WHY IS O. HENRY OUT OF FASHION?

WHY IS O. HENRY OUT OF FASHION? O.Henry’s stories have been out of fashion for a long time. In some ways, he stands for what the modernist short story writers rebelled against. I don’t think it’s the twist at the end that makes him unfashionable. After all, detective stories and fiction structured like detective stories are still popular. I think the problem is the language, of which the post from yesterday gives a good example. (Mary Jane commented that the language in the story reminded her of Mencken). Dialects of all kind are tolerated or even valued in fiction with the exception of the vernacular of turn of the century America, which still seems irretrievably corny.