Mr. Clayton Hamilton says in “A Manual of the Art of Fiction” (page
187), “--although the novel may be either realistic or romantic in
general method, the short-story is almost of necessity obliged to
be romantic. In the brief space allotted to him, it is practically
impossible for the writer of short-stories to induce a general truth
from particular, imagined facts imitated from actuality: it is far
simpler to deduce the imagined details of the story from a central
thesis, held securely in the author’s mind and suggested to the reader
at the outset. It is a quicker process to think from the truth to
facts than to think from facts to the truth.” And in illustration
of his statement, he adds that Daudet and de Maupassant, who worked
realistically in their novels, worked romantically in their _contes_,
also that the great short-story writers of our own language have been,
nearly all of them, romanticists--from Poe to Kipling.
With this interesting tenet in mind, look over all the realistic
stories in the four volumes we are studying, and try to apply to each
the same methods by which the romantic stories are studied. Does the
application break down? How far can you follow it? Try, for example, to
analyze the plot of “At the End of the Road” according to the type used
again and again in this book.
Why is this story told in the first person? Try telling it in the third
person, beginning that is, “The latter part of the summer found _him_
tramping,” etc., and see what is lost.
Recall stories which have for setting a picnic ground, a fair ground,
or other community gathering. Read Thomas Hardy’s “On the Western
Circuit.” (In “Life’s Little Ironies.”) Why is such a setting good for
many types of story--whether realistic, romantic, comic, tragic?
Who is the central figure in Mr. Muilenburg’s Iowa story? Would
his story gain importance if detached from the subjectivity of the
narrator--if the musings, observations and feelings were cut? What
would happen to the whole narrative if such a change were made? Sum up
the gist of the “story” in a few words.
What is the struggle? Wherein lies the human appeal?
What is the end of the action? How do you know?
The drunkard is an age-old figure, whether humorous or tragic. What is
the essential difference between the tragic and the humorous portrayal?
Why, for instance, does one laugh at an actor who plays the part of
Cassio, in the drinking-scene from “Othello”? Why does one “feel sorry
for” Bill as here conceived?
* * * * *
What theme is lightly touched and where?
What has this example of Mr. Muilenburg’s work in common with the
preceding story by him?
What color comes to mind instantly on thinking of his chromatic
effects? Is it in harmony with the other story-elements? Are there
notes of contrast?