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Post by dem bones on Mar 8, 2010 18:43:37 GMT
Following on from the recent In a Glass Darkly thread: J. Sheridan Le Fanu - Madam Crowl's Ghost & Other Stories (Wordsworth Editions, 2008) Madam Crowl's Ghost Squire Toby's Will Dickon The Devil The Child That Went With The Fairies The White Cat Of Drumguinnol An Account Of Some Strange Disturbances In Aungiers Street Ghost Stories Of Chapelizod: The Village Bully: The Sexton's Adventure: Spectre Lovers Wicked Captain Walshawe Of Wauling Sir Dominick's Bargain Ultor de Lacy The Vision Of Tom Chuff Stories Of Lough Guir Blurb In 1888 Henry James wrote 'There was the customary novel by Mr Le Fanu for the bedside; the ideal reading in a country house for the hours after midnight'.
Madam Crowl's Ghost & Other Stories are tales selected from Le Fanu's stories which mostly appeared in The Dublin University Magazine and other periodicals, and their haunting, sinister qualities still have an enormous appeal for the modern reader.
The great M.R. James, who collected and introduces the stories in this book, considered that Le Fanu 'stands absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories.' Madam Crowl's Ghost: Old Mrs. Joliffe relates a terrifying incident from her youth when, as a thirteen year old, she first arrived at Appelwaite House to wait on Lady Arabella Crowl. Her ladyship, 93, dying and three-quarters demented is a handful and the servants often resort to the leather straitjacket to curb her excesses. In her youth she had been a beauty and caught the eye of the widowed Squire Crowl. After they were wed his son by his first marriage vanished presumed drowned on account of his hat being found by the lake. In reality, his fate was even grimmer and the secret is exposed when the mad old horror finally breathes her last. Wicked Captain Walshawe Of Wauling: The atrocious old rake is cursed by Molly Doyle, maidservant to his late wife Peg, after he disrupts the dead woman’s wake in typical fashion. His soul is trapped within a corpse candle until it burns down - which takes half a century. The spectre, when it finally puts in an appearance, is one of Le Fanu’s most hideous, spraying worms all over the place and generally making the wait worthwhile. This is great stuff, fully justifying its place in just about any compilation of Great Ghost Stories you care to mention. An Account Of Some Strange Disturbances In Aungiers Street Dublin. Medical students Tom and Dick take up residence in the house where the notorious Judge Horrocks hung himself from the balcony with a child's skipping rope while "temporarily insane", though from what we learn of his history, the coroner was more than generous with his application of the word "temporary". It's not long before the late hanging judge gets to play the starring role in their nightmares. Le Fanu trowels on the Gothic trappings. - a sinister portrait, phantom footsteps on the stairs, "the most monstrous grey rat I ever beheld or imagined", a bedroom whose occupants down the years have been driven to suicide, etc. - while the sadistic and lecherous Judge is a great credit to his profession.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 12, 2010 19:23:43 GMT
Sir Dominick's Bargain: Narrated by a hunch-backed old timer with a flair for the dramatic. Sir Dominick Sarsfield has been dead nigh on a century and the once grand Dunoran House is a derelict ruin. And you see that indelible mark on the masonry? that's where the Devil splattered his brain across the wall. In his time, Sir Dominick kept open house to the day's 24 Hour Party People and there was much gambling, drinking, skirt-chasing and "songs and stories that wouldn't do anyone good to hear" but came the evil hour when the money ran out and he took a walk into Murroa Wood, intent on hanging himself. Instead, he found a handsome fellow waiting under a tree and immediately recognised him for who he was. The Devil put his cards on the table. He would serve Sir Dominick faithfully until the last day of February seven years hence, in return for his mortal soul. After taking advantage of the generous month's free trial, Sir Dominick made the pact, but for all that his wealth and good fortune improved dramatically, he couldn't enjoy it for the dark cloud hanging over him. So, at close of the sixth year, he confessed to a Priest who in turn referred him to a wise Bishop. The Bishop's advice was to adopt a pious existence, at least until the seven years were up, and perhaps he would cheat the Devil yet. When the day he'd dreaded for so long came and went, Sir Dominick, understandably euphoric, threw another of his infamous parties in celebration. But he'd overlooked one hugely significant detail ...
