The best short stories of 1917, and the yearbook of the American short story — Reading Companion

The Editor's Yearbook Apparatus

O'Brien's volume includes a substantial yearbook section: a roll of honor of periodicals, a list of volumes of short stories published in 1917, and an index of stories indexed by magazine. The excerpts show the editor's method—he ranks magazines by the number of stories selected, with The Pictorial Review and The Century Magazine leading. This apparatus turns the anthology into a reference work, allowing a reader to trace the year's publishing patterns. The copyright page alone names twenty authors and their original venues, from The Saturday Evening Post to The Pagan Publishing Company, revealing the range of outlets for short fiction at the time.

A Stoker's Hurricane

The longest excerpt follows a freighter crew battling a hurricane. The narrative is tightly focused on the physical: 'Larry, squinting through a forecastle port, wondered how long its anchor chains would hold.' The prose shifts between technical precision—'one hundred and sixty, an' we've held between that and sixty-five'—and visceral description: 'a jarring shiver spread through the hull as the propeller, thrown high, raced wildly.' The scene builds tension through incremental detail: the speaking-tube whistles, the indicator clangs, the second watch cannot leave the forecastle. The story's voice is that of working men, with dialogue like 'It's up to us, men, to keep this ship afloat.'

A Knockout in the Forecastle

Earlier in the same story, a fight breaks out between Dan and a stoker. The action is swift: 'Dan's left broke down the guard; his right fist landed squarely on the stoker's jaw.' The scene is framed by the ship's routine—'Neville's watch went off duty'—and the fight is resolved with a command to 'douse your friend with a pail of water.' This incident, set before the hurricane, establishes the crew's dynamics and Dan's character. The juxtaposition of a casual brawl with the later life-or-death struggle suggests the story's arc from ordinary danger to extraordinary crisis.

The Volume's Structure and Scope

O'Brien's anthology is organized by story, not by theme, but the excerpts suggest recurring concerns: physical labor, maritime settings, and class dynamics. The yearbook appendix lists stories by magazine, not by author, emphasizing the periodical context. The volume includes a 'Roll of Honor' of magazines and a bibliography of story collections, making it a resource for studying the year's output. Readers should note that the excerpts represent only a fraction of the twenty stories; the full collection likely offers a wider range of voices, from Edna Ferber to Wilbur Daniel Steele, as indicated by the copyright page.

Approach this volume as both a reading collection and a historical document. The editorial materials—the roll of honor, the magazine index, the copyright list—provide a snapshot of the 1917 short story market. The stories themselves, as glimpsed in the excerpts, favor action and sensory detail over interiority. Readers interested in the craft of early 20th-century American fiction will find O'Brien's selections and apparatus equally revealing.

That rainy afternoon, I lost myself in O’Brien’s collection, especially the stoker’s grim fight against the sea. The roll of honor felt like a quiet map of forgotten voices. Later, idly tracing that map’s edges, I stumbled upon The mirrors of Tuzun Thune — Themes and Context, and something in its strange reflections matched the storm’s fading chill.