Thirteen O'Clock: Stories of Several Worlds

by Stephen Vincent Benét

"Thirteen O'Clock: Stories of Several Worlds" by Stephen Vincent Benét. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

Genres: Short Stories

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Stephen Vincent Benét was born July 22, 1898, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, into a military family. His father had a wide appreciation for literature, and Benét's siblings, William Rose and Laura, also became writers. Benét attended Yale University where he published two collections of poetry, Five Men and Pompey (1915), The Drug-Shop (1917). His studies were interrupted by a year of civilian military service; he worked as a cipher-clerk in the same department as James Thurber. He graduated from Yale in 1919, submitting his third volume of poems in place of a thesis. He published his first novel The Beginning of Wisdom in 1921. Benét then moved to France to continue his studies at the Sorbonne and returned to the United States in 1923 with his new wife, the writer Rosemary Carr.

Benét was successful in many different literary forms, which included novels, short stories, screenplays, radio broadcasts, and a libretto for an opera by Douglas Moore based on "The Devil and Daniel Webster." His most famous work is the long poem John Brown's Body for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1929—a long narrative poem which interweaves historical and fictional characters to relate important events in the Civil War, from the raid on Harper's Ferry to Lee's surrender at Appomattox. During his lifetime, Benét also received the O. Henry Story Prize, the Roosevelt Medal, and a second Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for the posthumously-published Western Star, the first part of an epic poem based on American history. At the age of 44, Benét suffered a heart attack and died on March 13, 1943, in New York City.

Reviews

[Sara Gabai · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting! different genres of stories. the two Daniel Webster ones are wonderful "American fantasy." the first story "By the Waters of Babylon" is an impressive sort of sci-fi story. (not writing more because of spoilers. )

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories were written in the 1930's and are similar in style and tone to stories of some great writers of that era: Pearl Buck, H.G. Wells, and Willa Cather. There is considerable art and composition in these stories, which address universal themes such as love, death, aging, crazy families, and charisma. I recall reading several of these stories while in junior high and high school, including By the waters of Babylon (an early and effective sci-fi holocaust story), The treasure of Vasco Gomez (a pirate is stranded with his gold on an island), and The Devil and Daniel Webster (a romp with a Bunyanesque character).

I thought a lot about the qualities of these stories that made them suitable for school textbooks: the vocabulary and style were accessible, the ideas were imaginative, and there is a sense of adventure in them. No wonder they were among my favorites back then and I had a great time reading them 40+ years on.

[Martin Kalfatovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benét was a staple of junior high reading back in the day. Never as well-known as his American contemporaries (Fitzgerald, Stein, Faulkner, Wharton, Hurston, Hemingway, Wolfe, Buck) today, he is probably best known for "John Brown's Body" (1928), an epic poem which won the Pulitzer Prize. This collection of stories includes three well known works, 'The Devil and Daniel Webster', 'The Sobbin' Women' (later turned into the musical 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' (1954), and, perhaps most famously, 'By the Waters of Babylon'). 'Babylon', a classic (and early) post-apocalyptic depiction of a collapsed world society was written in response to the Fascist bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. At one point, the young narrator, after exploring the ruins of what was New York, recounts the advice of his father: "He was right—it is better the truth should come little by little. I have learned that, being a priest. Perhaps, in the old days, they ate knowledge too fast."

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a difficult book to get through. I wanted to read this book for only one of the short stories inside, but couldn't say I'd read the book when I didn't. Some of the stories were nice and read quickly, but most of them started in the middle of nowhere and ended just as abruptly roughly 30 pages later. I couldn't keep my attention on the stories themselves either, once I started one. They were very dry and I can only attribute that to the time of when it was written. I'm happy to be done with this book and sorry it was so difficult to obtain it just to be disappointed.

[Maggie Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

We read this book for a book discussion during the pandemic. It was available as a free download so people could read at least some of the stories. We particularly enjoyed the Daniel Webster stories and By the Waters of Babylon. One of the stories we all read was The Sobbin' Women which really didn't seem much like the Rape of the Sabine Women nor was it much like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
We all really liked Benet's language and humor. He reminded us of Mark Twain. His use of folk characters and language was also enjoyable. The Babylon story was certainly prophetic.

[Randy D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thirteen O’Clock is a compilation of 13 short stories written by Stephen Vincent Benét and published in 1937. Some stories were pretty good and some were not so good, hence the three star rating. I'll allow the reader to make their own determinations.