The Collected Short Stories of Conrad Aiken

by Conrad Aiken

This indispensable volume, which includes the classic stories “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” and “Mr. Arcularis,” is a testament to the dazzling artistry of one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers A young woman passes through the countryside to visit her dying grandmother for a final time. A cabbie, exhausted from a long day’s work, fights to get an intoxicated woman out of his taxi. A man on his way to a bachelor party tries to come to grips with the brutishness that lies within every gentleman—and finds that Bacardi cocktails do nothing to help.   A master craftsman whose poetry and prose offer profound insight into the riddle of consciousness, Conrad Aiken thrills, disturbs, and inspires in all forty-one of these astute and eloquent tales.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Poetry, Classic Literature, Literature

620 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Known American writer Conrad Potter Aiken won a Pulitzer Prize of 1930 for Selected Poems .

Most of work of this short story critic and novelist reflects his intense interest in psychoanalysis and the development of identity. As editor of Selected Poems of Emily Elizabeth Dickinson in 1924, he largely responsibly established her posthumous literary reputation. From the 1920s, Aiken divided his life between England and the United States and played a significant role in introducing American poets to the British audience.

He fathered gifted writers Joan Aiken and Jane Aiken Hodge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_...

Reviews

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I've repeated quite a few times already, I'm a sucker for short stories. They tempt me - they are bite-sized novels.

I liked the Collected Stories, but it was as uneven as any other collection out there, specially taking into account that this collects the whole literary production of Conrad Aiken in the field of short stories, from the 1920s to the 1960s. We can see how Conrad grew and matured through his writing. And many things happened in those forty years: a world war, civil rights, women liberation, the first instances of the technological revolution that would shape our century. This is all reflected in Aiken's worldview, and it's a delight to see that world change through his work.

However, whatever the theme or the subject is, there are two constants to his stories:

1) Great quality of prose. I mean, the man has a Pulitzer, so it's not like y'all needed me to point this out, but his writing is like poetry. It is precious in its simplicity. Honestly, it reads like a writer's writer if I ever saw one.

2) An autobiographical streak. Because, see, Conrad Aiken didn't have an easy childhood. His father killed his mother one day and then committed suicide, leaving Conrad orphaned. This, of course, marked Aiken very deeply, who proceeded to explore different kinds of mental instability in his stories.

He explores the human condition - the good and the bad. Mainly the bad. Infidelity, pettiness, betrayal. What takes to ditch social mores. What happens when one ditches them. Is a killer insane or just off the social path? How does one get off? Is it slowly or just all at once? In many cases, there is a Christian sensibility to his stories: often religion is not the answer, or at least the persons who practice this religion are flawed.

Much as I liked his social/human stories, I couldn't help enjoying his horror stories even better. Which unfortunately were few and far between. The horror of Aiken is quiet and chilling, in a way that reminds me of Poe. In fact, his most anthologized short stories belong to this genre: Mr. Arcularis and Silent Snow, Secret Snow. He actually wrote a ghost story like no other, a story that is so good that is now in my top ten best short stories ever: State of Mind. It is so subtle, well-written, bone-chilling and reflective at the same time that it is a perfect story indeed.

I have to recommend this, it was a great book. Conrad Aiken is unjustly forgotten. Let's hope this new edition will bring up a little bit of recognition to Aiken.

Disclosure: This book was offered to me in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, Open Road Media!

[Elena Sala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conrad Aiken was a genuine man of letters, unjustly neglected today. Novelist, critic, and poet, whose verse was honored by a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, and the Bollingen Prize; he was also a superb story writer.

A childhood tragedy left an indelible impression on Aiken. When he was eleven, his father shot first Aiken's mother and then himself. Aiken related the circumstances of his parents' death in his autobiography. It has been suggested that much of Aiken's interest in psychology stemmed from that shattering incident. Aiken once said that his short story "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" (a psychological portrait of a disturbed boy) was "a projection of my own inclination to insanity."

Certainly, Aiken was interested in the psychology of his characters. He explores personal situations, crises, betrayals, pettiness, infidelity and all kinds of mental instability. Some critics quite justly compared him to Henry James, Katharine Mansfield and Guy de Maupassant.

His haunting short stories should be read one at a time, and again and again. "Silent snow, secret snow" and "Mr. Arcularis" are probably the most well known, but I think the whole collection is a gem which deserves more recognition.

4.5 stars.

[Robert Zoltan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I became intrigued by the fiction of Conrad Aiken (who is known as well for his poetry) from seeing the Night Gallery dramatization of "Silent Snow, Secret Snow." I got the book and was so affected by the story that I read it three times in three days. I am now two stories away from reading the entire collection and Conrad Aiken has become one of my favorite authors (and poets).

