|
Post by Dr Strange on Jul 12, 2019 16:35:50 GMT
The Valancourt paperback only set me back 12 quid from Am*z*n. According to the blurb on the back, it's "the first unabridged edition of Keir Cross's landmark collection in over 70 years".
|
|
|
Post by humgoo on Jul 12, 2019 17:00:28 GMT
According to the blurb on the back, it's "the first unabridged edition of Keir Cross's landmark collection in over 70 years". Yeah, as Hugh Lamb (whom Dem quotes above) says in the Star Book, "Various stories have appeared in anthologies ever since but the complete book has remained unobtainable for an unjustifiable time. Until some enterprising publisher reissues this classic collection, here is yet another story from it [...]".
Lamb wrote this in 1975. Valancourt, who are always enterprising and the best thing since sliced bread for us, republished it in 2017, at last. (I confess I am yet to buy a copy, due to its literary reputation (I'm usually like, "Give me either MRJ or Guy Preston, not de la Mare, please!"). But on the strength of your and other esteemed Vaulters' comments, I think I should rectify this as soon as possible.)
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Jul 15, 2019 14:11:43 GMT
I wouldn't say he is all that "literary" - I'd put him closer to Roald Dahl or John Collier than (say) Aickman or de la Mare. I'll also say at this point, having now read about three quarters of the stories, that he's probably one of those authors best appreciated in small doses: Stories that, in themselves, may be fine are a lot less satisfying when you've read two or three in a row that repeat the same basic themes and ideas. I was also a bit disappointed to find out that very few of these stories have any supernatural elements at all, most being variations of conte cruels, often with the same semi-humorous tone. He's also a bit predictable in his choice of victims for these - they are usually either (a) stupid, working-class non-entities or (b) pretentious, middle-class, "artistic" types. In fact, he can sometimes come across as a bit of a snob.
A few more summaries -
Absence of Mind - A dull-witted woman may or may not have absent-mindedly made off with some jewellery from a London department store. Not ashamed to admit I had to google the phrase "agenbite of inwit", which was casually dropped into the opening paragraph. Also not, by any stretch, a "horror" story.
Hands - A schoolteacher loses his mind in a dull Scottish town. Memorably horrible ending.
Another Planet - subtitled "A Romance", the lives of two young lovers are utterly destroyed in less than three pages. Relentlessly bleak and cynical.
Liebestraum - More misery in a small Scottish town when a dull, unfulfilled, 40-something widower becomes infatuated with a pretty teenaged girl.
Miss Thing and the Surrealists - Another dig at Bohemian "artistic" types, "Miss Thing" is Kolensky's "big Surrealist gesture" - a collection of wax-work body parts scattered about his studio, protruding from walls or serving as flower vases or chair legs. Madness ensues.
Valdemosa - Sorry, I've no idea what this was about, except it has something to do with the relationship between Chopin and George Sand. Seems out of place here, unless I missed something.
Amateur Gardening - A man with "literary ambitions" fulfills his dream of chucking in his dull, dead-end job and going to live in a country cottage with a garden; unfortunately for him, he also has to deal with the inconvenience of his ex-fiancee having got herself chopped up by a mad axe-murderer.
The Little House - A travelling insurance agent learns about the evils of money after spending the night in a miserable Scottish boarding house.
Esmeralda - A man in an unhappy, childless marriage fantasises about having a perfect little daughter called Esmeralda. After he murders his wife and buries her in the cellar, Esmeralda turns up at his door.
Music, When Soft Voices Die - The story of two strangely decorated African drums, up for auction following the death of the last of the infamously cruel and violent Black Erskine family.
Cyclamen Brown - Conte cruel about a nightclub singer who always wears a mask.
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Jul 16, 2019 10:30:39 GMT
Two more, both of which I liked -
Couleur de Rose - After the older brother he has resented all his life finally goes away, a man starts to look at the world through rose-coloured glasses.
The Lovers - I've read this one before, and fairly recently. The narrator, a semi-literate Scotsman, thinks he saw a ghost when he was fixing the electrics in an old dark house - after he finishes his story, we know better.
|
|
|
Post by humgoo on Jul 16, 2019 13:59:16 GMT
I'd put him closer to Roald Dahl or John Collier than (say) Aickman or de la Mare. Dahl and Collier did you say? Then I can do it! Thanks a lot for the tips, Dr Strange. (I don't know why I had this author sorted into the LITERARY! BEWARE! RED FLAG! category in my mind. I wronged him, I guess!)