i'm usually wary of 'Pact with the Devil' stories because you might read a "humorous" one by mistake (hero comes up with a clever trick, outwits comedy Devil, keeps his soul, etc.) No such worries here - the hunchback even throws in a spoiler early on to reassure you it will all end horribly.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 15, 2010 16:55:18 GMT
Ghost Stories Of Chapelizod: The Village Bully: The odious Bully Larkin is handy with his fists as he frequently demonstrates by goading smaller men into fights and mercilessly wiping the floor with them. Lean Ned Moran, a skinny nineteen year old, puts himself up top of Larkin's 'to do' list when he flirts with a buxom girl the Bully has designs on. The ensuing mismatch ends with Ned beaten to a bloody pulp, many of the blows landed while he is already unconscious. His injuries are such that it's almost a mercy when consumption puts an end to him before the year is out, whereupon Dead Ned rises from the grave to settle the score. A touch of the Tales From The Crypt's a century early about this one. The Sexton's Adventure: When his friend and generous patron, publican Phil Slaney, put a gun in his mouth and blew off the top of his skull, Bob Martin, sexton, notorious blaggard and boozer, turned over a new leaf and swore off the bottle. His resolve is tested when, passing Phil's old pub after dark on his way home from the curate's, he's waylaid by a shadowy figure waving a whisky bottle in his direction ... Spectre Lovers: Adventure of Peter Brien, an affable loafer much given to drinking, love-making and wrestling, who encounters a phantom regiment as he crosses the bridge on his way home from the pub. Peter falls in with a soldier who promises him easy money if he'll run a simple errand. Together they visit the soldier's lover, a study in anguish and grief, and something about the pair fills Peter with terror. It's the woman who sets him his task - "bring my lost treasure to the graveyard" - but one sight of this 'treasure' is enough to send Peter fleeing the house like a shot. When next he's regained his senses, the town has returned to normal and he's lying between two piles of rubbish in the ruins of the house.
News of his adventure spreads through Chapelizod. A grandmother recalls a scandal from her childhood involving wicked Captain Devereaux of the Royal Irish.
Dickon The Devil: Another cracking read. Le Fanu seems to have had a fondness for ancient hunchbacks - in this instance, he's the sexton. Barwyke Hall, Pendle ("which Mr. Ainsworth's Lancashire Witches has made us so pleasantly familiar with."). In life, Squire Bowes was a lovely chap but since then he's been an absolute rotter. In the twenty years he's been dead, his estate has run to ruin and that entirely down to his spectral intervention. The Squire died without making a will and his properties were passed on to the Misses Dymocks "and he never meant that they should have a foot o' ground in Barwyke". So when the ladies set to grazing the land, he roams the fields, gently laying a ghostly hand upon the pigs with the result that they fall ill and die. It's to be wondered what would happen if he did the same to a human being, and that's where the unfortunate village lunatic, Dickon Pyke comes into the story ....
The Child That Went With The Fairies: Slieveelim Hills, East of Limerick. While out playing with his brother and sister, little Billy Ryan is enticed aboard the fairies coach by a beautiful lady and her companion, a rather frightening woman in black, and whisked away up the mountain of Lisnavoura. There's something very Carmilla about the travelling companions, the elder of whom just stops short of licking her lips and drooling "pick him, the nice juicy one!", and, despite the familiarity of the story, Le Fanu commendably breaks with tradition by spurning the mother-and-son-in-tearful-reunion happy ending.