"Silent Snow, Secret Snow" is still my favorite Aiken story, but there are several others that come close to having that power. The story is haunting, beautiful, disturbing, mesmerizing, very much like cold winter's night in the dead of winter. It reads as smoothly as well-written prose yet possesses the beauty and meaning of poetry.

Of the entire collection, there was only one story I didn't care for (and there are many, many stories in the collection). I don't care for writing critical reviews. I mainly will only recommend a book if I love it, and the fiction (and poetry) of Aiken, I cannot recommend highly enough. Easily, in my opinion, one of the best American short story authors ever. And "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" would presently make my top ten stories, probably top five, possibly number one of my all time favorite short stories of all time.

His writing inspired me to bring my writing up to another level (which can only be done with the heart/whole intelligence/love, not by the will of the mind). Loving something this beautiful can help you transcend yourself, or, what you thought you were.

[James Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are poetic tales from an author who, while primarily known for his poetry, was a novelist and critic as well. The scope of the stories collected here range from the familiar to the bizarre, the mysterious to the romantic. Included are the well-known frequently anthologized stories like "Mr, Arcularis" and "Silent Snow, Secret Snow", but also some not collected previously with all selected by the author with the wish that it includes those stories he desired to preserve. The result is a magnificent and absorbing volume that should delight all lovers of short stories.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn't intended to read every story in this collection and, in retrospect, I probably could have safely skipped about half of them, but if I hadn't read this book from cover to cover I would have missed some gems hiding among the more forgettable ones. On the whole, I'd say that Conrad Aiken was by no means a master of the short story form, but he was certainly a master of the evocative image, insightful characterization, and sharp dialogue--and these elements more than compensate for the repetitive, slight, and sometimes even nonexistent plots Aiken often used in his short stories. The details of an affair (often extramarital, but sometimes not) seemed to be a favorite of his, and these were among the least memorable, if only because there were so many of them that I would be hard-pressed, now, to distinguish them from one another. Yet, when Aiken spread his storytelling wings a bit more creatively, he wrote some beautiful short stories.

Below, for my own sake, I outline each story (along with--admittedly uncouth--star rankings):

"Bring! Bring!" - an at-home nurse cares for a delicate woman while flirting with the woman's husband. (**)

"The Last Visit" - a self-centered woman visits her ailing grandmother for the last time. (***)

"Mr. Arcularis" - a man who survives a dangerous operation sails to England to recuperate. (***)

"The Bachelor Supper" - a man who's getting married grudgingly attends the party his best friend has set up for him. (**)

"Bow Down, Isaac!" - the narrator recollects visiting his aunts' farm as a young boy, and being fascinated with the neighboring farm's peculiar inhabitants. (***)

"A Pair of Vikings" - the story of a husband-and-wife team of trick motorcycle riders. (**)

"Hey, Taxi!" - a girl invades a cabbie's off-duty car, and refuses to leave. (*)

"Field of Flowers" - a man reflects on his affair with a married woman, and considers buying her a gift. (*)

"Gehenna" - a kind of hazy, mystical, metaphysical pondering of life, etc., via a hazily drawn character. (*)

"The Disciple" - a man has an unsettling encounter with a shopkeeper who claims, with increasing earnestness, that they are the living embodiment of Judas and the Wandering Jew. (***)

"Impulse" - a man decides to act on an impulse, and ruins his life. (***)

"The Anniversary" - a married man's anniversary is tomorrow, and he spends the evening with his friends, fantasizing about chorus girls and complaining about his wife. (*)

"Hello, Tib" - a man watches a kitten explore a commuter train platform. (*)

"Smith and Jones" - a kind of allegory pertaining to I don't know quite what (the erosion of Western civilization? or something?). (*)

"By My Troth, Nerissa!" - a man composes an insulting letter to his girlfriend in his head, while waiting to meet her for dinner. (*)

"Silent Snow, Secret Snow" - Aiken's most famous story, which is supposed to be rather unsettling but which left me thinking, primarily, "Kids are weird, man." (**)

"Round by Round" - a newspaper reporter converses with a colleague and writes a letter to his promiscuous girlfriend. (*)

"Thistledown" - a married man recounts his encounters with a Holly Golightly-esque character. (***)

"State of Mind" - a sort of ghost story. (**)

"Strange Moonlight" - a young boy obliquely wrestles with the death of a neighborhood girl. (***)

"The Fish Supper" - a man whose wife has left him goes to dinner with a colleague he doesn't like, his colleague's wife, and another woman; then he plays a cruel trick on his colleague's wife. (***)

