om the very outset, was planning
to produce. At no other point does he more clearly display his
mastery than in his choice of the perfect moment at which to end his
story.

It would, of course, be idle to assert that Poe disposed of all the
narrative problems which confronted him while constructing this story
precisely in the order I have indicated. Unfortunately, he never
explained in print the genesis of any of his stories, and we can only
imagine the process of his plans with the aid of his careful analysis
of the development of "The Raven." But I think it has been clearly
shown that the structure of "Ligeia" is at all points inevitably
conditioned by its theme, and that no detail of the structure could be
altered without injuring the effect of the story; and I am confident
that some intellectual process similar to that which has been outlined
must be followed by every author who seeks to construct stories as
perfect in form as Poe's.

=Analysis of "The Prodigal Son."=--The student of short-story
structure is therefore advised to submit several other masterpieces of
the form to a process of intellectual analysis similar to that which
we have just pursued. By so doing he will become impressed with the
_inevitability_ of every structural expedient that is employed in the
best examples of the type. For a further illustration of this
inevitability of structure, let us look for a moment at the parable of
"The Prodigal Son" (Luke xv., beginning with the eleventh verse),
which, although it was written down many centuries ago, fulfills the
modern critical concept of the short-story, in that it produces a
single narrative effect with the greatest economy of means that is
consistent with the utmost emphasis. For the purposes of this study,
let us set aside the religious implications of the parable, and
consider it as an ordinary work of fiction. The story should more
properly be called "The Forgiving Father," rather than "The Prodigal
Son"; because the single narrative effect to be wrought out is the
extent of a father's forgiveness toward his erring children. Two
characters are obviously needed for the tale,--first, a father to
exercise forgiveness, and second, a child to be forgiven. Whether this
child were a son or a daughter would, of course, have no effect on the
mere structure of the story. In the narrative as we know it, the
erring child is a son. In pursuance of the greatest economy of means,
the story might be told