The Gay Old Dog by Blanche Colton Williams
Blanche Colton Williams’s study examines Ferber’s handling of a long span of Jo Hertz’s life within the short-story form. It considers the author’s stated problem of compressing twenty-three years into a few thousand words, then asks how proportion, selected scenes, leaps in time, and “throw-backs” preserve unity and keep Jo dominant. The analysis maps the initial incident, minor climaxes, dramatic climax, action climax, and dénouement, defining the central struggle as Jo’s conflict with the conditions of his life. It also studies sympathy, irony, the contrasting traits of Jo and his sisters, the individualized supporting characters, chronology, economical details, and the stylistic effects of scene construction and verbal compression.
By Blanche Colton Williams · First published 1919 · Genre: Literary Analysis, Literary Criticism, Non-Fiction · 1,255 words
First lines
CLASSIFICATION. Miss Ferber recognizes the difficulties of boxing into the shorter form the material which would accommodate a larger space. "The tale of how Jo Hertz came to be a loop-hound should not be compressed within the limits of a short story. It should be told as are the photoplays, with frequent throw-backs and many cut-ins. To condense twenty-three years of a man's life into some five or six thousand words requires a verbal economy amounting to parsimony" (page 209).
She has, however, achieved the short-story effect in creating one dominant character, -- in unifying the action, and in conserving one purpose.
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Genres
- Literary Analysis — Breaks the fiction into plot stages, proportional design, characterization, detail, and stylistic technique.
- Literary Criticism — Evaluates the author’s success in achieving unity, economy, sympathy, irony, and short-story effect.
- Non-Fiction — A pedagogical study section that uses quoted statements and guided analytical questions.
Tags
Blanche Colton Williams · The Gay Old Dog · Ferber · short-story construction · plot proportion · Jo Hertz · dramatic climax · dénouement · characterization · chronological order · throw-backs · verbal economy
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The Gay Old Dog is listed on Textopian as an essay by Blanche Colton Williams, dated 1919 CE.
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- Work type: Essay
- Author: Blanche Colton Williams
- Date: 1919 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Literary Analysis, Literary Criticism, Non-Fiction
- Length: 1,255 words
- Structure: 1 section, 22 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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