Crab Apple Jelly Explained

Crab Apple Jelly is a 1944 short story collection by Frank O'Connor.^[1] It includes the following stories:

• The Bridal Night
• Old Fellows
• The Grand Vizier's Daughters
• Song Without Words
• 'The Star That Bids The Shepherd Fold' (alternative title: The Shepherds)
• The Long Road to Ummera
• The Miser
• The House That Johnny Built
• The New Teacher (alternate title: The Cheapjack)
• The Luceys
• Uprooted
• The Mad Lomasneys

According to the critic Richard Ellmann, "crab apple jelly" was O'Connor's description of the "sweet and tart mixture" he aimed for in his work generally. Ellmann adds, "[O'Connor's] best stories stir those facial muscles which, we are told, are the same for both laughing and weeping."^[2]

Notes and References

1. Book: Frank O’Connor . Crab Apple Jelly . London . Macmillan . New York . Knopf . 1944 .
2. Richard Ellmann. Introduction to Collected Stories, by Frank O'Connor. New York: Vintage, 1982. vii.