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Post by cw67q on Mar 16, 2010 10:04:04 GMT
On Chapelizod, and in the tradition of Le Fanu, has anyone here read Brian Showers' excellent "the Bleeding Horse and other Ghost Stories" which is set in the same Dublin parish?
If not highly recommended with the following tip, read the stories in order.
- Chris
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Post by Johnlprobert on Apr 6, 2010 14:50:03 GMT
Chris - I met the very pleasant Mr Showers at WHC where I obtained a copy of The Bleeding Horse. It's now on my reading pile, which is currently so big I need to find a spare couple of years to get through it.
Anyway,
Madam Crowl's Ghost - What Mr D said above, basically. What I will add is that the image of the old lady gliding forward, claws outstretched, is superbly creepy, and I wonder if it might have been the inspiration for a similar shot in the Drop of Water episode of Mario Bava's Black Sabbath? (I know the credits say the screenplay was based on stories by Gogol, De Maupassant et al but I have also read that that credit was made up to lend the movie gravitas)
Squire Toby's Will - Squire Toby Marston dies, leaving all his estate to the younger of his two sons - 'Handsome Charlie'. Ugly hunchbacked elder brother Scroope (there's a Dickensian name if I ever heard one) gets nothing but after a nasty fall renders Handsome Charlie into Limping, Wandering the Grounds and Decidedly Bitter Charlie, he starts to be visited in his dreams by a strange dog-like creature (the story's scariest bit if you ask me) that points the way to a new will that left everything to Scroope. What's Charlie to do, other than get haunted a lot, especially after Scroope kicks the bucket as well.
Dickon the Devil - What Mr D said. I'll just add that Squire Bowes reminded me of an extremely evil version of Patrick Wymark from Blood on Satan's Claw
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Post by Johnlprobert on Apr 7, 2010 5:57:42 GMT
The Child That Went With The Fairies and
The White Cat Of Drumguinnol
come across as retellings of old Irish folk legends. In the first a little boy gets taken away by two women in a coach and intermittently returns for a while before vanishing forever. The White Cat is a forewarning of death and the tale behind it (sorry) is recounted and as usual it's a story of spurned love & revenge. Unless you're into these sorts of wistful rustic items I would even venture to say that these two are (gasp!) missable, which could definitely not be said of,
An Account Of Some Strange Disturbances In Aungiers Street
Old Mr L F is back on track here with a seriously creepy gothic, featuring a great nasty ghost and some properly scary imagery. I won't add anymore to what Dem's put above but I read this three times just to savour the good bits.
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Post by cw67q on Apr 7, 2010 16:39:47 GMT
Glad to hear you picked up Brian's collection John, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. The stories have a cumulative effect and build on each other nicely. I can't belive you are writing off "the Child that went with the Faeries" though, I think it one of LeFanu's best. Streets ahead of the other folksy tales e.g. "White Cat" which I agree are not as memorable. But tCtwwtF is a poinant, unsettling tale. Even if you don't agree with that, you must admit that tCtwwtF is amongst literatures great acronyms. - Chris
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Post by Johnlprobert on Apr 8, 2010 6:58:59 GMT
Chris - thanks for that. I do sometimes read stories under less than ideal circumstances (the three above are a case in point and I read Account again when I got home because it was too good not to revisit once the sun had gone down).
I'll definitely revisit Child, along with other Le Fanu stories I want to read again, when I tackle the Ash-Tree set.
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Post by Johnlprobert on May 11, 2010 13:52:41 GMT
Wicked Captain Walshawe Of Wauling - See Mr D's review above. This is a cracking tale with an opening couple of crisply witty paragraphs that makes me think Mr LeFanu & I would have got on very well indeed. The ghost is indeed worth the wait but the whole tale is witty, scary and atmospheric. Top marks
Sir Dominick's Bargain - Another classic, and a tale where I think I actually enjoyed the first couple of pages of scene setting (ythe narrator's ramble around the house, the deliciously scary countryside) more than the 'scary bits'. Again as Mr D has mentioned, it's a story with a twist, some blood and brains on a wall, and a decent ending
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Post by ohthehorror on Jul 10, 2016 19:18:24 GMT
Here's my edition, Warning: rant incoming!
