A Companion to the American Short Story
Page 30
witchcraft explanation is ultimately as unsatisfying as the original indeterminate
ending that refuses to explain the events, which is perhaps Wharton ’ s point. “ All
Souls ” illustrates the factors that Wharton considered the necessary conditions for the
ghost story: an absence of “ the wireless and the cinema ” that might cause the “ ghost
instinct ” ( Ghost Stories 8) to atrophy; a presumably English - descended pair of charac-
ters, for ghosts appear to those who hear the “ hoarse music of the northern Urwald ”
(8) and not the “ Latin ” peoples who see ghosts; and “ two conditions abhorrent to the
modern mind: silence and continuity ” (9), in which the sparse and ambiguous super-
natural events can multiply and do their work of “ send[ing] a cold shiver down one ’ s
spine ” (11). For Wharton, as for the modernists, less is more, ambiguity is more potent
than an accumulation of details, and an “ economy of material ” produces the greatest
effect, principles nowhere more evident than in her ghost stories.
Considered as a whole, Edith Wharton ’ s short stories constitute a body of work as
varied and complex as that of her novels. Although a few of the stories, such as “ Per-
manent Wave ” or “ The Introducers, ” seem more like pat “ magazine stories ” than
thorough explorations of character or theme, most have a subtlety of approach and a
quality of insight that place them among her best work. In addition, some stories are
sketches for or companion pieces to the novels, as “ Autre Temps … ” anticipates the
situation in The Mother ’ s Recompense , “ The Lamp of Psyche ” provides an early version
of characters in The Old Maid , and “ Souls Belated ” elaborates on a concept later alluded
to in The Age of Innocence. Although she did not write linked stories in the manner of
Sarah Orne Jewett ’ s Dunnet Landing stories or Margaret Deland ’ s tales of Old Chester,
Edith
Wharton
131
Wharton returned several times to the same themes and situations, among them
fathers and daughters, mothers and sons ( “ The Pelican, ” “ Her Son ” ), artistic and intel-
lectual integrity, the inescapability of the past, which appears in ghost stories like
“ Pomegranate Seed ” as well as in “ Confession, ” and the struggle of primitive emotions
with the civilized veneer necessary to modern life. If the stories meet Wharton ’ s cri-
terion of having a subject that “ contain[s] in itself something that sheds a light on
our moral experience ” ( The Writing 24), through her treatment of the material, they
also capture something of the tempo of modern life, with its uncanny, disorienting,
and sometimes violent dislocations of human beings from their surroundings, from
their comforting conceptions of themselves, and from each other.
Notes
1
Apparently omitting “ Les Metteurs en Sc è ne, ”
2
For Wharton ’ s correspondence with her pub-
the “ slightly improved French version ” of “ The
lishers about The Writing of Fiction , see Freder-
Introducers ” (White 77), Barbara White puts
ick Wegener, “ Edith Wharton and the Diffi cult
Wharton
’
s
total number of short stories at
Writing of
The Writing of Fiction ” ( Modern
eighty -
fi ve: twenty
-
four in the early period,
Language Studies 25.2 [1995]: 60 – 79).
thirty - fi ve in the middle period, and twenty -
3
“ The Fullness of Life ” in The Collected Short
six in the late period (xv – xvi). In his Collected
Stories of Edith Wharton
I. 12
–
20, at p. 14.
Short Stories of Edith Wharton , R. W. B. Lewis
Subsequent references are to this two - volume
apparently includes “ Les Metteurs en Sc è ne ” in
edition and will be cited in the text.
giving the total number as eighty
-
six (vii). 4
Blake Nevius uses this term in describing
Neither counts “ Bunner Sisters, ” a long short
Ethan Frome in Edith Wharton, a Study of Her
story or novella written in the 1890s but fi rst
Fiction
(Berkeley: University of California
published in Xingu (1916).
Press, 1953), 126.
References and Further Reading
Balestra , Gianfranca . “ ‘ For the Use of the Maga-
Dyman , Jenni . Lurking Feminism: The Ghost
zine Morons ’ : Edith Wharton Rewrites the Tale
Stories of Edith Wharton . New York : Peter Lang ,
of the Fantastic . ” Studies in Short Fiction 33.1
1996 .
( 1996 ): 13 – 24 .
Fedorko , Kathy A . Gender and the Gothic in the
Beer , Janet . Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton, and Char-
Fiction of Edith Wharton . Tuscaloosa : University
lotte Perkins Gilman: Studies in Short Fiction . New
of Alabama Press , 1995 .
York : St. Martin ’ s Press , 1997 .
Hemingway , Ernest . Death in the Afternoon . New
Beer , Janet , and Avril Horner . “ ‘ This Isn ’ t Exactly
York : Scribner , 1960 .
a Ghost Story
’
: Edith Wharton and Parodic Jacobsen , Karen J . “ Economic Hauntings: Wealth
Gothic . ” Journal of American Studies 37 ( 2003 ):
and Class in Edith Wharton ’ s Ghost Stories . ”
269 – 85 .
College Literature 35.1 ( 2008 ): 100 – 27 .
