wales: from Japan to Jerusalem. Viscount Samuel, C.M.G. (to give him his full title) served for many years in the Palestine Administration. After the establishment of the State of Israel he stayed on as a lecturer in the Political Science Department of the Hebrew University. Many of his stories have a humorous twist, as in “Special Catering,” where three very rich passengers in a LondonDublin aircraft were offered on the strength of them all having Hebraic names “special catering.” Expecting caviare and champagne, they received instead unappetising “kosher” food in horrid little cardboard boxes. The same freakish kind of fun is to be found in “Thirty Three Cardinals.” This time the setting is Tiberias, in Israel, which, having been recently visited by the Pope felt that the hand of Jewish-Catholic friendship should remain suitably clasped, and on being warned of the imminent I arrival of 33 Cardinals made . all preparations to honour i these holy men, only to find , themselves entertaining the [ “St. Louis Cardinals” baseball jteam. “The Straw Hat” is a 1 sad little vignette, with a New I Zealand background, in which ; the fatal influenza epidemic of 1918 cruelly terminated a romance. “The Honourable Delegate” pokes fun at the excuses for expense-account holidays; and, “In My Place,” at the snobbery which sets out to capture a celebrity to adorn an entertainment given for dubiously charitable purposes. “The Heart Hath No Rudder.” has for its theme race-relations, in which a white girl is rejected by a more level-headed blackman. The stories now here descend to stereotypes, and the author’s immense experience of the world is made fully apparent.
A Dedicated Man. By Elizabeth Taylor. Chatto and Windus. 224 pp. In a book of short stories of such uniform excellence it I is difficult to single out many [for special mention. Eliza- ‘ beth Taylor has an astringent wit, and the art of conveying shades of meaning which put her in the forefront of writers in this field. Two of the 12 stories are distinguished for an unexpected twist in the last few lines. The “Dedicated Man” of the titlepiece is a waiter who, in responding to an advertisement for a “married couple” at a select hotel, drags with him a dumbly protesting female colleague to fill the nominal role of “wife,” and shares a bedroom with her in conditions of strict propriety. The photograph of their “son” adds verisimilitude to the relationship, and the “wife’s” discovery that the young man is in fact her “husband’s” legitimate progeny suddenly snaps her patience, and she proceeds to take a very neat revenge upon him. The author has a nice perception of the habits of young hussies, and in “The Prerogative of Love” her bitchy little model, determined to cadge a square meal from her aunt, even if it means ruining the latter’s dinner-party, is a perfect study of the type. The young brother and sister in “Vron and Willie” who. on being let loose in London become an enthusiastic pair of shoplifters, is another gem; and the detestable teen-age blackmailer of “As If I Should Care” is an all-too recognisable delinquent. Sun-seeking Britons abroad come in for some skilled dissection, both in their guarded reactions to each other, and also in their rather repellent sun-tanning technique. The tensions and pathos of mother-and-daughter relationships come under expert scrutiny. There is a surprise twist in “Mr Wharton;” and in “Girl Reading,” the different circumstances of two girl friends in their home lives has hurtful implications for the mother of one of them. The complete absence of sentimentality or cheap effect makes this collection of stories authentic slices of life.
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Press, Volume CV, Issue 31007, 12 March 1966, Page 4
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651Short Stories Press, Volume CV, Issue 31007, 12 March 1966, Page 4
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