The Stories of Frank O'Connor

Knopf, $4.00.

There are a number of writers whose work, though first-rate, could not properly be described as attractive. But the notable thing about Frank O’Connor is that he is one of the most attractive living writers of short stories in addition to being one of the world’s best. Gaiety and seriousness march hand in hand through his tales. He conveys — with strength of feeling but without false optimism or phony uplift — that life, though tragic, is well worth living; that it is full of heartache but is also full of joy and enchantment. The naturalness of O’Connor’s art, the unerring rightness of his touch, is the fruit of an insatiable perfectionism. The form in which a good many of the stories in this collection appear represents the twentieth, the thirtieth, even the fiftieth rewriting. Of the twenty-seven tales, five are new; five others have not been published in book form in this country; and the rest are from Crab Apple Jelly, The Common Chord, and Traveller’s Samples.

CHARLES J. ROLO