Bendixen , Alfred . Haunted Women: The Best Super-
James , Henry . “ The New Novel . ” Henry James: Lit-
natural Tales by American Women Writers . New
erary Criticism. 1914 . Ed. Leon Edel . New York :
York : Ungar , 1985 .
Literary Classics of the United States
,
1984
.
Bowlby , Rachel . “ ‘ I Had Barbara ’ : Women ’ s Ties
124 – 59 .
and Wharton ’ s “ Roman Fever. ’ ” differences 17.3
McDowell , Margaret B . Edith Wharton . Boston :
( 2006 ): 37 – 51 .
Twayne , 1990 .
132
Donna Campbell
Nettels , Elsa . “ Gender and First - Person Narration
Wharton , Edith . A Backward Glance: Novellas and
in Edith Wharton ’ s Short Fiction . ” Edith
Other Writings . Ed. Cynthia Griffi n Wolff . New
Wharton: New Critical Essays . Eds. Alfred
York
:
Literary Classics of the United States
,
Bendixen and Annette Zilversmit . Garland
1990 . 767 – 1068 .
Reference Library of the Humanities, 914. New
— — — . The Age of Innocence: Authoritative Text,
York : Garland , 1992 . 245 – 60 .
Background and Contexts, Sources, Criticism . Ed.
Petry , Alice Hall . “ A Twist of Crimson Silk: Edith
Candace Waid . New York : W. W. Norton , 2003 .
Wharton ’ s ‘ Roman Fever. ’ ” Studies in Short — — — . The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton .
Fiction 24.2 ( 1987 ): 163 �
�� 6 .
Ed. R. W. B. Lewis . 2 vols. New York : Scribner ,
Totten , Gary . “ Critical Reception and Cultural
1968 .
Capital: Edith Wharton as a Short Story Writer . ”
— — — . The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton . New
Pedagogy 8.1 ( 2008 ): 115 – 33 .
York : Simon & Schuster , 1997 .
Vita - Finzi , Penelope . Edith Wharton and the — — — . The Letters of Edith Wharton . Eds. R. W.
Art of Fiction . New York : St. Martin ’ s Press ,
B. Lewis and Nancy Lewis . New York : Collier
1990 .
Books , 1989 .
Wegener , Frederick . “ Charlotte Perkins Gilman,
— — — . The Writing of Fiction . 1st Touchstone
Edith Wharton, and the Divided Heritage of
edn. New York : Simon & Schuster , 1997 .
American Literary Feminism . ” The Mixed Legacy
White , Barbara A . Edith Wharton: A Study of the
of Charlotte Perkins Gilman . Eds. Catherine J.
Short Fiction . Twayne ’ s Studies in Short Fiction,
Golden and Joanna Schneider Zangrando .
30. New York : Twayne , 1991 .
Newark
:
University of Delaware Press
– Zilversmit , Annette . “ ‘ All Souls ’ : Wharton ’ s Last
Associated University Press , 2000 . 135 – 59 .
Haunted House and Future Directions for Criti-
— — — . Edith Wharton: The Uncollected Critical
cism . ” Edith Wharton: New Critical Essays . Eds.
Writings . Princeton : Princeton University Press ,
Alfred Bendixen and Annette Zilversmit . New
1996 .
York : Garland , 1992 . 315 – 29 .
Part II
The Transition into
the New Century
10
The Short Stories of Stephen Crane
Paul Sorrentino
Though Stephen Crane is best known as the author of The Red Badge of Courage
(1895), he was a prolifi c writer who wrote three novels, half of another, three novel-
las, two collections of poetry, and more than 100 short stories and sketches within
about ten years. Arguably the most important American writer during the 1890s,
he experimented with various narrative techniques and created a truly distinctive
style marked by irony, impressionistic responses to reality, and characters with
limited perspectives, their “ own little cylinder of vision ” ( Tales, Sketches, and Reports
683), 1 through which to interpret reality. Whether he was writing about the impact
of immigration and urbanization on New York City, the disappearance of the fron-
tier in the West, confl ict during recent or imaginary wars, or the absurdity of life
– whether in a city, on the battlefi eld, or in the wilderness on land or at sea – Crane ’ s
short stories refl ect major forces that transformed American culture in the last part
of the nineteenth century.
Part of his attraction to writing short stories was fi nancial. Constantly in debt, he
received payment for a story much more quickly than he did for a novel, and the
increasing number of magazines in the 1890s created a steady market for stories. He
had a good sense of what was marketable. For example, he wanted to publish “ An
Ominous Baby ” during the economic depression of 1893 because “ the present time
– during these labor troubles – is the best possible time to dispose of it ” (Wertheim
and Sorrentino, Correspondence I. 56; subsequent references to this edition are cited as
Correspondence ), and he wrote “ A Grey Sleeve ” to capitalize on the popularity of sen-
timental war stories. As Willa Cather recalled after meeting Crane in 1895, “ [h]e
gave me to understand that he led a double literary life; writing in the fi rst place the
matter that pleased himself, and doing it very slowly; in the second place, any sort
of stuff that would sell ” (Cather 15). 2
Deciding what to include in a discussion of his stories is diffi cult, however, because
he used the terms tale , sketch , and short story interchangeably. A “ sketch ” is typically
a brief composition focusing on a single scene or incident with little, if any,
136
Paul Sorrentino
development of character or plot; like an artist ’ s sketch, it can be a rough draft for a
more fi nished product. A “ tale ” is a short narrative with simple development, but
both terms have been used loosely, as in the titles of Dickens ’ s elaborate novel, A Tale
of Two Cities , or Washington Irving ’ s collection of essays and tales, The Sketch Book .
