Modern Irish Short Stories

Mr. Frank O'Connor believes that the Irish short story is 'a distinct art form'; and he goes on to contend, in his stimulating introduction to this brilliant collection, that 'by shedding the limitation of its popular origin it has become susceptible to development in the same way as German song, and in its attitudes it can be distinguished from Russian and American stories which have developed in the same way.
To illustrate his theory he has drawn on his own work as well as on that of George Moore, Somerville and Ross, Daniel Corkery, James Joyce, Liam O'Flaherty... Many of these twenty stories are undoubted masterpieces.