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Post by dem bones on Feb 19, 2013 11:33:41 GMT
I also wasn’t really too enamoured of The Man Who Went Too Far either but it did strike me that there was a vein of homo-eroticism in the story – or was it just me? It’s been mentioned that Benson’s heroes are bachelors. Was he gay? I didn’t read the Introduction to the book as I find they sometimes give spoilers. Abrupt endings you'll notice more and more. Benson does seem to tire of his stories about two thirds of the way through and the endings often seem as if they needed another page or two. The cancer obsession comes out again later I think - a new thing at the time in terms of recognition of the disease. There are always bachelors but the homosexual element is questionable. Certainly seems to have remained either celibate or guarded about his sex life - the given view was that he had no desire to encumber himself with a wife and not much appetite. However, this seems to be contradicted by really good insights into women which you notice from his wonderful portrayal of them in conversation and I should add the portraits are generally sensitive and sympathetic. 'Jack Adrian' found himself in hot water with The Tilling Society when, in the introduction to The Flint Knife: Further Spook Stories by E. F. Benson, he suggested that the author was a misogynist, citing The Face and The Outcast as two examples of EFB gleefully destroying female characters who have done absolutely nothing to warrant their dreadful fate. Says a lot for me that I regard these as two of his very best works. Of course, there was more to it than that. Mr. Adrian reminded us that when his female leads are unsympathetic, they are almost fanatically spiteful pieces of work. As I remember it, between them, Hugh Lamb, Cynthia Reavell and Gail Nina Anderson annihilated this argument in the Ghost Story Society Newsletter. It's fair to say that Jack threw a bit of a strop about this, and the argument briefly flared into something approaching a proto-flame war, albeit rather more genteel than we've become accustomed to. Am enjoying your commentary, Rob. Mr. Brewer, thank you for confirmation that The Suicide Tree has nowt to do with Elliott O'Donnell. Three more from The Room In The Tower: The first, one of the strongest, if not quite as creepy the second time around. He'd later improve on it as And No Birds Sing, though Negotium Perambulans ... is still my favourite of his bloated, slug-like elemental horrors. Terror By Night smacks of last minute filler but decent last minute filler, and Confession of Charles Linkworth is much better than I remembered it. Maybe Roald Dahl was on to something after all. The Thing In The Hall: Dr Assheton is persuaded to engage in a seance by Louis Fielder, his equally brilliant but wayward old Cambridge chum. Sceptical of all things mumbo-jumbo, Assheton is eventually forced to concede there's something in this table-tapping business after all when a cold and slimy slug-like elemental does for the local spiritualist medium with a vampire attack on his throat. Fielder is next to die, apparently a suicide, but Assheton soon has cause to dispute the coroner's verdict .... The Terror by Night: As with Caterpillars, Between the Lights and The Thing In The Hall, this deceptively slight story seems to have been written specifically for the collection, the rest having already seen magazine publication. Not much to it, but what little there is strikes a miserable note. Benson (or whoever)'s sister Daisy is married to his best friend, Jack Lorimer. When Daisy falls ill with consumption, she's packed off to Switzerland to recuperate while the chaps stay behind in Chelsea to read the papers and ring for the servants. The telegrams suggest that Daisy is making remarkable progress, but both men are struck by a terrible foreboding. The Confession of Charles Linkworth: ( The Cavalier, Jan 13th, 1912). A mild-mannered Sheffield shopkeeper of previous good repute, is found guilty of strangling his mother. Charles Linkworth goes to the scaffold without confessing to his guilt and, while Dr. Teesdale has no reason to suspect a miscarriage of justice, still the nagging doubts persist. In the days following the execution, Teesdale feels the dead man's presence about the mortuary. Next thing, he's receiving deeply upsetting telephone calls from beyond the grave. The hanged man can't rest until he's received absolution from the Prison chaplain.
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Post by jamesdoig on Feb 19, 2013 23:55:13 GMT
'Jack Adrian' found himself in hot water with The Tilling Society when, in the introduction to The Flint Knife: Further Spook Stories by E. F. Benson, he suggested that the author was a misogynist, citing The Face and The Outcast as two examples of EFB gleefully destroying female characters who have done absolutely nothing to warrant their dreadful fate. [/quote] Much as I admire jack Adrian, that does seem a narrow view, and ignores the Lucia and Dodo books, amongst the loads of other things he wrote. Benson delighted in poking fun at people, especially women, who put on airs and graces, but he certainly did't hate women. Making resolute judgements about an author's character on the basis of a couple of short stories is always a mistake. By the way, I thought Benson was gay, but he never spoke openly about it, that being the style at the time...
