The Stories of Fannie Hurst

by Fannie Hurst, Susan Koppelman, Grace Paley (Introduction)

In her heyday, between 1910 and the mid-1930s, Fannie Hurst was the most popular writer in America. Twenty-nine films were based on her novels and short stories. Her fiction was not only beloved by readers, but also acclaimed by reviewers and regularly included in Best American Short Stories . And yet not one of her books remains in print. The publication of this selection of Fannie Hurst’s best short stories is sure to propel a long-overdue revival and reassessment of Hurst’s work. No reader of these thirty stories, spanning the years 1912 to 1935, can fail to recognize Hurst’s depth, intelligence, and artistry as a writer. Hurst was the one of the premier literary chroniclers of poor and working-class urban life in early 20th-century America, especially the vibrant life of Jewish immigrant communities. She was also a pioneer in writing about the lives of working women, from maids to secretaries to garment workers, from prostitutes to artists. And she wove these threads into captivating, deeply human stories that capture her characters’ struggles, triumphs, conflicts, and loves.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Classics

320 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2004

About the author

Fannie Hurst was born in Ohio, grew up in St. Louis and spent her adult life in New York City. She is the author of 17 novels and more than 250 short stories, as well as plays, screenplays, memoirs, essays and articles. Her best-remembered works are those turned into films, including: Imitation of Life, Back Street, Humoresque, The Younger Generation, and Young at Heart. She was active in a variety of progressive Jewish, social justice, labor, peace and women’s organizations. A lifelong philanthropist, Hurst willed her considerable estate to her alma mater Washington University and to Brandeis University.

Reviews

[Creolecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms. Hurst was one of the most popular writers of her day, producing work from 1914 through the mid 1960s. She may only be familiar today as the author of Imitation of Life which was adapted into a pretty bold (for the time) 1934 film and then remade into a paltry, soap opera melodrama in 1959 (the only good thing going for the latter was seeing Mahalia Jackson sing). After seeing the 1934 film the first time, I was curious about Ms. Hurst. One, because she was writing lead female characters; two, she wrote of race relations. She also showed the beauty of true friendship between women, regardless of race. It was only later I learned she was a close associate of Zora Neale Hurston and they supported one another artistically in that old-girl network sort of way. I love that.

The Stories of Fannie Hurst is a collection of her short stories and novellas (including Humoresque, which was also made into a film). Wherever she places her characters, she captures the dialect, the characteristics; here are stories of young Jewish families trying to make ends meet, young women trying to advance themselves in the workplace. These are strong stories of sweet and bitter tenderness, and haunting in their simplicity. These stories could be about anyone in the world and I love that, too. Highly recommended.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

FINISHED! Feels rather good to remove this book from my currently reading shelf after so many months. :P I read the first story back in July, took a couple more stabs at it since then, and finally wrapped up the bulk of it this month!

I was very impressed with Hurst's collection at the beginning--still am, really. But a large number of those first stories, published in the 1910s, really spoke to me. She was trying to portray what it was like to be a young woman at those times striving for a relationship and dealing with other travails in the city. Two of the stories feature young women working in the bargain basin of the Titanic Department store--"T.B.," where the protagonist worries that she's come down with tuberculosis while still trying to keep up a flirtation with a man, and "White Goods," where the protagonist tries to secure a future with her paramour while still looking after her deteriorating aunt. The men are a bit patronizing in both, and the women a fair bit too girlishly eager (sheesh, we haven't even touched on "Sob Sister," where a kept woman tries rather pathetically to hold onto a deteriorating situation, or "The Other Cheek," where a girl hurries herself into a bad marriage) but there's something quite fun, too, in Hurst's use of the vernacular jargon in dialogue.

And for a change of pace, perhaps, where a woman cleverly outwits all of the people around her, try "Summer Resources." I particularly love Hurst's physical descriptions of the Edwardian beach resort, too.

Many of these characters can be inferred to be Jewish, as promised in the publicity for this book, and some are overtly so. There's "Humoresque," for example, which was turned into a couple of movies, and features a young violin prodigy who pulls his family out of Lower East Side poverty before enlisting in the Great War. I actually reviewed the 1920 silent film and compared it to the story here: https://jewishdc.wordpress.com/2017/1... Or "The Gold in Fish," also made into a silent movie that's available as "The Younger Generation," which tackles old ways vs modernity and a successful son who wants to ditch the Heebish part of the family's last name.
There's also "The Brinkerhoff Brothers," which didn't do so much for me. :P

When we got to the 1920s/30s, and Hurst's latter stories, things started to get a little stale for me. There was more narrative, less quirky dialogue, and characters didn't stand out as much to me, despite the author's focus on women, now settled in marriages and pondering life choices. I'll make a little bit of an exception for "Song of Life," where a woman secretly hopes for her daughter to be rebellious rather than toe to limiting expectations. I liked the push and pull of public vs private. But then there's "Funny Face," which although more blatant with cursing and salacious themes was otherwise pretty clunky.

So back to the middle of the collection, like "She Walks in Beauty," where Hurst also explores the salacious theme of drug use but also draws up interesting character relationships. And I think my favorite story might be "Forty-Five," which has a "kids these days" feel with older characters shaking their heads at flapper bobs and Debussy and James Joyce, lol, and it's set in Paris so I kinda wonder if Hurst is making a statement about the Lost Generation. I'm probably reaching there. But it's also about mothers and daughters and old friends coming back into your life, and...the characters, man. I really loved them in the first half or so of the collection and then they tapered off. Maybe I got over-saturated by Hurst, but really I think that it's her style that changed.

Still, though at the moment I'm giving this a 4, it's a very high 4. I'm so glad that I introduced myself to this once famous author.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of short stories by Hurst. More on http://bookwinked.wordpress.com

[Wendell Barnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had great hopes for this volume of stories but the more I read the more bogged down I got. At several points I considered casting it aside and moving on. The style is archaic and difficult to read at times, and it did not have the entertaining soap opera qualities I was expecting. Most of the stories were very difficult to follow. But I don’t usually give up so I persisted and I did find some moments of interest along the way, although at times I thought the book was interminable. I am sure the stories were much more interesting during the times they were written.