Is not this the day of the index? Have we not Poole, the Reader's
Guide, the Portrait and the Engineering Indexes, Granger's Index to
Poetry and Recitations, and the Index to Victrola Records? What Granger
is to poetry, may we not compile for the short story? For if this is
the day of the index, is it any less that of the short story?
* * * * *
If we agree to omit fairy stories and folk tales and most juveniles
what is the extent of short story literature? In a very brief survey
of the field did I not find 404 English and American authors and 37
foreign authors in English translation whose stories have attained book
form?
Let us credit each author with ten titles and we have at once 4,400
stories worthy of recognition. And these do not include the vast horde
of stories--literally thousands--that have appeared and are appearing
monthly, weekly, yea even daily, in the magazines of the hour.
How recent then shall we make our list? Shall we anticipate the
Get-rich-quick Wallingford tale announced for next month? Where shall
we draw our line?
How inclusive shall our list be made? Shall the Saturday Evening Post
and the two Sunday magazines be indexed? Or shall we stay within the
circle of the Readers' Guide and the Magazine subject index? How many
of the news-stand best sellers shall be admitted? Mr. Wyer shows us
the million circulation figures of the Woman's World, Comfort, the
Vickery and Hill list of three (Happy Hours, Hearth and Home, and Good
Stories), yet these are not taken by our libraries and if indexed could
be consulted with difficulty. Where shall we draw this line?
Again, how far abroad shall we go? Shall the short stories in foreign
tongues fraternize with their English cousins? Or shall they be aliens
and only admitted when really anglicized? Do we need an index? Let
us test our present resources. How do you find in which volume of
Kipling is printed "Thrawn Janet" or his "Man who would be king?" How
many copies of "The necklace" can you supply? Granger tells you it is
in Cody's "World's greatest short stories" and your catalog may show
it in De Maupassant's works, or his "Odd number." But how would you
find out that this classic is also in "Little French masterpieces,"
in Esenwein's book on the short story, and probably in several other
places.
Somebody comes in and asks for "Napoleon Jackson" and you do not find
it in the volumes you have by Ruth McEnery Stuart. Perhaps it is loaned
out. Would not such an index show that this story appeared in the
Century for January, 1902, under the title "The gentleman of the plush
rocker"?
Vainly have I searched through catalogs and bibliographies and even
biographies to find in which book of stories by "Adirondack" Murray may
be found "A busted ex-Texan." The book itself must be in hand to find
this information. Try to search down a particular title by Stockton, or
Bret Harte and you will soon despair.
Have we not then three distinct classes of publications which can be
indexed with profit?
(a) Collected stories of authors, of whom we have listed at least 4,400.
(b) Periodical sets, which Poole indexed by titles only, but since 1900
the Readers' Guide has by both author and title.
(c) Collections of stories, of which 73 at least are available today.
Can we not characterize or classify our short story by some such terms
as those used in the Philadelphia free library Catalog of Prose
Fiction, published in 1904?
Have you ever been disappointed in reading a story? Have you not often
wished to know if it were a "good" one or "worth while" before you
began it? Indeed, have you not often refrained from reading one for
fear of wasting your time?
How can we tell about these short stories? Are they good or bad?
Detective or amorous? Psychological or mysterious?
Have you ever seen a short story reviewed? Have you any way of knowing?
Must we read every one to find out?
Some may be characterized from the author. The Sherlock Holmes series
are obviously detective stories. We can be pretty sure of Ambrose
Bierce and Edgar Allan Poe. So stories in Harper's have a general tone
quite characteristic.
Here at once is a most important and a most difficult part of such
an index. Is not the value of Granger immensely increased by the
topical index? Are we not laboring patiently to classify our novels by
subjects? Why not also the short story?
We may now ask ourselves: What would be the scope of the entries? For
discussion, we suggest:
1. Author list; giving author, title, number of words, location,
character.