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Post by dem on Feb 22, 2010 22:17:00 GMT
D. K Broster - Couching at the Door (Wordsworth Editions, 2007) Couching at the Door
From The Abyss
Clairvoyance
The Pavement
The Window
Juggernaut
The Promised Land
The Pestering
The Taste of PomegranatesBlurb: Dorothy Kathleen Broster (1877-1950) is best known for her historical novels. But there is a quite different and much darker side to her writing, which finds expression in the supernatural and psychological stories she wrote after she had become a highly successful novelist. Some of these ('The Window' and 'The Pestering' are good examples), are what we might call straightforward, explainable ghost stories: apparitions or hauntings whose origin is to be found in some violent or unjust action of the past. Others ('Couching at the Door', 'From the Abyss') have little or no explanation, even in supernatural terms. Add to these an elegant reworking of the Persephone myth, 'The Taste of Pomegranates', the downright bloodthirsty 'Clairvoyance', and two studies of obsession ('The Promised Land' and 'The Pavement'), and you have a collection to disturb and unsettle the strongest nerves. Will continue to drift up these glorified stubs over coming weeks as you never know which will take off, and this collection looks as if it may well be among the most interesting to date. The title story, which sees decadent poet and lapsed Black Magician Augustine Marchant driven to his doom by something that bears an uncanny resemblance to a feather boa, is probably her best known, and the death-dealing chair shocker, Juggernaut, is familiar from The Virago Book Of Ghost Stories. And then there's: Clairvoyance. A party at Strode Manor, and important guest Mrs. Fleming lavishes fulsome praise upon Edwards Strode's antique collection, in particular a Japanese sword, reputedly six hundred years old and the blade still keen enough to slice through a silk scarf. I say 'reputedly' because there's controversy as to whether or not the sword is an authentic Tsuba or a very good modern fake. Meanwhile in the adjoining room, Persis Strode, seventeen, and two young friends play the willing game - "you blindfold a person and put your hands on their shoulders, two of you, and 'will' them to do something or other". Unbeknown to herself, one of the participants, Cynthia Storrington, is a sensitive, and, falling into a trance, she takes up a snuff box and accurately relates it's history before bursting into tears. When Mrs. Fleming hears of this, she's delighted! Why not put Cynthia under again and let her loose on the Tsuba to establish its authenticity? Edward Strode is against the idea - "I detest this playing at the fringes of a serious subject like hypnotism" - but Mrs. Fleming persists and poor Cynthia is prevailed upon for more party games. So, blindfolded anew, Cynthia feels about on the table until she finds what she's looking for. Tragically, it's at this moment Mr. Strode is called away to deal with serial complainer Major Whittingham, otherwise the massacre may have been prevented. It seems impossible that this gloriously bloody-minded, proper horror story could have washed over me when, many moons ago, i first came across it in Hugh Lamb's Wave Of Fear, yet that seems to have been the case.
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Post by cw67q on Feb 23, 2010 8:41:40 GMT
This is another winner of a collection.
I would be typing that the title story alone is worth the price of admission, but when the ticket is only £3 that hardly does the story justice.
"Couching at the Door" is IMHO one of the finest short tales of the occult ever written. I know at least one good freind with similar taste that has difficulties taking the concluding scene seriously, and taken in isolation I can see how it could be laughed at, but in context it works for me. And sometimes it is the grotesquely bizarre element of a story, that which should be risible, which chills e.g. Prof G's Parrot.
The rest of the book is well worth a look, but if you haven't read the title story yet, go ahead and treat yourself to that at the very least*
- chris
* edited from misleading original that implied the rest of the book wasn't very good, apols.