Similarly, when writing about New York City in 1894, Crane mentioned to Hamlin
Garland that he had “ fi fteen short stories in my head and out of it ” that could “ make
a book ” ( Correspondence I. 65); but two years later in a letter to his brother William,
he announced the proposed title of the book as “ ‘ Midnight Sketches ’ ” and described
its contents as “ stories, ” “ short things, ” and “ some fi fteen or twenty short sketches of
New York street life and so on ” (I. 265, 266). 3 Crane ’ s looseness in terminology was
not simply carelessness, for he blurred the traditional distinction between the factual
reporting of journalism and the imaginative recreation of reality in fi ction. Though
he worked as a journalist, he was, as Amy Lowell observed, “ the last man in this world
who should have attempted newspaper writing
”
(Lowell xx), for he questioned a
writer ’ s ability simply to report objectively. Assigned to cover a newsworthy incident,
he had little interest in reporting facts and preferred to record impressionistically his
response to them. Although Crane professed “ that the most artistic and the most
enduring literature was that which refl ected life accurately ” ( Correspondence I. 230), his
reliance on disjointed plots, shifting perspectives, and limited points of view implies
epistemological uncertainty and the existence of multiple realities. 4 The typical length
of a tale, sketch, or short story made these literary forms attractive to a writer for
whom brief glimpses of life refl ected a philosophical perception of reality as frag-
mented, disconnected, and ephemeral. Even in his longer work – e.g., The Red Badge
of Courage , Maggie: A Girl of the Streets , or “ The Monster ” (1898) – short chapters
function as fl ashing glimpses of an ever - changing reality. 5
His earliest known short story, written when he was 13 or 14, is “ Uncle Jake and
the Bell - Handle, ” a slight piece about na ï ve country folk who come to the city to sell
turnips and buy farm supplies. Its focus on irony, self - deception, and appearance vs.
reality foreshadows distinctive traits in Crane ’ s major work. Crane ’ s fi rst important
venture into prose fi ction grew out of camping trips near Port Jervis in Sullivan
County, New York, that he and friends took in summer 1891. With titles such as
“ A Ghoul ’ s Accountant ” and “ An Explosion of Seven Babies, ” the Sullivan County
stories (1892) are at times surrealistic and often rely on slapstick, tall tales, or the
macabre for effect. The stories focus primarily on the “ little man, ” who travels around
the countryside vainly making pompous proclamations and assaulting n
ormal occur-
rences of nature that he misreads as being variously animistic, hostile, or tranquil. In
“ Four Men in a Cave ” he explores a cave “ because its black mouth gaped at him, ”
when in reality the threatening “ mouth ” is merely “ a little tilted hole ” ( Prose and
Poetry 489); in “ The Mesmeric Mountain, ” he thinks he must conquer a mountain
with glaring eyes and “ red wrath ” (515) that is supposedly chasing him, but in reality
it is merely a mountain; and in “ The Black Dog: A Night of Spectral Terror, ” he
confronts the “ sperrit ” (502) that howls when someone is near death, though the spirit
is only a hungry, mangy dog that smells food cooking. Throughout, the little man is
Stephen
Crane
137
a blustering, egotistical character whose self
-
righteous poses belie his vanity and
whose puffed - up ego repeatedly gets defl ated.
Crane characterized the Sullivan County pieces as “ little grotesque tales of the
woods which I wrote when I was clever ” ( Correspondence I. 111), but he soon “ renounced
the clever school in literature ” in order to develop a more truthful “ little creed of art ”
that “ was identical with the one of Howells and Garland ” (I. 63). Though minor,
these fi ctional pieces typify Crane ’ s later treatment of irony, nature, and humanity.
One need merely think of Henry Fleming ’ s arrogance in The Red Badge of Courage , the
harrowing experience of four men struggling to survive in a hostile universe in “ The
Open Boat, ” or the irony that exists in practically all of his fi ction, to realize that
Crane was developing his major themes in these stories. 6 Of particular note, however,
is Crane ’ s concern with what will become a hallmark of his writing: a blurring of
lines between fact and fi ction as he incorporated fact, folklore, and legend into his
narrative. In “ Not Much of a Hero, ” for example, he juxtaposes three contradictory
interpretations of a famous Indian fi ghter ’ s life in order to raise questions about the
nature of biographical evidence; and in “ Sullivan County Bears, ” he concludes that
“ it is diffi cult to reconcile the bear of fi ction with the bear of reality ” ( Tales, Sketches,
and Reports 219).. In “ The Way in Sullivan County: A Study in the Evolution of the
Hunting Yarn, ” Crane consciously draws attention to himself as an artist and as an