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by Mary Webb
A full introduction has been written for this website by Gladys Mary Coles, President of the Mary Webb Society.
Mary Webb was writing stories throughout her girlhood when, as Mary Gladys Meredith, eldest by some six years of the six Meredith children, she wrote for the amusement of her little sisters and brothers. She continued to write stories as a young adult, with one or two publication successes. But after her marriage in 1912 she began her first novel, finding that this larger canvas suited her narrative gift. It was not until the final six years of her life when she was a published novelist and living in London (from 1921) that she again turned her attention to the short story.
There was a new vogue for short stories in the 1920s, a demand which created publishing opportunities in journals, magazines, newspapers, publishers' house magazines and anthologies. A published story not only brought quick payment to its author but could promote his or her literary reputation, attracting the attention of readers and critics. Like many novelists at this time, Mary Webb devoted her energies to shorter fiction. Her stories were published both in Britain and America. After her death in 1927, ten of these successful pieces were brought together with her unfinished novel Armour wherein he trusted and published by Jonathan Cape in 1929 in the collected edition of her works.
The ten stories, reproduced here, include four which demonstrate her mastery of the art of short story writing: Blessed are the meek, revealing the pathos of workhouse women, is among her finest pieces; The prize and Over the hills and far away are rich in country atmosphere and country characters; In affection and esteem evokes the loneliness of city life.
There are two stories based on memories of her childhood and adolescence in Much Wenlock: Many mansions and Owd Blossom, the first a delightful autobiographical piece evoking the ancient market town and old church beadle, John Lloyd.
Palm, a two page cameo, is also autobiographical, recounting an incident which made a deep impression on her during her first years in London.
Mary Webb draws on real-life situations, her knowledge or memory of actual events and people, for the material of her short stories. These, as much as her novels, are invested with humour, compassion, and vivid character creation, and she is at her best when conjuring up the country people and places she knew so thoroughly.
© Gladys Mary Coles, 2003.
A sample short story Over the hills and far away, from Selected short stories, is available on this website.
The full text can also be read online or downloaded free of charge. It is in XHTML format, like this page. Please note the file size is 110kb and it may take some time to open-up if you choose to read it online. Downloading for reading later may be the preferred option and this can be typically achieved by calling up an option box. If you have a mouse and it is configured for left click to select, right clicking the link may give you this option. Link to the full text of Selected short stories.
Page created 22 January 2003 and last
updated 31 January 2003
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