SHORT STORIES
DARLING TOM, by L. A. G. Strong; Methuen. English price, 10/6. HELLBOX, by John O’Hara; Faber and Faber. English price, 12/6. MIXED COMPANY, by Irwin Shaw; Jonathan: Cape. English price, 15/-. N a provocative foreword to his new collection of stories Mr, Strong discusses the difference between "literary" and "popular" short stories and how it arose, and suggests that the former would be better if their writers took more trouble to be interesting. Not everyone with sympathy for his argument will agree with him when, discussing his own stories, he says that "The Wasp’s Nest," one of the slight pieces printed here, is as well worth the trouble «taken over it as any other he has written. No doubt there is a place for the writer who writes only or mainly to amuse; but it is hard to understand why the awareness shown in "T’ve Done It Now," easily the best story in this collection, and in a handful of others, should waste itself on some of the pieces, egmusing, competent, but nothing more, which keep it company. Perhaps it illustrates the catch in being a professional writer. Mr. O’Hara, I suspect, never writes merely to amuse, and there is not very much that is amusing in Hellbox. Most of these stories appeared first in the New Yorker, which is as good a way as any of describing their quality. The author is more interested in people than in simply telling a tale. One may feel at times that he is a little sour about the human comedy; but there is a desirable urgency behind the best of his work, and I found my respect for him growing as I read through the book. Mr, Shaw shares Mr. O’Hara’s interest in people and his skill as a writer. Some of his stories are. more exciting and more moving than any in Hellbox, but there is enough ordirary stuff in the 400-odd pages of Mixed Company (a very apt title) to leave one at the end a little disappointed. A collection half the size would have been more convincing. One is a little suspicious, too, of his brilliance, even though it shows in some of his most successful workthe conversation pieces of ,man-woman relations, for example, such as the one with which the book opens. With a quite sizeable group of other stories (like
"The Eighty-Yard Run"), these make a rather impressive achievement.
F.A.
J.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530717.2.26.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 731, 17 July 1953, Page 13
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406SHORT STORIES New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 731, 17 July 1953, Page 13
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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