Special allowance for a period of translated fiction will probably have to be made in the history of the 20th century Russian literature, just as it had to be done for the Russian literature at the beginning of the 19th century, when work by a Russian author was a rarity. Perhaps this is not so much in the context of history of literature as in that of the history of the Russian reader and publisher, granted the possibility of such a history. For some reason, the unawareness of the name O. Henry existed until 1923, although he had died back in 1910 and during the years preceding his death was one of the most popular and beloved authors in America. The Gift of the Magi written by O. Henry is a little drama of mutual self-sacrifice between husband and wife that encapsulates what the world in all its stored-up wisdom knows to be indispensable or ordinary family life. Unselfish love shared, regardless of the attendant difficulties or distractions, is the idea implied again as a major criterion in the treatment of domestic affairs. In The Gift of the Magi O. Henry's style of narration is invariably ironic or playful. His writing is studded with metaphors but only for the purpose of amusement with the unexpectedness of the comparisons made - a surprise of a literary nature: "Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds." "Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters." In the narrative and descriptive passages of The Gift of the Magi, O. Henry enters into a conversation with us, the readers, making no point of arousing in us an illusion of direct contact or of reality but rather forever emphasizing his role as the writer. Therefore, conducting the story not from the standpoint of an impersonal commentator but from that of his own person, he brings in an outside narrator. Given such a system of narration, dialogue stands out with particular relief and takes on a substantial share of the effect of plot and style. The conversations of the characters have a direct connection with the plot and with the role of the character. They are rich in intonations and ambiguous in some special way. The Gift of the Magi is a love story built-in in the most traditional way but some details are added. In this story it is a comic detail which is not directly connected with love but which, at the same time, turns out to be the fundamental detail for the plot. Love plays the simple motivation for creating the intrigue. O. Henry's pervasive tendency to lay bare the construction of the story and subject the plot to a parody play, the unexpectedness of his ending acquires a special meaning in The Gift of the Magi. By itself, the surprise effect is a common feature of both the novel and the short story. In O. Henry's story this quality of the unexpected constitutes the very heart of the construction and bears a perfectly specific character. The ending of the story The Gift of the Magi is merely a surprise or contrary to expectation, it appears in a sort of a lateral way, as if popping out from around the corner; and it is only then that we, the readers, realize that certain details here and there had hinted the possibility of such an ending. But why is it a masterpiece? Not because it tries to take us into the home of a married couple attempting to exist in our largest city on the husband's income of $20 per week. It is the writers double-surprise technique. This is the surprise of parody, a trick surprise which plays on our literary expectations.