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jul 16, 2019 19:22:07 GMT
It's been ages since I read the truncated Ballantine version, but recall being particularly impressed by Music When Soft Voices Die, The Glass Eye, and The Lovers. Eventually came to appreciate the title story, too, after detesting it as unspeakable pretentious wank on first acquaintance. Will have to re-read Hands as that's another I rated but can remember nothing about. This new Valancourt edition is a tempting proposition ....
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Jul 17, 2019 11:08:54 GMT
It's been ages since I read the truncated Ballantine version, but recall being particularly impressed by Music When Soft Voices Die, The Glass Eye, and The Lovers. Eventually came to appreciate the title story, too, after detesting it as unspeakable pretentious wank on first acquaintance. Will have to re-read Hands as that's another I rated but can remember nothing about. This new Valancourt edition is a tempting proposition .... I'd go along with those 3 as probably being my favourites from the Ballantine selection. (Though I haven't read the title story yet.) Of the stories not in the Ballantine, there's maybe another 3 that really stood out for me - Petronella Pan (for its EC-style humour), Couleur de Rose (for its gut-punch ending), and Esmeralda (for going to a place I didn't expect it to - and almost wished it hadn't).
|
|
|
Post by mcannon on Jul 17, 2019 12:56:41 GMT
It's been ages since I read the truncated Ballantine version, but recall being particularly impressed by Music When Soft Voices Die, The Glass Eye, and The Lovers. Eventually came to appreciate the title story, too, after detesting it as unspeakable pretentious wank on first acquaintance. Will have to re-read Hands as that's another I rated but can remember nothing about. This new Valancourt edition is a tempting proposition .... I read most of the ebook version about three months ago in the course of a two week holiday / road trip up the New South Wales north coast, enroute to a family wedding in Queensland. The pleasures of gorgeous scenery, fine weather, pleasant reunions with some old friends along the way, and excellent food, wine and beer were nicely counterbalanced by the abject pain and misery of many the Cross stories. Excellent stuff! Mark
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Jul 18, 2019 10:35:24 GMT
Well, I read the title story last night, and it didn't really do it for me. A doppelganger story, very alike other doppelganger stories. Some of the previous stories in this collection briefly mention "The Other Passenger" in passing, as some abstract concept that is never actually explained (one story even refers to an author called "Keir Cross" having written about it), and so I thought this might pull some of those earlier threads together - but it didn't really. Also, turns out The Glass Eye was adapted for TV for "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" in 1957, with roles for Jessica Tandy, Tom Conway and William Shatner - there's a long article about it with some stills here: barebonesez.blogspot.com/2012/07/shatner-meets-hitchcock-part-one-alfred.html
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Oct 20, 2019 11:02:47 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on May 18, 2020 20:48:04 GMT
If you are interested, the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode based on "The Glass Eye" is here - www.dailymotion.com/video/x54o1itIt's not great TV, but it is faithful to the original story.
|
|
|
Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 25, 2021 21:01:13 GMT
Amateur Gardening - A man with "literary ambitions" fulfills his dream of chucking in his dull, dead-end job and going to live in a country cottage with a garden; unfortunately for him, he also has to deal with the inconvenience of his ex-fiancee having got herself chopped up by a mad axe-murderer. I found this story quite incomprehensible. And they say Aickman is opaque . . .
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Dec 25, 2021 22:34:22 GMT
Amateur Gardening - A man with "literary ambitions" fulfills his dream of chucking in his dull, dead-end job and going to live in a country cottage with a garden; unfortunately for him, he also has to deal with the inconvenience of his ex-fiancee having got herself chopped up by a mad axe-murderer. I found this story quite incomprehensible. And they say Aickman is opaque . . . I think... {Spoiler}the narrator is the actual murderer. He either managed to frame the other guy, or just got lucky with the police fingering the wrong person. I can't see any other way that the head could have ended up in his garden.
|
|
|
Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 26, 2021 14:54:08 GMT
I found this story quite incomprehensible. And they say Aickman is opaque . . . I think... {Spoiler}the narrator is the actual murderer. He either managed to frame the other guy, or just got lucky with the police fingering the wrong person. I can't see any other way that the head could have ended up in his garden. Does "Dennis" even exist? We shall never know.
|
|
|
Post by weirdmonger on Aug 31, 2022 17:53:09 GMT
COULEUR DE ROSE by John Keir Cross An arresting tale involving brotherly hatred, mother-love, a flute, a triumphant vindictive nursery rhyme sung loudly and the book that one of the brothers had published. And a pair of ROSE-TINTED GLASSES as illustrated by Bruce Angrave…
|
|