E. F. Benson - Visible And Invisible

[dem]

E. F. Benson - Visible And Invisible (Hutchinson, 1923)

And The Dead Spake
The Outcast
The Horror Horn
Machaon
Negotium Perambulans
At The Farmhouse
Inscrutable Decrees
The Gardener
Mr. Tilly's Seance
Mrs. Amworth
In The Tube
Roderick's Story

This copy was liberated by a wicked so and so from Pankhurst's Circulation Library in Bicester and eventually found it's way to sunny Aldgate and Brick Lane market in the naughty noughties - I wonder what adventures it had along the way? How many people read the first story and thought "Oh No! He's not going all science fiction on us, is he?" How many read the second and wondered how come anthologists ignore it in the rush to reprint Negotium Perambulans and Mrs Amworth? Was organising bridge parties really the limit of every genteel middle class family's concerns between the wars?

Turn to the back and Hutchinson have included a generous forty page catalogue of available titles and advertisements for True Story, Adventure Story, Mystery Story, Sovereign and their flagship magazine, Hutchinsons where many of Benson's best loved spook stories first appeared.

Anyhow:

"Among the collections of short stories, E. F. Benson's three volumes rank high, though to my mind he sins occasionally by stepping over the line of legitimate horridness. He is, however, blameless in this aspect as compared with some Americans (sic), who compile volumes called Not At Night and the like. They are merely nauseating, and it is very easy to be nauseating." - M. R. James, Some Remarks On Ghost Stories, The Bookman, Dec. 1929.

Thankfully, Benson doesn't seem to have taken too much notice of MRJ and continued writing extremely 'horrid' stories throughout his career, which was just as well. When he adopted a gentler touch, as in Machaon it doesn't really suit him.

And The Dead Spake: (Hutchinson’s Magazine, Oct 1922). Disappointingly sane scientist Sir James Horton invents a gramophone-like contraption which can read the molecules of the brain and reveal ones innermost secrets. When his housekeeper, Mrs. Gabriel - who was once acquitted of her husband's murder - is badly injured after a fall downstairs, Horton selflessly applies the apparatus to her head. Now we'll get the truth out of the old bat!

The Outcast: (Hutchinson’s Magazine, April 1922). Mrs. Bertha Acres, recently widowed, moves into a small, friendly Tarleton community and takes up residence in the the Gate-house. Her husband, Horace - a nasty piece of work, ten years her junior who confided to friends that he only married her for her money - shot himself within a month of them taking their vows, leaving the most dreadful suicide note.

Madge, the narrator Tony's wife, is the first to try and make the newcomer feel at home. But, as she later reports to her husband.

"I thought Mrs. Acres charming and witty and good-looking and friendly. What more could you ask from a new acquaintance? And then, after I invited her to dinner, I suddenly found, for no earthly reason, that I very much disliked her; I couldn't bear her."

As with Madge, so with everyone else. As much as they try, it seems no-one can stand to spend a second in this poor woman's company. While she's around, a cloud of gloom seems to descend on the neighbourhood, and it is some relief when they learn that she is taking a trip overseas. They treat news of her unexpected death aboard The Peshawer and subsequent burial at sea as a relief - until her body washes ashore in Tarleton. Madge is unfortunate enough to find it.

".... where the head was the sack was torn, and I saw her face. Her eyes were open, Tony ..... Oh, Tony! She's dead, isn't she? She won't come back to the Gate-house? Do you promise me? ... There's something awful! I wonder if I can guess. The sea gives her up. The sea won't suffer her to rest in it."

And not only the sea. When Tony throws a wreathe of freshly picked flowers on her grave, they wither and die before his eyes. Later, the coffin is burst open as though even the earth won't be contaminated by her presence ....

That's maybe spoiler enough for one post. If - like me - you thought he couldn't get any grimmer than The Face, try The Outcast. It is excellent.

Machaon: (Hutchinson’s Magazine, Jan 1923). Parkes, the narrator's faithful servant of twenty years, has cancer and it is not looking good for him until the seance. Speaking through the medium Mrs. Forrest, a benevolent Greek spectre suggests an alternative to surgery. Parkes survives. Moving swiftly on ....

At The Farmhouse: (Hutchinson’s Magazine, March 1923). John Aysford can no longer endure the misery of his marriage to the beautiful but permanently drunk Ellen, and having lured her to the farmhouse, he throttles her with whipcord and sets the building ablaze. Her ghost confronts him as he desperately tries to escape the inferno.

