O. HENRY PRIZE STORIES OF 1945

The annual which in the past has fallen between the strictly popular S.E.P. collection and Martha Foley's more literary selection, -- this year with not as readable a representation as in former years. The accent is on new names and in many cases on less well known sources -- the Yale Review, Virginia Quarterly, etc. preponderating over the better quality slick magazines. There is also a noticeable -- and perhaps -- deliberate -- prevalence of the war in its immediate or indirect influence, with Bury Your Own Dead (the emotional refuse of war), Allan Seager's The Conqueror (its brutalizing impact) and Laurence Critchell's Flesh and Blood (controversially received) leading off. Other fairly familiar names include Walter van Tilburg Clark, Mary Lavin, Irwin Shaw and Elizabeth Hardwick -- the balance of the contributors being newcomers. Some regional, some racial material for a collection which is aware in its social implications rather than outstanding in performance.