SOURCE: 'The Free Story,' in Short Stories and Short Fictions, 1880-1990, The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1985, pp. 132-39.

In this essay, Hanson discusses Sansom's early stories and analyzes the manner in which the author uses 'dreamlike and horrific' elements but ties them to everyday reality.

William Sansom began his career in an advertising agency, writing 'formula stories' in his spare time. What he saw during the blitz in London changed his idea of what a story should be and altered the course of his life and career. The fictions which he wrote in the war period won great acclaim, and still form the basis of his reputation, though he subsequently published novels and travel books as well as further collections of stories. It has been suggested earlier that the short fiction form was well suited to convey the disorientation of life in the war period, and the excellence...