The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories
…some of which require the bulk of said century to get to the point.[rimshot]Seriously, though: many of the stories faff around for two or three pages explaining how the protagonist had come to marry a woman twenty years his junior, or the exact layout of a drawing room down to how furniture and carpet relate to one another (think a ghost is surely going to move said furniture, given the care that went into detailing its disportment? think again), the pouring of bourbon, wallpaper patterning, precise weight of a fog, on an on.
In many cases, though, the quintessentially British aridity of the tone makes the initially-excessive-seeming exposition its own reward.”Three Miles Up” is one that will stick with me, for other reasons, but it begins with an amusing catalog of the disagreements between two men on a boat, which is funny primarily because of the anthropological remove from which it’s related.(I see it got made into a TV movie, which I desperately want to see now.)”The Portobello Road” takes a similar tack; it’s more of a thriller than a ghost story, and you’ve seen the narration twist before, but the low-pH take on old friends who cling too tightly to bygone good times is excellent.
The padding is not as egregious as what you would find in Victorian ghost stories, and in the majority of the stories here, it gets over in spite of itself, but my favorite one is, as it happens, the shortest one, “Blind Man’s Buff.”It does that thing Stephen King does so well, using humor both to leaven and to amplify the terror by making it relatable.Fantastic work; I read that one twice in a row.
Well worth a try if you find it at a secondhand store; just skip the weak ones (you’ll know them right off).
Tags: books ghost stories Stephen King
Do they have any of M.R. James’ “Ghost stories of an antiquary” in there? I read those when I was in my 20s and they scared the bejeezus outta me.
There’s one, “The Diary of Mr Poynter,” which I thought was average.
I love that there are so many Britishisms in this post.
@ Karen:
M.R. James’s “Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” is one of my favorite spooky stories about laundry. Granted, it’s not a long list; fortunately, “Oh, Whistle” is scary enough to make up for the lack.
@Mike B, you nailed it. That is truly one of the creepiest ever.
Oo! Oo! Can I recommend ‘Dread and Delight: Century of Children’s Ghost Stories’ (Philippa Pearce, ed.) – another Oxford ghost story anthology. I think its out of print now, but its FANTASTIC.
Children’s Ghost stories can be so much scarier (and they do just get to the point.)
@ Mike B.: have you seen the BBC adaptation with Michael Hordern? Or any of their Ghost Stories for Christmas? They’re just lovely.
@ Karen:
“Oh, Whistle” taps into that nightmare motif of something evil inevitably approaching. I remember as a kid, having terrible dreams of something approaching from far off. Whatever it was, it never ran, there was no sense of hurry; I knew that no matter how far away I was able to get, it was still going to be relentlessly following me.
“Oh, Whistle” also smartly breaks up the tension with some truly funny writing. James interrupts the golf-course-convesation between Parkins and the Colonel to write, “(or whatever it might have been: the golfing reader will have to imagine appropriate digressions at the proper intervals).”
@ Saraah:
I never knew they filmed any of James’s stories — and, of course, I can’t find it on Netflix either.
@ Sarah Bunting:
There’s a very weird story by a man named Edward Lucas White called “Lukundoo” which I found very upsetting — in the middle of the day, mind you. There’s some casual racism which one could argue “time and place” for (it was written in 1927); however…well, the story itself might have figured a way to confront that racism. Anyway, I think it’s also very good and if it’s not in your collection, you can read it online above.
I read the Poynter story and found it sort of flatlinish, except for the beastie part. EWW. Would a big can of Nair have helped the dude, you think?
@Mike B: Oh, thank you too much, Mike B. I read the story yesterday, and I was all, Cute story, and scary, too. If I’d read it as a kid. At night.
So, last night, after I’m settled down … all alone … (not counting the cats, racing around the house on their nightly rounds) … counting every ping! against the windows, every stray *rustle* which doesn’t sound like a noise I’ve heard before … I was not a happy camper, I’m telling you.
So what else is on your laundry list?
As long as it doesn’t have the fucking Jolly Corner…I think I had to read that in like three different college classes and watch a TERRIBLE short film of it. If I didn’t hate Henry James before that…
Well, having happily shivered my way through a whole … um … laundry pile of James’s stories, I am now ready to have them turned into a limited television series. British, please, so that the period clothing is done correctly, and I can enjoy my goosebumps without being distracted. I reckon there are probably at least three British series’ worth of stories.
Okay, BBC, get cranking!