STARTING POINT. “Most of my dialect stories have some basis of fact in
their incidents,” says Mr. Gordon, “and in them I have sought to depict
phases of the life and characteristics of the negroes whom I grew up
among as a boy, and have known more or less intimately since.
“‘The Silent Infare’ was a real occurrence, as was the pillow episode
in ‘Mr. Bolster’; and the story of ‘Sinjinn Surviving,’ in _Harper’s
Magazine_, is in its main features true. Nearly all, if not all, of the
stories in the ‘Ommirandy’ book had some foundation of fact, and the
characters are amplified portraitures of ‘darkeys I have known.’”
CLASSIFICATION. Not a short-story, in the limited sense of the term,
but an interesting reflection of life in the story that is short. The
action is not all directed toward one end; the main episode is almost
incidental in the casualness of its occurrence--as incidents occur in
life;--character is the connecting link between the earlier and the
later stages of the narrative phases. Incidental action contributes,
rather to character than to action; _e.g._, the business of the guinea
nest is a high light on Ommirandy, on the boy, Tibe, and on the
mistress of the house, whereas it has only slight suggestive value for
the plot. Emphasis on the nest at the close emphasizes the realistic
qualities of the story.
The method of the author shows that he is “a born story-teller.” He
has an appreciation of the life about him, he has the gift of literary
expression, and he writes perfect dialect. Interested in larger
literary worth, he can afford to disregard the technicalities of the
short-story--which may be, or may not be, a very well executed piece
of work and still fall short of permanent excellence.
CHARACTERIZATION. Who is the main figure? What pictures of herself do
her own speeches contribute? How does her attitude toward Mis’ Nancy
emphasize the portrait? Mis’ Nancy’s relations with her emphasize
what qualities? Does the author’s own comment help the reader to an
appreciation of Ommirandy? Where?
Give several examples of contrast and comparison noticed in your
studying the portrayal of the various figures.
PLOT. Studying the leisurely progress of the story, should you
pronounce it a growth or a construction? Is there a struggle? Is the
main incident presented in its chronological order? How is it enhanced
by being given through the words of Ommirandy, rather than from her
point of view, as she looked through “de winder over de kitchen do’,”
but in the words of the author?
SETTING. What is the locale? Measuring the “local color story” by the
dictum that it could have its action nowhere except in the time and
place indicated, would you agree that this is a story of local color?
What other Virginian has used similar scenes? What stories akin to
this, in regard to the value of setting, do you find in Mr. O’Brien’s
collections?
Mr. Gordon once said in a letter to Rudyard Kipling, so he states,
that he regarded as the four best stories in the English language,
“Wandering Willie’s Tale” (In “Redgauntlet”), Bret Harte’s “The Luck of
Roaring Camp,” George W. Cable’s “Posson Jone,” and Kipling’s “The Man
Who Was.” In which of the four is the element of setting foremost?
GENERAL METHOD. “If I should venture to say anything about the writing
of a short story it would be this: the first consideration is that the
writer must have a short story to tell; and the second consideration
that, after having learned by long and constant practice to write
clear and vigorous English, he must tell the story naturally, after his
own fashion. No one else’s fashion will do.”
This explicit statement of Mr. Gordon should be considered by every
would-be writer of stories. Notice that he does not say nothing can be
learned from reading other stories, or from studying their mechanism.
Would his own stories be what they are if a long line of American
writers had not preceded him? Would Shakespeare have written his dramas
if his immediate predecessors and contemporaries had not lived? In
another age, when another literary _genre_ was foremost, Shakespeare
would have foresworn drama for the prevailing style.