DEPARTURE And Other Stories
By
His second on Little, Brown's list- and it will have hard sledding. Fast's narrative gift does not lend itself to the short story medium. Only occasionally does his dramatic emotional genius show in flashes of vivid portraiture, of muted challenge; frequently his choice of subject- the underprivileged- suggest his social preoccupation. The settings range from Spain of the Civil War to the American frontier; the moods from the illiterate confusion of Hollywood to the confusion engendered by anti-semitism. There are short shorts that seem more like essays than stories- autobiographical fragments- and a few, very few, more or less orthodox stories. Sharply limited market.