"I Love You Very Dearly" - an estranged father writes a letter to his married daughter about her affair with another man. (**)

"The Dark City" - a sort of parody, maybe?, of a working man's ideal home life. (**)

"Life Isn't a Short Story" - an author sitting in a diner ponders writing a short story. (**)

"The Night Before Prohibition" - a married man reminisces about his affair with another woman before (and, briefly, during) his marriage to someone else. (**)

"Spider, Spider" - the widow of a man's best friend tries to convince the man that he should be with her rather than his sweet but vapid girlfriend. (***)

"A Man Alone at Lunch" - a poor man laments his girlfriend's need to go to an old flame for money. (*)

"Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!" - a young woman on an ocean liner falls in love with a married man. (***)

"Your Obituary, Well Written" - a man spends time with a dying novelist (apparently a roman a clef of Aiken's last meeting with Katherine Mansfield). (***)

"A Conversation" - a man tries to convince another man that his girlfriend is not as innocent as he thinks she is. (*)

"No, No, Go Not to Lethe" - an oddly detached, borderline sociopath engages in a sort of pedagogical affair with the girl who lives across the hall from him in a boarding house. (***)

"Pure as the Driven Snow" - a man who's very worried about his reputation meets up with his chorus girl girlfriend. (*)

"All, All Wasted" - a young woman who considers herself to be quite interesting is excited to arrive home where her father is entertaining a writer, only to become irritated when the writer does not pay her the close attention she believes she deserves. (***)

"The Moment" - a very funny story in which a man abroad attempts to "seize the moment" with one of a bevy of beautiful English girls. (***)

"The Woman-Hater" - two medical students introduce their showgirl friend to their woman-hating roommate. (***)

"The Professor's Escape" - a man tells two friends about an affair he had on an ocean liner, which inspires one of his friends to attempt something similar with his landlady. (**)

"The Orange Moth" - an oddly beautiful story about a struggling writer who envies his more successful hack-writer colleagues. (***)

"The Necktie" - a man abroad leaves his wife in their hotel room to experience Parisian nightlife on his own, and has a memorable encounter with another woman. (***)

"O How She Laughed!" - a man tells a story about his parents and a superficially boisterous couple that lived upstairs from them. (***)

"West End" - an aging prostitute tells a man her story. (**)

"Fly Away Ladybird" - a man visits the mother of his illegitimate child in the country. (**)

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite stories in the collection are the ones that play with perception. What is real? What is dreamed? What is poetic eccentricity? What is mental illness?
But, of course, being short stories they make absolutely no attempt to answer these questions. They just pose them. I find that maddening actually.

[Anthony R. Vecchiarelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conrad Aiken seems to be a good writer. I found myself reading and enjoying his stories, but then when I came to the endings, I found myself unsatisfied. Things were not resolved adequately, for me at least, which is why I say he SEEMS to be a good writer. This did not happen in all cases, but in most of them.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knapp an 2 Sternen vorbei.

[Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read:

Mr Arcularis - 4/5

[Shayzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The dark city… Fast asleep with Jean Marie, August 22, 2025… 2.5

[Margaret Wichorek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good compilation of Aiken's stories. Two of my favorites are included-Mr. Arcularis and Silent Snow, Secret Snow. The latter, a story about a young boy's falling into madness, is one I've always loved. The prose is almost hypnotic-just beautiful. You can tell the author was also a renowned poet.

[Fazal Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories really creeped me out at times. the were pleasingly absurd,pychologically funny and disturbing.
Secret Snow,Silent Snow is the most well known short
story(it was featured on an episode of Night Gallery
narrated by Orson Welles). But the story is much better
of course.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what it says it is, the collected stories - and what wonderful stories they are.

[Daniel Hiland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating collection of stories that bears revisiting. Of course, the first two tales one should read are Mr. Arcularis and Silent Snow, Secret Snow. As for the rest, they run the gamut from infidelity (reflecting Aiken's proclivity for straying from his spouse), to murder, religious intolerance, and many other facets of humanity's darker side.

The tone of many of the tales is reminiscent of Shirley jackson's surreal style. As you make your way from one story to the next, you wonder how reliable the narrator is, whether any of what is related really happened the way it was told- in short, very odd, but interesting ways to tell stories are presented in this collection.

To be fair, some of the stories seem to be unfinished, or maybe could have been resolved more satisfactorily in more capable hands- for after all, Aiken's main talent was as a poet.

But be that as it may, I am now going to go back and read some of these stories again, for I am still puzzled by many of them...