Ma's Pretties by Blanche Colton Williams — Read

GENERAL. "Realism isn't popular -- is it? " Half assertively this inquiry comes from a certain fiction writer. It is, perhaps, in proportion as the story has obvious significance. This sketch about "Ma's Pretties" reflects in miniature the whole of an American community, but in a manner which escapes him who seeks and appreciates only surface values. It is the kind of writing which acquires relative importance when placed alongside examples which reflect other communities, other nationalities.

The narrative is not a short-story, in the technical sense. Mr. Buzzell feels this to be no adverse criticism, since he says himself, "I am not particularly concerned about the short-story as such. I am using a short narrative form as a means of expression simply because this form seems the most natural to me. There are many things which I wish to record from my own particular slant. It is to accomplish this, rather than to produce short-stories, that I am writing. Naturally, then, I am not particularly concerned with the technique of the short-story, but on the other hand I am very much concerned with the technique of effective writing and have spent several years of hard work trying to perfect my craftsmanship."