Madam Crowl's Ghost - I have to ask myself when reading stories like this if writing out the accent in full in this manner is absolutely necessary. Whatever I may think of the story itself, that god-forsaken accent just took all the enjoyment out of it for me. It must have taken me a couple of hours to read this relatively short story, and by the end of it I felt like I'd scaled Everest. Could he not have just said, '...and she had a weird accent.', or some-such?
The story itself wasn't bad, though I wouldn't class it as one of the best I've read(I've not read a fantastic amount of ghost stories though, so...). Dem's review above is a perfect little snapshot of the story itself, I just wanted to rant a little about my hatred for writing accents out in full. Maybe it's more common in these older stories?
On a brighter note, someone else above mentioned the wonderful imagery the writer manages to instill in the reader, and I'm a sucker for good old creepy, ghostly atmosphere which always seems to be done so well in these older stories. It's just a shame for me that it was all overshadowed by that damnable accent.
rant over.
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Post by ropardoe on Jul 10, 2016 21:30:49 GMT
Here's my edition, Warning: rant incoming!
Madam Crowl's Ghost - I have to ask myself when reading stories like this if writing out the accent in full in this manner is absolutely necessary. Whatever I may think of the story itself, that god-forsaken accent just took all the enjoyment out of it for me. It must have taken me a couple of hours to read this relatively short story, and by the end of it I felt like I'd scaled Everest. Could he not have just said, '...and she had a weird accent.', or some-such?
The story itself wasn't bad, though I wouldn't class it as one of the best I've read(I've not read a fantastic amount of ghost stories though, so...). Dem's review above is a perfect little snapshot of the story itself, I just wanted to rant a little about my hatred for writing accents out in full. Maybe it's more common in these older stories?
On a brighter note, someone else above mentioned the wonderful imagery the writer manages to instill in the reader, and I'm a sucker for good old creepy, ghostly atmosphere which always seems to be done so well in these older stories. It's just a shame for me that it was all overshadowed by that damnable accent.
rant over.
Certainly no need to apologise for the rant. I for one am with you all the way: I dislike stories written in dialect. It's very possible to imply a character's accent and dialect with just the occasional distinctive turn of phrase, in a way which doesn't interfere with one's reading.
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Post by ripper on Jul 11, 2016 18:18:31 GMT
I'm in agreement on dialect being toned down. If it is too obtrusive it puts me off.
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Post by jamesdoig on Jul 11, 2016 21:32:21 GMT
I for one am with you all the way: I dislike stories written in dialect. Like those godawful John Buchan stories.
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Post by pulphack on Jul 12, 2016 7:06:51 GMT
Irvine Welsh and James Kelman - no-one's mentioned them as they're modern and it's supposed to be authentic and lit if it's Scots as it's like, legitimising the working classes, like - but it's still an eyestrain.
Harry Stephen Keeler - oh gawd, so many dialects, all of them equally incomprehensible!
As it happens, to go back to Welsh and Kelman, they get praise like it's a new thing, but it's as old as the hills (well, those ones with books). How many books have we all read from say 1875- 1939 that have this problem? And even after, some older writers still indulged themselves.
And don't get me on to Sydney Horler's habit of having characters relate a synopsis of the story so far just so he can do it in dialect!
However, the worst culprit for me was Jan Stewer, who seemed to be immensely popular and prolific for Herbert Jenkins between the wars, writing in Cornish dialect and phonetic accents! I have seen his books, flicked through them, but have never been brave enough to buy - I think I'd be a gibbering wreck by the end (I heard that 'who'd notice?', Dem...).
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jul 12, 2016 9:15:15 GMT
Charles Dickens is a major culprit. Some of his characters are completely incomprehensible.
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