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Post by Michael Connolly on Oct 13, 2018 11:44:45 GMT
I suspect that the true face of Ghosts & Scholars is, was, and ever shall be (as should be hoped considering its inspiration) a horrible, an intensely horrible, face of crumpled linen... That's no way to describe your esteemed editor - I know I'm getting on a bit!!! Is this the face of the Lurker when he was young? He's a famous author that I found online.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 13, 2018 15:42:36 GMT
Articles.
First up, The Watermelon and the Hatstand is Mark Valentine - an author whose work I've sometimes struggled with - dissecting choice Robert Aickman stories - ditto - and finding certain of them wanting. The volume in question is Dark Entries and, if I understand him correctly, the gist of Mr. V's attack is that he believes Aickman used random surrealistic flourishes to bestow his work an illusion of depth while cleverly distracting from an absence of substance. Showy conjurers tricks. Emperors new clothes, etc. It is a most provocative piece, wonderfully incongruous in these surroundings (Mark so nearly makes it through three pages without mentioning M. R. James until Ringing The Changes trips him up). "Readers have been inclined to suppose that Robert must be deep, and to think that they must be insufficiently intelligent or sensitive if they don't get it." To be fair, it's The School Friend comes in for much of the flak. He's as taken with Ringing The Changes as (I suspect) the majority of ghost story readers.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 13, 2018 19:26:33 GMT
Pete Bell's The Jamesian Elliott O'Donnell? is a pleasant surprise in that it is very complimentary about the ontroversial Ghost Hunter extraordinaire. Mr. Bell concentrates on three pieces from Scottish Ghost Stories: at time of writing have not [yet] read The Top Attic but The Death-Bogle at the Crossroads - reprinted in Casebook Of Ghosts and the Great Ghost Stories omnibus - is bloody marvellous, and the account of "the Monster of Glamis" in action is like something out of the early Not At Night's! Personally, I neither know nor care whether these stories are "true," or "Jamesian," or whatever - they're just a wonderful read, full stop. Mr. Bell argues - convincingly - that O'Donnell's spectres (in these stories) and considerable flair for escalation of dread are not so far removed from the MRJ approach, whatever the latter might have thought of his work.
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 14, 2018 14:45:33 GMT
Articles. First up, The Watermelon and the Hatstand is Mark Valentine - an author whose work I've sometimes struggled with - dissecting choice Robert Aickman stories - ditto - and finding certain of them wanting. The volume in question is Dark Entries and, if I understand him correctly, the gist of Mr. V's attack is that he believes Aickman used random surrealistic flourishes to bestow his work an illusion of depth while cleverly distracting from an absence of substance. Showy conjurers tricks. Emperors new clothes, etc. It is a most provocative piece, wonderfully incongruous in these surroundings (Mark so nearly makes it through three pages without mentioning M. R. James until Ringing The Changes trips him up). "Readers have been inclined to suppose that Robert must be deep, and to think that they must be insufficiently intelligent or sensitive if they don't get it." To be fair, it's The School Friend comes in for much of the flak. He's as taken with Ringing The Changes as (I suspect) the majority of ghost story readers. I must admit I have often wondered this myself about Aickman's stories.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 14, 2018 15:38:37 GMT
Articles. First up, The Watermelon and the Hatstand is Mark Valentine - an author whose work I've sometimes struggled with - dissecting choice Robert Aickman stories - ditto - and finding certain of them wanting. The volume in question is Dark Entries and, if I understand him correctly, the gist of Mr. V's attack is that he believes Aickman used random surrealistic flourishes to bestow his work an illusion of depth while cleverly distracting from an absence of substance. Showy conjurers tricks. Emperors new clothes, etc. It is a most provocative piece, wonderfully incongruous in these surroundings (Mark so nearly makes it through three pages without mentioning M. R. James until Ringing The Changes trips him up). "Readers have been inclined to suppose that Robert must be deep, and to think that they must be insufficiently intelligent or sensitive if they don't get it." To be fair, it's The School Friend comes in for much of the flak. He's as taken with Ringing The Changes as (I suspect) the majority of ghost story readers. I must admit I have often wondered this myself about Aickman's stories. That paragraph in full: An editor's note at close of the piece advises Pete Bell will offer a different view on The School Friend in G&S 35.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 14, 2018 20:46:54 GMT
I must admit I have often wondered this myself about Aickman's stories. That paragraph in full: An editor's note at close of the piece advises Pete Bell will offer a different view on The School Friend in G&S 35. I think Aickman would agree that the bigger fool is the one who goes looking for "meaning" in art in the first place. The purpose of art is to provoke emotional reactions that cannot be had in any other way, not to convey secret messages.