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Post by monker on Feb 23, 2010 10:39:49 GMT
Regarding 'Clairvoyance', you could compile a decent sized collection on the theme of antiquated or forgotten object causing re-enacted violence - they are everywhere. 'C', are you suggesting all the others bar the title story aren't much chop?  |
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Post by dem on Feb 23, 2010 13:31:46 GMT
'C', are you suggesting all the others bar the title story aren't much chop? I was a bit surprised at that as well. Admittedly, I'm only three stories in, four if we include Juggernaut which I remember enjoying, and my only slight disappointment so far is that The Pavement contains no 'supernatural' or particularly horrific content, but still found it engrossing, even sad. Something I'd forgotten is that Broster's stories are often very funny: Clairvoyance with it's gleefully excessive climax, Couching At The Door, not only for the improbable (but, as Chris points out, strangely effective) casting of a murdered street-walker's fur boa as instrument of destruction, but the many digs at pseudo-decadents (Marchant's dabbling in Black Magic purely for effect: the Beardsley-wannabe Lawrence Storey's letter home from Prague - "Yesterday I was in a cafe by myself, and had just ordered some absinthe - though I do not like it ..") The Pavement: It's Roman and lies on the Reid's' dilapidated farm. Simon is an invalid and his sister, Lydia, seventy-four, has acted as custodian to the 'Chasely Pavement' these past fifteen years, charging the occasion tourist a small fee to visit the rotten shed that protects it from the elements. Lydia loves the pavement, loves the figures depicted in its myriad mosaics. She even confides in the representation of the immaculate Hebe as though it were a best friend. But then two Government officials arrive. They want to erect a more substantial shelter for the paving and conduct an archaeological dig, see what other remnants of the Villa they can excavate. Lydia, fearing she'll no longer be the Guardian, takes evasive action .... |
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Post by cw67q on Feb 23, 2010 15:30:00 GMT
Regarding 'Clairvoyance', you could compile a decent sized collection on the theme of antiquated or forgotten object causing re-enacted violence - they are everywhere. 'C', are you suggesting all the others bar the title story aren't much chop? Sorry no, I certainly didn't mean to give that impression. This is a good solid collection of nicely varied tales. But the cover story alone would be worth the money it is that good. You can call me "chris" btw. cw67q is a crap name that I got used to using after my first email account, wish I'd changed it years ago :-( - chris |
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Post by cw67q on Feb 23, 2010 15:32:42 GMT
Oh I see I just noticed this from my earlier message: >The rest of the book is worth missing That is an unfortunate cut and paste error. I don't even recall what the intended sentence was, but this is far from what I intended to say. This is a gem of a collection I'll go back and edit the earlier message if that is possible. Apologies - Chris  |
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Post by monker on Feb 23, 2010 16:23:40 GMT
No problems Chris. I'm not an incensed fan of the collection, or anything, it's just that I recently bought a copy of the Wordsworth and it might have helped influence me to put it towards the bottom of my 'to read' list.
I can remember reading what I believe was 'Clairvoyance' quite a few years ago and although it did not immediately strike me as a favourite, it was powerful enough for me to want to track it down. Now I have the story twice, in the Hugh Lamb anthology and in CATD. I'm hoping some of the others stories may be even better than that one I have read.
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Post by dem on Mar 1, 2010 8:39:45 GMT
Would be interested to learn what you make of the collection, monker. It's four stories, four hits with me so far. Strikes me that Clairvoyance and this next have massive tv-adaptation potential.
Juggernaut: Miss Flora Halkett, a writer of popular thrillers under the pseudonym 'Theobald Gardiner' (sample title: The Murder Swamp: the local vicar is a huge fan), is on holiday by the sea, recuperating from a sprained ankle. The pulp goddess is not best pleased when an elderly fellow politely but firmly refuses to let her hire his bath-chair on the grounds that "she" wouldn't like it. "She", it transpires, is, or rather, was, curmudgeonly invalid Mrs. Birling. Since Mrs. B.'s death, old Cotton has become something of a local legend, wheeling the empty chair along the West Cliff in all weathers, tending to his passenger the while. Odd really, as it's no secret amongst Middleport folk that he detested Mrs. Birling while she was alive. Maybe he just does it out of gratitude - Mrs. Beiling was generous to him in her will - or is there another reason?
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Post by monker on Mar 3, 2010 12:53:14 GMT
i'd certainly be interested to learn what you make of the collection, monker. Yep, I'll get started on that one tomorrow. I was just getting reacquainted with just how good the best of William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki stories are. It makes me wish that, in the long term, he wasn't so obsessed with nautical themes and extended peaces of dialectal tedium. It makes us sound obsessed with TV but I wish they had made a Carnacki series back when television was good. We do have one story adaptation but I haven't seen it and don't know if it was successful or not. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Oct 5, 2012 11:32:08 GMT
I'm enjoying this collection. "The Pavement," "The Window," and "Juggernaut" are all good, but "Clairvoyance" is by far the standout for me so far--such an elegant build-up, followed by such swift, over-the-top mayhem. it seems impossible that this gloriously bloody-minded, proper horror story could have washed over me when, many moons ago, i first came across it in Hugh Lamb's Wave Of Fear, yet that seems to have been the case. Dem, if "Clairvoyance" slipped your mind the first time you read it, I had a similar experience with "Couching at the Door," which I first read in Mary Danby's 65 Great Tales of the Supernatural. It seems as though I should remember a story about a feather boa of doom, but I can't recall a thing. I plan to have a repeat engagement with it tonight. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Oct 13, 2012 16:19:36 GMT
I had a similar experience with "Couching at the Door," which I first read in Mary Danby's 65 Great Tales of the Supernatural. It seems as though I should remember a story about a feather boa of doom, but I can't recall a thing. I plan to have a repeat engagement with it tonight. As soon as I started rereading "Couching at the Door," the story came back to me. It's a great one. This is another winner of a collection. Agreed--I enjoyed each of the stories. "Couching at the Door" and "Clairvoyance" may be the highlights, but "The Pestering" comes a close third for me. It's an excellent reworking of the traditional "laying the ghost" theme, with both vivid details and dry wit. |
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Post by Middoth on Oct 29, 2021 20:53:17 GMT
The Window: the young Romilly, enjoying idleness in the French backwater, laid his eyes on the picturesque house. The thought of getting inside took possession of him imperiously. A lot of things will have time to happen before he crossed the threshold. Now the intrigue is whether he can get out.
the kind woman who composed it
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