|
Post by helrunar on Jan 8, 2020 16:00:25 GMT
Shane Leslie, "A Laugh on the Professor," as the title suggests, is in essence a comic sketch. Unlike most of the other entries in the book, it does feature an actual spectral apparition with some lovely details. This story is also noted for a brief reference to the
famous draughts on A-Z staircase but I add, in case of arousing false expectation, that it was not the staircase which was rumoured to possess a ghost. I need not tell that story which has inspired Dr M. R. James with one of his most ghastly ghost-stories. Indeed, as it was a college ghost, it could never be published and I will not tell it now.
Shane Leslie was born in 1885 so he may have actually known Dr James... too bad he didn't write out that tale. I'm not quick enough on the uptake to figure out from his broadly dropped hint just which of the stories was inspired by the ghost on the college staircase. The "college" was at Cambridge but which one remains obscure to me.
Elizabeth Taylor "Poor Girl" shows superior writing and psychological depth. It seems to be a rare case of a haunting from the future, rather than the past. At least, that was how I connected the dots left for the reader to ponder at the end of the story. A governess with a shabby-genteel background finds difficulty in handling her precocious young pupil Hilary... and then one day, the schoolroom is filled with that strange, heavy perfume which proves not to be the result of the house-maid dousing herself with cheap scent. Further difficulties ensue... poor girl.
This story and Rosemary Timperley's "Harry" are bright notes in an otherwise rather unsatisfactory tapestry... both tales suggest how surprisingly novel a book devoted to ghost stories involving children could have been, with more authors and more stories such as these.
H.
|
|
|
Post by humgoo on Jan 8, 2020 18:09:48 GMT
Shane Leslie was born in 1885 so he may have actually known Dr James[...] Leslie knew MRJ at Cambridge, and intended to write a (sort of) biography of him, but didn't finish it. You can find his oft-repeated quote about MRJ on the G&S website (at the top).
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Jan 11, 2020 14:37:58 GMT
I finished the book--the only decent tale in the final group of stories was Angus Wilson's "Animals or Human Beings," which R Chetwynd-Hayes reprinted in Welsh Tales of Terror. (Another story from the volume appeared in Scottish Tales of Terror, edited by RCH under the nom de theatre of Angus Campbell--John Connell's "The House in the Glen." I thought it was sentimental rubbish.)
The contributions from Eileen Bigland and Lady Cynthia herself seemed as if they had been reprinted from a women's mag of the period. In fact, Lady Cynthia's tale read as if it had been written as a parody of typical "slick" women's mag tosh. Unlike the majority of the stories which focused on children's encounters with spectral or supernatural phenomena, this one involved an unhappy woman's romantic displacement. It was told through letters which were written in a state of breathless hysteria and I found myself wondering if Cindy was sending up one of her friends. It seemed like a very peculiar choice with which to round out this volume.
I did enjoy reading most of the tales, but as commented previously, the interest was by and large historical and ethnographic--actual thrills were few and far between. Angus Wilson's story was a short, macabre little exercise in what used to be called black comedy... I haven't figured out yet just what we're calling it now. No ghosts involved.
H.
|
|
|
Post by Shrink Proof on Jun 28, 2020 8:34:22 GMT
Lady Cynthia Asquith (ed) - The Third Ghost Book (James Barrie, 1955: Pan, 1957) I just love this cover. Everytime I see it it makes me smile "Hello Sailor!"
|
|
|
Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 16, 2020 21:31:29 GMT
Elizabeth Jenkins -- "On no account, my love" If there was a point to this one, it evaded me. Glad I'm not the only one Helrunar! I've just read this in the Third Valancourt Book of Horror Stories - twice! And I still have no idea why the ending has 'chilling implications' as the introduction claims
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Dec 16, 2020 23:12:13 GMT
I've got the Valancourt, but couldn't remember the Elizabeth Jenkins story, so I've just reread it - also twice. I'm not sure either, but I'm guessing the message that Elizabeth got is supposed to be a genuine warning from her great-grandmother - if so, a warning about what? I'm thinking it's maybe a warning about controlling cousin Hero's plans for Elizabeth to "go abroad for a little while" (not revealed until the final sentence) - which Elizabeth may be too passive to resist. Maybe if (or when) she takes this trip abroad she is going to have some horrible accident or something?
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Dec 17, 2020 3:02:01 GMT
There are so many dud stories in the Ghost Books. So very many.
H.
|
|
|
Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 17, 2020 11:40:04 GMT
I've got the Valancourt, but couldn't remember the Elizabeth Jenkins story, so I've just reread it - also twice. I'm not sure either, but I'm guessing the message that Elizabeth got is supposed to be a genuine warning from her great-grandmother - if so, a warning about what? I'm thinking it's maybe a warning about controlling cousin Hero's plans for Elizabeth to "go abroad for a little while" (not revealed until the final sentence) - which Elizabeth may be too passive to resist. Maybe if (or when) she takes this trip abroad she is going to have some horrible accident or something? Thanks Dr S. I wondered if the 'greenish pale' look on the medium woman's face with her eyes closed and holding a blue canister was because she was dead / the old woman reincarnated / a ghost / still dead. None of which helps with the ending LOL
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Dec 17, 2020 11:59:14 GMT
Yes, I thought at first that Mrs Garnish might be dead, but then decided she was in one of her trances. I think "Hero" is the villain of the piece, though, one way or another - so much of the story is spent describing her, and how she likes to control everyone else's lives. But it's all guesswork, which doesn't really make the story any better.
|
|
|
Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 17, 2020 19:55:31 GMT
Although it pains me no end to admit it, I am as baffled by "On No Account, My Love" as everyone else here. Here is somebody, however, who was apparently shocked by the last sentence of the story: www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2017/06/the-third-ghost-book-ed-lady-cynthia.htmlWhat the hell are we missing? Does it have to do with the narrator apparently knowing what goes on in her cousin's mind?
|
|
|
Post by cauldronbrewer on Dec 17, 2020 20:19:53 GMT
I just read "On No Account, My Love" and have no insights to offer, other than that it's full of puzzle pieces that don't seem to add up to any picture and that Elizabeth Jenkins evidently had a thing against paragraph breaks.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Dec 17, 2020 21:59:29 GMT
Thanks, Jojo, for the link. Interesting comments. I honestly don't recall anything about the Jenkins story at this point and I gave the book away, so can't even go through the motions of reading the thing again--I doubt it would do any good, regardless.
The blog writer seems to frighten easily. I thought "Poor girl" was a neatly turned, well-composed exposition of an unusual idea. I wouldn't call it flat-out creepy or disturbing. Perhaps I do not rattle all that readily.
H.
|
|