The Voice of the City: Further Stories of the Four Millions

by O. Henry

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Humor, Classics

252 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2005

About the author

Such volumes as Cabbages and Kings (1904) and The Four Million (1906) collect short stories, noted for their often surprising endings, of American writer William Sydney Porter, who used the pen name O. Henry.

His biography shows where he found inspiration for his characters. His era produced their voices and his language.

Mother of three-year-old Porter died from tuberculosis. He left school at fifteen years of age and worked for five years in drugstore of his uncle and then for two years at a Texas sheep ranch.

In 1884, he went to Austin, where he worked in a real estate office and a church choir and spent four years as a draftsman in the general land office. His wife and firstborn died, but daughter Margaret survived him.

He failed to establish a small humorous weekly and afterward worked in poorly-run bank. When its accounts balanced not, people blamed and fired him.

In Houston, he worked for a few years until, ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, he fled to New Orleans and thence Honduras.

Two years later, he returned on account of illness of his wife. Apprehended, Porter served a few months more than three years in a penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his incarceration, he composed ten short stories, including A Blackjack Bargainer , The Enchanted Kiss , and The Duplicity of Hargraves .

In 1899, McClure's published Whistling Dick's Christmas Story and Georgia's Ruling .

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he sent manuscripts to New York editors. In the spring of 1902, Ainslee's Magazine offered him a regular income if he moved to New York.

In less than eight years, he became a bestselling author of collections of short stories. Cabbages and Kings came first in 1904 The Four Million, and The Trimmed Lamp and Heart of the West followed in 1907, and The Voice of the City in 1908, Roads of Destiny and Options in 1909, Strictly Business and Whirligigs in 1910 followed.

Posthumously published collections include The Gentle Grafter about the swindler, Jeff Peters; Rolling Stones , Waifs and Strays , and in 1936, unsigned stories, followed.

People rewarded other persons financially more. A Retrieved Reformation about the safe-cracker Jimmy Valentine got $250; six years later, $500 for dramatic rights, which gave over $100,000 royalties for playwright Paul Armstrong. Many stories have been made into films.

Reviews

[Jim Puskas · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this, the 5th volume in the complete set of O’ Henry’s stories, we again find ourselves in the streets, back alleys, flats and gathering places of early 20th century NYC. As such, the stories are much like the literary equivalent of a collection of daguerreotype photos. As with each of the volumes, this is a mixed bag, a half dozen exceptionally well-crafted stories, a couple of them truly memorable, while the rest are simply variations on Porter’s ongoing commentary on the human condition — with its often unexpected consequences. I find these stories, all of which I’ve read before at some point, to be welcome distractions from more serious fare; so I tend to keep one volume open for a time, delving into it now and then over a period of several weeks. There’s almost always a touch of humor, often mixed with a note of pathos and each story tends to leave one with a feeling of “Ah yes, life’s like that”.
My favorites in this set are “The Fool-Killer” and “From Each According to His Ability”. In each of those stories, a protagonist sets out with a particular objective in mind, only to end up with an entirely different result, proving once again Robert Burns’ theorem about the schemes of mice and men. And in both instances, failure to achieve the protagonist’s ends constitutes no failure at all, but rather the gaining of new insights and even perhaps a bit of wisdom.
All of which makes these little vignettes somewhat reassuring; and pleasant light reading.

[Rossdavidh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read several of this series of O. Henry short stories in the past few months, and much of what I have to say has already been said. Most of these stories are set in New York City, the adopted home of O. Henry in his later years. He often bases his stories around a collision of unlikes, as for example city and country folk, young and old, rich and poor, (and of course also male and female). None of his characters are perfect or conventionally heroic, and few if any are entirely despicable, or at least not without some insight provided into how they got that way. One has the impression the author has met a lot of well-meaning fools and good-hearted scoundrels, and he draws from life. O. Henry is the sort of writer we wish we had for every century; what a joy an O. Henry of the 10th century would be to read today.

Fortunately, we do have this one, of the very early 20th century, and it is now long enough ago that it has acquired a foreign and exotic interest which it could not have had when he wrote these tales.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have an actual physical edition of this short story collection dated 1908! I found it in my condo library: it's been read a lot, apparently! So now it's in my library. My fav story here is 'The Rathskeller and The Rose'. But I found a few weak stories here so I can only go 3 stars overall.

[Kendal · Rating 2 out of 5]

O Henry's B Material

Though not up to snuff to his first book, this tome has verbal pungency that will charm your senses. So take a whiff.

[Tinquerbelle]

Henry, O.
The Complete Works of O. Henry

In compilation only.

1) The Voice of the City
2) The Complete LIfe of John Hopkins
3) A Lickpenny Lover
4) Dougherty's Eye-Opener
5) "Little Speck in Garnered Fruit"
6) The Harbinger
7) While the Auto Waits
8) A Comedy in Rubber
9) One Thousand Dollars
10) The Defeat of the City
11) The Shocks of Doom
12) The Plutonian Fire
13) Nemesis and the Candy Man
14) Squaring the Circle
15) Roses, Ruses and Romance
16) The City of Dreadful Night
17) The Easter of the Soul
18) The Fool-Killer
19) Transients in Arcadia
20) The Rathskeller and the Rose
21) The Clarion Call
22) Extradited from Bohemia
23) A Philistine in Bohemia
24) From Each According to His Ability
25) The Memento

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

*The Voice of the City --
*The Complete Life of John Hopkins --
*A Lickpenny Lover --
*Dougherty's Eye Opener --
*Little Speck in Garnered Fruit --
*The Harbinger --
*While the Auto Waits --
*A Comedy in Rubber --
*One Thousand Dollars --
*The Defeat of the City --
*The Shocks of Doom --
*The Plutonian Fire --
*Nemesis and the Candy Man --
*Squaring the Circle --
Roses, Ruses and Romance --
*The City of Dreadful Night --
The Easter of The Soul --
*The Fool-Killer --
*Transients in Arcadia --
*The Rathskeller and the Rose --
The Clarion Call --2
*Extradited from Bohemia --
A Philistine In Bohemia --
From Each According to His Ability --
*The Memento --