There have been no critical studies of Cable's fiction treated for its own sake; and, without such studies, readers may not become aware of these stories or of their possible value. The absence of a critical position on Cable is due to the decline in his reputation as an artist when he became a writer of popular literature. Before 1925 Cable and his works were well known to the American reader. Cable follows a tradition in Southern writing whereby the locale functions as a spatial metaphor. The most unique feature of Cable's work is its social consciousness, which is most readily seen in his themes. In form, Cable's writing is the mixture of romance and realism that characterizes the era of post-war popular fiction. Cable's work at the turn of the century has none of the social criticisms that characterized his earlier writings. The disappearance of his social consciousness contributed to the decline in his reputation. (LL)