Mrs Amworth: (Hutchinson’s Magazine, June 1922). The village of Maxley, Suffolk, is roused from its slumbers with the advent of a very merry 45 year old widow, fresh back in England after a sojourn in India. Only one person doesn’t take the gregarious Mrs. Amworth - Mr. Urcombe, a retired professor with a deep interest in the occult who suspects there’s something of the night about her. When the residents begin falling ill and one young boy teeters on the brink of the grave, Urcombe confronts her. She is so angered by his accusation that she walks in front of a car. But a small thing like death isn’t going to stand in the way of her bloodlust.

To be continued ....

[lobolover]

I read a few.Would like to own this colection,any edition,I dont care, but sadly,he was NEVER published in my country-like L.P.Hartley, except his Go-Betweens,which I can find in so abundant measures I could build meself a Chateu.

Also,I didnt read much of M.R.J.,but being honest,from what ive seen of his coments on "SHiL" and "The King in yellow",I have to say he was kind of a wuss.When something as briliant and echoing with such deep briliancy of cosmic (SHUT UP,JAMES! ) horror,as "The repairer of reputations" gets by-passed with all the other wonderfull tales as "horrid" (and not in a good way),thn I have to question the mans judgement.Did he ever read anything from Shiel,I wonder.

[dem]

It seems James just had very definite ideas on what constitutes a great tale of the supernatural and, to him, that didn't include gratuitous sex scenes and mindless violence. Each to their own. You couldn't imagine him being overjoyed to read either of the following, but I thought they were terrific.

Inscrutable Decrees: (Hutchinson’s Magazine, April 1923). Lady Sybil Rorke of Lincote is yet another of Benson's very merry widows. Now nearing her thirtieth birthday, she's the belle of every London ball and a gifted medium to boot. So why would Archie unexpectedly break off his engagement to such a creature when he's carried a torch for her all these years? His opinion of her is changed forever when, during an impromptu seance, Sybil inadvisedly materialises the ghost of Ellen Davenport, a little girl who went missing after a visit to Lidcote and the spectral child denounces her for a sadist.

The Horror Horn: (Hutchinson’s Magazine, Sept. 1922). "I looked on a countenance the sensual and malevolent bestiality of which froze me with horror ..."

Alpine adventurer Professor Ingram and his guide were the first men to conquer the Ungerheuerhorn but very nearly didn't survive to tell the tale. Prior to his expedition, Ingram had laughed off tales of the bestial, hairy pygmies who inhabit its caves, ever seeking men and women to abduct and rape, but not now.

The narrator, Ingram's cousin, bemoans the fact that the Professor didn't do more to secure one of these creatures for scientific research .... until, lost in the woods, he encounters a female of the species playing with her food.

[lobolover]

Oh,ive read the Horror Horn a while back,quite nice.

[dem]

Negotium Perambulans ....: " (as Visible and Invisible, Hutchinson’s Magazine, Nov. 1922) "... and him that had been a great burly man was withered to a bag o' skin, for the critter had drained all the blood from him."

Polearm, an isolated fishing village in Western Cornwall. A panel in the church depicts a priest stood at the lychgate brandishing a crucifix at the huge caterpillar-cum-slug-like entity, "the pestilence that walketh in darkness", reputed to have destroyed at least two Godless men. Now John Evans, a likeable artist who grew up at the rectory, moves into the cursed Quarry-house. In no time he's cultivated a serious Whiskey habit and his paintings take a turn for the monstrous. The narrator is present to witness his terrible doom.

A horror masterpiece and no mistake. My tiny criticism is that Evans and the previous victim might have attempted something worse than hitting the bottle and skipping church to warrant their deplorable fate? Chetwynd-Hayes borrowed heavily from this for his mighty Looking For Something To Suck. And I suspect he may have found his inspiration for Madame Orloff in:

Mr. Tilly’s Séance: (Munsey’s, Dec 1922). Walking along Hyde Park Corner, Mr. Tilly slips off the pavement and straight under the wheels of an oncoming traction engine. His splitting headache soon passes, leaving him feeling "extremely comfortable ... [he] had the most pleasant consciousness of buoyancy and freedom" (Death often comes as a friend in Benson's fiction). On seeing his poor body mashed into the road, Tllly's first regret is that he shall miss Mrs. Cumberbatch's séance. Or will he? He soon realises that he has only to think of a destination to arrive there, and after checking on his servants - he doesn't much care for what he hears about himself - he slips over to West Norfolk Street, where the remarkable medium is already running through her routine. Mrs. Cumberbatch, who, despite conducting her sessions from an antique chair which had once belonged to Madame Blavatsky, is not above manufacturing a spirit guide when none is forthcoming, recognises Mr. Tilley as her passport to fame and fortune in a competitive industry. Will he allow himself to be used for such dubious purpose?