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Feb 20, 2013 9:34:53 GMT
'Jack Adrian' found himself in hot water with The Tilling Society when, in the introduction to The Flint Knife: Further Spook Stories by E. F. Benson, he suggested that the author was a misogynist, citing The Face and The Outcast as two examples of EFB gleefully destroying female characters who have done absolutely nothing to warrant their dreadful fate. Much as I admire jack Adrian, that does seem a narrow view, and ignores the Lucia and Dodo books, amongst the loads of other things he wrote. Benson delighted in poking fun at people, especially women, who put on airs and graces, but he certainly did't hate women. Making resolute judgements about an author's character on the basis of a couple of short stories is always a mistake. By the way, I thought Benson was gay, but he never spoke openly about it, that being the style at the time...[/quote] Yeah, probably gay. I just don't get this hating women thing though - a few really sympathetic portrayals of women
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Post by Shrink Proof on Feb 20, 2013 9:38:11 GMT
Does anybody know if there's any difference between "Night Terrors" and "The Collected Ghost Stories of E F Benson", Richard Dalby's brick-sized collection from some years back? I have the latter and it's a great read. I particularly liked "The House with the Brick Kiln", which I thought was quite brilliant. If you're interested you can read it for free online right here.I too always considered Benson to be gay, especially because there's camp in some of what he wrote. Wikipedia (which, as we all know, is The Ultimate Source of Truth & Knowledge) says - "E. F. Benson never married, and is likely to have been homosexual. Certainly this reveals itself through the camp humour of his novels, the implicit homoeroticism of his university works such as David Blaize (1916), his love of the company of handsome men, and his close friendships with known homosexuals such as John Ellingham Brooks with whom he shared a villa in Capri. Prior to the First World War the island was extremely popular with wealthy gay men." But, so what?
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Post by dem bones on Feb 20, 2013 9:58:01 GMT
Does anybody know if there's any difference between "Night Terrors" and "The Collected Ghost Stories of E F Benson", Richard Dalby's brick-sized collection from some years back? I have the latter and it's a great read. The Wordsworth drops Benson's essay The Recent "Witch-Burning" At Clonmel otherwise, introductions aside, they're the same selection. For those who feel swizzed at lack of said The Recent "Witch-Burning" ....., it's available online at Gaslight
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Feb 20, 2013 12:55:25 GMT
'Jack Adrian' found himself in hot water with The Tilling Society when, in the introduction to The Flint Knife: Further Spook Stories by E. F. Benson, he suggested that the author was a misogynist, citing The Face and The Outcast as two examples of EFB gleefully destroying female characters who have done absolutely nothing to warrant their dreadful fate. Says a lot for me that I regard these as two of his very best works. I might rank "The Face" as his very best, and I find it scary in no small part because the protagonist has done nothing to deserve her fate. Count me among those who did get a gay vibe from Benson's stories but not a misogynistic one. Now, H. R. Wakefield--that's a different story.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Feb 21, 2013 18:19:57 GMT
Count me among those who did get a gay vibe from Benson's stories but not a misogynistic one. Quite. If you read a whole series of Benson's tales back to back (as I did when I ploughed through Richard Dalby's collection) you'll find frequent use of the "this is what happened when I rented/visited/stayed at an isolated place for some weeks with a male friend/companion of mine..." theme, but never the "this is what happened when I went somewhere with my girlfriend/wife/fiance" one. Can't see any misogyny though...
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Post by jamesdoig on Feb 21, 2013 20:07:04 GMT
There's a good biography of Benson by Brian Masters, the same guy who did that acclaimed biography of the gay serial killer Dennis Nilson. He's also written a biography of Marie Corelli. It's well worth a read, though the ghost stories don't get much of a mention:
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Post by dem bones on Feb 21, 2013 20:27:11 GMT
Thought it best in the circumstances to revisit Mr. Adrian's introduction to The Flint Kinife, and here's what he writes on the question of Benson's sexuality. "Whether or not Fred was a thorough-paced homosexual he certainly swam in dangerous waters for the time, moving in the kind of circles where men were more than merely (in the Victorian sense of the phrase) manly chums. He holidayed with Lord Alfred Douglas, had a long relationship with F. Yeats-Brown, shared a house (part-paid for by Willie Maugham) with the failed poet John Ellingham Brooke (who was unequivocally homosexual), and his favourite Mediterranean watering-hole was the island of Capri, where the fisher-boys, long before Norman Douglas arrived, had a reputation for being perfectly happy to accommodate the idiosyncratic tastes of rich male foreigners.