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Post by ropardoe on Oct 15, 2018 8:08:33 GMT
Articles. First up, The Watermelon and the Hatstand is Mark Valentine - an author whose work I've sometimes struggled with - dissecting choice Robert Aickman stories - ditto - and finding certain of them wanting. The volume in question is Dark Entries and, if I understand him correctly, the gist of Mr. V's attack is that he believes Aickman used random surrealistic flourishes to bestow his work an illusion of depth while cleverly distracting from an absence of substance. Showy conjurers tricks. Emperors new clothes, etc. It is a most provocative piece, wonderfully incongruous in these surroundings (Mark so nearly makes it through three pages without mentioning M. R. James until Ringing The Changes trips him up). "Readers have been inclined to suppose that Robert must be deep, and to think that they must be insufficiently intelligent or sensitive if they don't get it." To be fair, it's The School Friend comes in for much of the flak. He's as taken with Ringing The Changes as (I suspect) the majority of ghost story readers. Is it really that incongruous? G&S concerns itself with Jamesian writers/stories, not just MRJ. And "The School Friend" has long been on the James Gang List as one of Aickman's most Jamesian stories. Also, I like to be provocative - G&S doesn't get enough of it in my opinion. (I must confess I haven't read the actual story myself, not being much of an Aickman fan!)
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Post by Michael Connolly on Oct 15, 2018 12:39:36 GMT
Articles. First up, The Watermelon and the Hatstand is Mark Valentine - an author whose work I've sometimes struggled with - dissecting choice Robert Aickman stories - ditto - and finding certain of them wanting. The volume in question is Dark Entries and, if I understand him correctly, the gist of Mr. V's attack is that he believes Aickman used random surrealistic flourishes to bestow his work an illusion of depth while cleverly distracting from an absence of substance. Showy conjurers tricks. Emperors new clothes, etc. It is a most provocative piece, wonderfully incongruous in these surroundings (Mark so nearly makes it through three pages without mentioning M. R. James until Ringing The Changes trips him up). "Readers have been inclined to suppose that Robert must be deep, and to think that they must be insufficiently intelligent or sensitive if they don't get it." To be fair, it's The School Friend comes in for much of the flak. He's as taken with Ringing The Changes as (I suspect) the majority of ghost story readers. Is it really that incongruous? G&S concerns itself with Jamesian writers/stories, not just MRJ. And "The School Friend" has long been on the James Gang List as one of Aickman's most Jamesian stories. Also, I like to be provocative - G&S doesn't get enough of it in my opinion. (I must confess I haven't read the actual story myself, not being much of an Aickman fan!) I haven't read the article yet. It looks like I'll be agreeing with Mark Valentine about the pretentious Mr Aickman.
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Post by peeedeel on Oct 17, 2018 9:05:22 GMT
That paragraph in full: An editor's note at close of the piece advises Pete Bell will offer a different view on The School Friend in G&S 35. I think Aickman would agree that the bigger fool is the one who goes looking for "meaning" in art in the first place. The purpose of art is to provoke emotional reactions that cannot be had in any other way, not to convey secret messages. So very true.
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