THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1930. : ENGLISH. Edited by
Edward J. O'Brien. (Cape. 7s. (l/1.)—It is impossible to mention a single characteristic co llllll on to all these stories. It can only be said that in comparison with the stories thus chosen some years ago there is a note missing. the note of disillusion, of weffschmerz, which was then col lllll OIL to so many of them. To-day we can have the wistful fatalism of Padmic Cohan, in "The Journey," or the darker tragedy of The Vocation," by Kathleen Coyle, both compatriots of- the editor, but there is no longer the feeling that such elements of tragedy are general or inescapable. Among others. Mr. V. S. Pritchett's "A Corsican Inn" seems even to revive th3, possibility of romance, and Henry Handel Richardson is positively jubilant. That is not to say that the sardonic and the grim have disappeared, but in general what a doctor might call the " emotional tone " of the stories has improved. These collections of stories, in making which Mr. O'Brien is so faithful, are serving a useful purpose. The possession of a complete set will be invaluable to the literary historian of to-morrow, and is very useful to anyone who to-day has not time to make his selection for himself.
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