University of Virginia Library

Best Fiction

"Heat," a short story by Robert
James, is undoubtedly the
magazine's best fiction. Descriptive,
moving, confronting, it portrays an
incident in the life of a boy growing
up on a Southern tobacco farm.
The story would be a credit to any
magazine; that the Spectator contains
it is evidence of a solid literary
base. More material of "Heat"'s
caliber will insure future success.

More perplexing is John Clayton's
"Shirley," a one-act play. The
action (and there's plenty of it)
comes across through a strange
dialogue between two students (S1
and S2). S2's stream of consciousness
description of a "lost love"
and his subsequent decline into
premature middle age is interesting
but at times seems untenable from
any standpoint.

Many would call the story
nonsense or outright pornography.
The reader's feeling that there is
something missing is sustained by
the editor's note, which explains
that "we lost the last page — which
had all the redeeming social value
on it . . ." If social value is your
bag, write on, Mr. Clayton.