Turning her agile talent to a rather difficult medium Rebecca West has produced four miniature novels, or long short stories, which are chiefly remarkable for their technical brilliance. They have a smooth high glaze, a competence of construction, reminiscent of Somerset Maugham at his slickest and most suave. Only a very good craftsman could have written "The Harsh Voice," but its brittleness and its occasional meretriciousness seem to prove that something besides craftsmanship is required.

Miss West's attitude … is curiously literary. One is perpetually aware that these tales are contrived, and contrived for a maximum dramatic effect. They do not proceed simply and naturally with the rhythm of life, but respond to expert guidance from the author, who is always stationed watchfully in the wings. Nothing is left to chance. The reader is led firmly and with precision to the desired point, is forced to react in just the fashion Miss West has so carefully planned.

Such cleverness can overreach itself, as in "There Is No Conversation."…

Miss West tacks on a twist ending which is utterly unforeseen. Surprising and effective as it is, it quite destroys the integrity of the story—leaving one saying "how clever" instead of "how tragic."

There is the same sense of artificiality in "The Abiding Vision," a far better piece of work…. The story has a certain amount of warmth and vigor, but the ironic theme is dragged in once more at the end with a patness and abruptness which are destructive of illusion.

Both these stories pretend to be straightforward and turn out to be tricky. "The Salt of the Earth" is more successful than either because its trickiness and ingenuity are apparent from the start….

The fourth and most inferior of the stories also has an American background. From the fact that all of the tales except "The Salt of the Earth" deal at least in part with America, and from the fact that there are acknowledgments to popular American magazines, one can gather that Miss West has been doing a little deliberate pot-boiling outside her own country. Most authors do so at times, and Rebecca West in her off moments is still, in a sense, Rebecca West. She is incapable of slovenly writing, of being anything but witty and entertaining. Nevertheless it seems a pity that she should squander her fine gifts on a book so inconsiderable as "The Harsh Voice."