He certainly owned a copy of the privately-printed translation of the notorious and explicitly pederastic Epigrams from Anthologia Palatina XII by 'Sydney Oswald' (S. F. M. Lomer) which, had the police ever stumbled across it, would have been more than enough to have had him hauled up before the Bow Street beak in short order."As to Fred's alleged woman-hating, no, I didn't misremember it. The remark that caused much of the upset in the GSS Newsletter was surely "the evidence is that, as a breed, he actively despised them." Even the few decent women in Fred's stories, he argues, are really idealised men in drag. Along with The Face and The Outcast, he cites Christopher Comes Back, The Dance. " - And The Dead Spake" even the beautiful Mrs. Canning's spectacular death in How Fear Departed From The Long Gallery as examples of this supposed misogyny finding outlet. If you read a whole series of Benson's tales back to back (as I did when I ploughed through Richard Dalby's collection)... Mr. Proof, I truly admire your staying power. Much as I admire his supernatural fiction, two or three of his stories in a row and I have to skip to somebody else's work. It's no criticism of Benson, just that i'm like that with every author, hence the mixed-anthology fetish.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Feb 22, 2013 12:48:04 GMT
Mr. Proof, I truly admire your staying power. Much as I admire his supernatural fiction, two or three of his stories in a row and I have to skip to somebody else's work. It's no criticism of Benson, just that i'm like that with every author, hence the mixed-anthology fetish. Actually I can't take credit for that, but thanks for the compliment. I was on holiday and it was the only still unread book I had with me (no, not "this is what happened when I rented/visited/stayed at an isolated place for some weeks with a male friend/companion of mine..."). Yes, I'd have much preferred a multi-author anthology instead. Doing it all in one go brought out Benson's repeated use of the same plot frameworks. Especially the "this is what happened when I rented/visited/stayed at an isolated place for some weeks with a male friend/companion of mine..." theme. Even after several years it sticks in my mind how frequently he used that one.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 22, 2013 14:49:38 GMT
Something else I've taken from his stories is never to accept an invitation from Hugh Grainger to join he and his wife at their new home for a week of newspaper reading, table-tapping and rounds of golf. No matter where the Graingers set up, it's odds on the new place will be as infested with slug-like elementals, vampires and spectral assassins as the last. It's been said that Hugh is Benson's brother, Robert H., in which case it's small wonder he was always so depressed. Poor bastard was even more of a ghoul magnet than Elliott O' Donnell.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Feb 22, 2013 15:51:52 GMT
Something else I've taken from his stories is never to accept an invitation from Hugh Grainger to join he and his wife at their new home for a week of newspaper reading, table-tapping and rounds of golf. No matter where the Graingers set up, it's odds on the new place will be as infested with slug-like elementals, vampires and spectral assassins as the last. It's been said that Hugh is Benson's brother, Robert H., in which case it's small wonder he was always so depressed. Poor bastard was even more of a ghoul magnet than Elliott O' Donnell. So true Dem. in fact as a general rule its just best not go anywhere with Hugh. Having checked up on the Benson family, it seems that in the days when fixed gender mattered, they seemed to hit a number of social outsider targets. Mum was gay, dad was an archbishop (don't say it) brothers were either openly gay or joining the clergy and writing 'passionate' letters to young chaps. Nowadays, nobody could care less about anyone's sexuality but I suspect that back then this was all a bit overwhelming. Talented bunch though. I'd forgotten about the Egyptologist sister, Mary (who had a lifelong female companion, Janet. They were, to quote, 'inseparable friends and constant companions'. Tie this with she died UNMARRIED and we have the recipe for much nodding of heads.) I read this sisters 'The Temple of Mut in Asher' in first year at university but can't remember a single reference to homosexuality in it - only statutes of cat-like gods. Looking at the whole family in context there is absolutely no impression of women hating whatsoever -they were ascetic, cerebreal aesthetic types with a dominant forceful religious father.
