k,"
and "The Heart-Break of Norah O'Hara."

BLISS AND OTHER STORIES, by _Katherine Mansfield_ (Alfred A.
Knopf). I have no hesitation in stating after careful thought that Miss
Mansfield's first book of short stories at once places her in the great
European tradition on a par with Chekhov and De Maupassant. This is
certainly the most important book of short stories which has come to my
notice since I began to edit this series of books. I say this with the
more emphasis because, although her technique is the same as that of
Chekhov, she is one of the few writers to whom a close study of Chekhov
has done no harm. Most American short story writers are bad because they
copy "O. Henry," and most English short story writers are bad because
they copy Chekhov. Chekhov and "O. Henry" were both great writers
because they copied nobody. I hope that the success of Miss Mansfield's
book will not have the effect of substituting a new model instead of
these two. Mr. Knopf is to be complimented for his taste in publishing
the best two volumes of short stories of the year. It is a disinterested
service to literature.

A CHAIR ON THE BOULEVARD, by _Leonard Merrick_ (E.P. Dutton &
Company). It is unnecessary at this date to point out the special
excellences of Leonard Merrick. They are such as to ensure him a
tolerably secure position in the history of the English short story. But
it may be well to point out that the vice of his excellence is his
proneness to sentimentality. This is more evident in Mr. Merrick's other
volumes than in the present collection, which is really a reissue of his
best stories, including that masterpiece, "The Tragedy of a Comic Song."
If one were to compile an anthology of the world's best twenty stories,
this story would be among them.

SELECTED ENGLISH SHORT STORIES (XIX AND XX CENTURIES), edited
by _H.S.M._ (Oxford University Press). This volume has the merit of
containing in very short compass twenty-eight stories by English and
American authors, not too conventionally selected, which would form
admirable texts for a short story course. It includes stories by Mark
Rutherford and Richard Garnett which are likely to be unfamiliar to most
readers, and if taken in conjunction with the previous volume in the
same series, provides a tolerably complete conspectus of the development
of the short story in England and America since 1800.

ORIGINAL SINNERS, by _Henry W. Nevinson_ (B.W. Huebsch, Inc.).
It has alway