In the Tube: (Hutchinson’s Magazine, Dec. 1922). Anthony Carling, gifted psychic, watches in horror as the stranger he shared a carriage with throws himself off the platform and under an oncoming train. Amazingly, nobody else notices the terrible tragedy. The following night, Carling attends a party where he's introduced to Sir Henry Payle, who he immediately recognises as the suicide from the previous night. But Sir Henry insists that he only arrived in London this morning. He is a deeply troubled man. Lady Payle is refusing to grant him the divorce that will free him to marry the woman he loves, and he's growing more desperate by the hour ...

[dem]

Stephen Sparrier The Gardener, The Great Book Of Thrillers

The Gardener: (Hutchinson’s Magazine, May 1923). Despite everything, EFB "enthusiastically" accepts yet another invitation from Typhoid Mary's Hugh & Margaret Grainger to spend Christmas with them at their latest rented property. The house is annexed by a whitewashed gardener's cottage, long vacant due to a grisly murder and suicide. While the gents work on their golf handicaps, Margaret plays with her planchette.

Roderick’s Story: Hutchinson’s Magazine), Aug. 1922). "No proper person fusses about death. That's a train which we all are sure to catch. It always waits for you.". Recently diagnosed with hear disease, Roderick's thoughts have taken a morbid turn (that was him talking a moment ago), so EFB invites him down to his new place at Tilling for the usual golf and newspapers. Roderick is delighted. This was the very house where, threw years ago, he attended the love of his life, Margaret, on her death bed. The occasion provided him with the happiest moment of his life and an unshakable belief that death will be a better place. Could just me a case of me growing soft in my twilight years, but I'd rank this alongside The Friend In The Garden as among Benson's best - and most beautiful - ghost stories. There's a lovely interlude where Roderick gives his appraisal of Visible & Invisible. "Roddie"s damning verdict seems to be in keeping with Benson's own. If true, he was unduly harsh on himself. Each of his collections are class, but he was on a roll in the early 'twenties and Visible & Invisible may well be the most consistently rewarding of all.

[mcannon]

>>Despite everything, EFB "enthusiastically" accepts yet another invitation from Typhoid Mary's Hugh & Margaret Grainger to spend Christmas with them at their latest rented property. The house is annexed by a whitewashed gardener's cottage, long vacant due to a grisly murder and suicide. While the gents work on their golf handicaps, Margaret plays with her planchette. >>

I've also been working my way through the Wordsworth collection over the last few months, and if one thing is clear, its that Benson certainly did enjoy his golf. Having spent a few years of my youth living directly across the road from a golf course, it seems more suitable for low comedy than for horror - although I do recall a couple of nasty shocks from stray balls smashing against my bedroom window.

So forget the question of Benson's sexuality; the really important issue about him is - what handicap did he play off?

MarkC

[helrunar]

I finally read the story "The Horror-Horn" this morning, and it was a bit of a surprise. I was delighted to learn that the Horn of the title was in fact a mountain somewhere in Europe, das Ungeheuerhorn--that makes me giggle every time I say it. 

This is a lost race yarn with a really savage twist at the end. Brutal stuff from EFB.

I think I like Benson quite a bit better as a writer than Blackwood. He's more concise, and his images are more vividly delineated. Both this tale and "The Man who went too far" (which is not in this particular collection, but I just read in the electronic edition I have, last night) lead up to images that are short sharp shocks that stay with one quite some time after the tale has come to its end. What I retain from Blackwood is not an image but a mood. Also in recent reading was "The Wolves of God" by Blackwood, a story which is a less verbose exploration of a theme similar to that of "The Wendigo"--I did find it effective for what it was.

H.

[weirdmonger]

Sept 23, 2022 15:46:06 GMT helrunar said:

This is a lost race yarn with a really savage twist at the end. Brutal stuff from EFB.

H.

I recently found it fruitful to compare THE HORROR-HORN with the kindred cannibal horror scenes in Thomas Mann’s MAGIC MOUNTAIN. But both works came out in the same year, I think!

[weirdmonger]

Don’t go there!
My review of MACHAON by E.F. Benson today is wishful “clap-trap”!

[helrunar]

Coincidentally (or IS IT???) I read "Machaon" about a week ago. I enjoyed it but it's a bit of Theosophical whimsy concocted of spiritualism and a little faith healing--emphatically not a horror story.

H.

[weirdmonger]

Oct 1, 2022 17:07:34 GMT helrunar said:

Coincidentally (or IS IT???) I read "Machaon" about a week ago. I enjoyed it but it's a bit of Theosophical whimsy concocted of spiritualism and a little faith healing--emphatically not a horror story.

H.

I see what you mean, but it is a séance ghost story centred upon a cancerous tumour.
And it all takes place in Mapp and Lucia’s Tilling!

[helrunar]

And they all repaired to Divey Plaistow's tearoom afterwards for tea and cakes. But no "lobster a la Riseholme." Ha!