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Post by jamesdoig on Feb 22, 2013 21:26:23 GMT
never accept an invitation from Hugh Grainger to join he and his wife at their new home for a week of newspaper reading, table-tapping and rounds of golf. *shudder*
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Post by dem bones on Feb 23, 2013 10:13:21 GMT
Having checked up on the Benson family, it seems that in the days when fixed gender mattered, they seemed to hit a number of social outsider targets. Mum was gay, dad was an archbishop (don't say it) brothers were either openly gay or joining the clergy and writing 'passionate' letters to young chaps. Nowadays, nobody could care less about anyone's sexuality but I suspect that back then this was all a bit overwhelming. Talented bunch though. I'd forgotten about the Egyptologist sister, Mary (who had a lifelong female companion, Janet. They were, to quote, 'inseparable friends and constant companions'. Tie this with she died UNMARRIED and we have the recipe for much nodding of heads.) I read this sisters 'The Temple of Mut in Asher' in first year at university but can't remember a single reference to homosexuality in it - only statutes of cat-like gods. Looking at the whole family in context there is absolutely no impression of women hating whatsoever -they were ascetic, cerebreal aesthetic types with a dominant forceful religious father. Interesting lot, weren't they? I think it's only fair to add that, even if nobody seems over impressed with his 'misogynist' theory, Mr. Adrian's introduction is otherwise exemplary, and it makes for a very interesting read. Elsewhere he makes the point that, although EFB didn't think much of his supernatural fiction, regarding it for what it was, a steady source of income from the days better paying publications (and, occasionally, Weird Tales), with the possible exception of the Mapp & Lucia comedies, he's arguably best remembered for his ghost & horror hackwork. For those of us who enjoy such things, the supernatural stories in order of publication, including those later revived by Mr. Adrian for The Flint Knife and Fine Feathers. Any additions, corrections & Co. gratefully received. ************************ At Abdul Ali’s Grave (as 'A Curious Coincidence', The Graphic Jun 24, 1899) The Man Who Went Too Far ( Pall Mall Magazine, June 1904) The Cat ( Illustrated London News, Nov. 27th 1905) The Dust Cloud ( Pall Mall Magazine, Jan. 1906). Gavon’s Eve ( Illustrated London News, Jan 13th 1906) The Shootings of Achnaleish (( Illustrated London News, Oct 27-Nov 3 1906) The Bus Conductor ( Pall Mall Magazine, Dec. 1906) The Other Bed ( The Popular Magazine, Apr. 1908) The House with the Brick-Kiln ( London Magazine, Dec. 1908) Outside the Door ( London Magazine, Jan. 1910) How Fear Departed From The Long Gallery ( The Windsor Magazine, Dec. 1911) The Room In The Tower ( Pall Mall Magazine, Jan. 1912) The Confession of Charles Linkworth ( The Cavalier, Jan 13th, 1912). Between the Lights ( The Room in the Tower & Other Stories, 1912) Caterpillars ( The Room in the Tower & Other Stories, 1912) The Terror by Night ( The Room in the Tower & Other Stories, 1912) The Thing in the Hall ( The Room in the Tower & Other Stories, 1912) The Friend In The Garden ( The Story Teller, Aug. 1912) Dummy On A Dahabeah ( The Story Teller, June 1913) The Red House ( Pearson’s Magazine, Dec. 1914) The Chippendale Mirror ( Pearson’s Magazine, May 1915) The Return of Frank Hampden ( Pearson’s Magazine, Dec 1915) The China Bowl ( Pearson’s Magazine, Dec. 1916) The Passenger ( Pearson’s Magazine, March 1917) The Ape ( The Story-Teller, May 1917) Through ( The Century, July 1917) Thursday Evenings ( Pears Annual, 1920) The Light in the Garden ( Eve Magazine, Nov 23rd 1921) The Psychical Mallards ( Pears Annual, Christmas 1921) The Outcast ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, April 1922). Mrs. Amworth ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, June 1922) The Gardener ( Hutchinson’s Magazine), Aug. 1922) The Horror Horn ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, Sept. 1922) And the Dead Spake ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, Oct 1922). Negotium Perambulans (as 'Visible and Invisible', Hutchinson’s Magazine, Nov. 1922) In the Tube ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, Dec. 1922) Mr. Tilly’s Séance ( Munsey’s, Dec 1922) Machaon ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, Jan 1923) At the Farmhouse ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, March 1923) Inscrutable Decrees ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, April 1923) Roderick’s Story ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, May 1923) Expiation ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, Nov. 1923) Boxing Night ( The Tatler, Nov 30th 1923) Naboth’s Vineyard ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, Dec 1923) The Face ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, Feb. 1924) Spinach ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, May 1924) Reconciliation ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, July 1924) Corstophine ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, Sept. 1924) The Temple ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, Nov. 1924) A Tale of an Empty House ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, June 1925) Bagnell Terrace ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, July 1925) The Corner House ( Woman, May 1926) “And No Bird Sings” ( Woman, Dec. 1926) The Step ( The Windsor Magazine, Dec. 1926) By the Sluice ( The Tatler, Mar 25th 1927) Home Sweet Home ( Woman, June 1927) Sir Roger de Coverley ( Woman, Dec. 1927) The Box at the Bank ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, March 1928) Pirates ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, Oct. 1928) The Hanging of Alfred Wadham ( Britannia, Dec 21st 1928) The Witch Ball ( Woman's Journal, Dec. 1928) Atmospherics ( Radio Times, Dec 28th 1928) The Wishing-Well ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, Feb 1929) Christopher Comes Back ( Hutchinson’s Magazine, May 1929) The Bed by the Window ( Hutchinson’s Story Magazine, July 1929) The Shuttered Room ( Hutchinson’s Story Magazine, Aug 1929) The Flint Knife ( Hutchinsons Story Magazine, Dec. 1929: Ghost Stories, May 1930) James Lamp ( Weird Tales, June 1930) Monkeys ( Weird Tales, Dec 1933) The Bath-Chair ( More Spook Stories, 1934) The Dance ( More Spook Stories, 1934) The Sanctuary ( More Spook Stories, 1934) ************************
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rob4
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 104
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Post by rob4 on Mar 4, 2013 11:39:30 GMT
read a bit more - brief thoughts
Outside the Door is the most disappointing so far. Something about moving objects by will and a ghost that paroles outside the narrators room… or something like that. Totally forgettable… and it looks like I have!
The Terror by Night continued the downward trend, but was followed by The Other Bed which was a bit of a return to form with a fairly effective spook story set in Switzerland
The Thing in the Hall is another spiritualist story this time involving an ‘Elemental’. I tended to nod off on this one as it seemed to outstay its welcome and the ending was particularly oh hum
The collection at least ends on a high with The House with the Brick Kiln involving the ghost of a killer artist. It’s nicely paced, with a gradual turn of the screw. The revelation is no surprise of course but plenty of atmosphere getting there
This next set Visible and Invisible is for me a step up in quality from the first collection. The stories seem to land a visceral punch as well as unnerving and his writing style seems to be more accessible… or am I just getting more used to it?
And The Dead Spake – well I didn’t really expect any mad scientist (well almost) stories in these collections so this was a welcome change of direction. I liked the way the protagonist took advantage of a fortuitous death… of course a proper mad scientist story would have involved murdering the subject!!
The Outcast is a standout. Imagine a woman who gives out so many bad vibes that not even the sea or the soil will accept her. I think she probably came back as a Dementor.
Yeti type creatures are always a winner for me so I really enjoyed The Horror Horn. Throw in some bestiality and what’s not to like?
Machaon another venture into spiritualism that doesn’t go anywhere. I do think that more often than not whenever there is a medium involved the stories take a bit of a downturn.
The idea that God would use something horrible to despatch the wicked is an interesting one although the ethics of such are not investigated in Negotium Perambulams. That aside this one really delivers and I was struck by the atmosphere that Benson can generate when he describes these isolated locations. He can get both the attractiveness and the horror of the places and convince you of both. It helped that I read this on a windy night in Whitby!!
At the Farmhouse. Again Benson working hard to generate atmosphere, the sense of foreboding and anticipation of dirty deeds go a long way to making this another winner for me. The drunken witch is an unforgettable character as well. The Gardener – pretty standard and not particularly memorable
A change of pace now in Mr. Tilly’s Séance which emphasises humour over scares. It’s mildly diverting but a bit out of place… a bit like comedy relief in old horror movies…
Wow a vampire story (Mrs Amworth). Didn’t expect that but it was welcome. Didn’t break any new ground but I enjoyed it. I sort of imagined the vampire as a voluptuous Nigella Lawson type in period costume. Well what can I say… sometimes I have weird thoughts when reading stories… In the Tube was a fairly standard story… a bit yellow paint for me. And so to the last one in this collection – Roderick’s Story – an unabashed celebration of the afterlife which I really enjoyed. Unusual to end on such a positive note… but nice. [/font]
ok - onto the third volume
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