The Lost Stradivarius by J.Meade Falkner (1895)

[lobolover]

A very fine novel of possesion, creeping and with several interesting implications, especialy near the end, the novel which people say M. R. James would have written, had he written novels.A full, LBL review of it is coming real soon, but for now, Im inquiring if anyone has read it around here.

[lobolover]

(Full review)

Now, people say alot of things. For instance, they compare Bret Young to Henry James, or call The Necromancer by "Will" "one of the strangest horror novels ever writen" .I agree somewhat to the first and somewhat not at all to the second. So it is with "The Lost Stradivarius" by J. Meade Falkner. If youre curious enough, you can note it is totaly diferent from the author's two other novels, this one being said to be "the novel M. R. James would write, had he writen novels" . Well, I'm sure our average frequent visitor will probably throw some suspicion on that statement and just like with anything else, it is , in fact, somewhat true .

The novel tells of a man's gradual posession by a ghost. It is, however, diferent from what you may picture to yourself under that name. Yes, we see a ghost in the begining, reportedly, but is it a real thing? The contents of the novel leave us thinking, though my guess is yes. There's only a certain number of coincidents, character similarities and chance discoveries of unknown extra fine Stradivarius Violins in secret chambers in the room in which the person , who you have recognised from a painting as the ghost , lived and stil get explained away before it stops being prety. Thankfully, TLS does not explain anything away and the unseen possesion and coruption is more then captivating, even if it takes a while to "kick off" . The novel, over all, is a bit tame compared to some things MR James wrote, but is equaly captivating. There are also a scene or two which excert general strange atmoshpere and premonition.The only problem I possibly had is with Falkner refusing the character to describe the ill fated, infamous terrible thing he had to do , that made him turn all pale, but instead, in order to evade Victorian limitations, had his character die at a strategicaly convenient moment. It was not badly writen, no, but I would rather like a litle more to crown the horrors, then a "picture the worst thing you can"-leaving-it-to-your-imagination scenario, but even that is not such a big deal.

So over all, It may or may not be the novel James would write, had he the patience to make one, the only way to find that out for certain is to get out that old Ouija board and ask directly.I think I'll ring up Falkner as well and ask what IT was. So if you will excuse me.....

------

Coroner's note:The author of the afore quoted document was found dead in his apartment yesterday, with his wrists slit.

( )

[cw67q]

And don't be missing "the nebuly coat" either. Not quite the straight genre novel that "the Lost stradivarius" is, but for my money an even better work (though both are excellent).

tNC is currently available in pb & as a luxury hb from ATP (I've forgotten the pb publisher).

- Chris

[lobolover]

Or if you cheapskate's will, on the internet probably.

I wonder what his last novel was about-the one they stole on a train.