May Sinclair The Villa Desiréé - help wanted

[andydecker]

I do a write-up of German anthologies and stumbled upon this story. Unfortunatly the translation seems to be a bit dodgy. Louis Carson was already a ghost when his first wife died? Or what does the heroine mean in her last sentence? I just don't get it.

Has anybody the story and could post (or send me) the last few sentences? In this case this is more my curiosity then the need to get it right, so I really don't want to buy a collection with this story.

[dem bones]

Hi Andy

Here are the last few sentences as appear in Cynthia Asquith's The Ghost Book (1926)

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}"Look at that," she said. She pushed Carson's letter across to them.

"He was waiting to go to her," she repeated. "And - last night - he was waiting to come to me."

They stared at her stupefied.

"Oh, can't you see?" she cried. "It didn't wait. It got there before him."

It's been so long since I read it that, taken out of context the last lines mean nothing to me. Will try visit it tonight. Let me know if you need the full transcript and will do my best to oblige.

[Jojo Lapin X]

Jul 30, 2017 12:56:23 GMT dem bones said:

Hi Andy

Here are the last few sentences as appear in Cynthia Asquith's The Ghost Book (1926)

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}"Look at that," she said. She pushed Carson's letter across to them.

"He was waiting to go to her," she repeated. "And - last night - he was waiting to come to me."

They stared at her stupefied.

"Oh, can't you see?" she cried. "It didn't wait. It got there before him."

It's been so long since I read it that, taken out of context the last lines mean nothing to me. Will try visit it tonight. Let me know if you need the full transcript and will do my best to oblige.

I think that fragment works quite well as a story on its own. Out of context, it is evocative and mysterious. In context, it is bound to be a disappointment.

[andydecker]

Thank you so much for your effort, dem!

The sentences are enough. The meaning is a bit lost in the translation. But it seems to be rather subtle. I guess Carson and all his beastly urges couldn't be made plainer back then. (If I now understood this properly  )

[dem bones]

Andy, have since found a copy of the pdf at SFFaudio.

Direct link

Probably my computer but it seemed slow to load. Any problems, get back to me as I eventually managed to snag a copy.

[Jojo Lapin X]

Jul 30, 2017 16:20:19 GMT andydecker said:

But it seems to be rather subtle.

Not really. It is about sex.

[andydecker]

Jul 30, 2017 16:31:04 GMT dem bones said:

Andy, have since found a copy of the pdf at SFFaudio.

Direct link

Probably my computer but it seemed slow to load. Any problems, get back to me as I eventually managed to snag a copy.

Thanks again. Link worked fine. I don't need a copy. Great knowledge of sources, btw, I only found rather dubious looking links.

It was interesting to read this and to compare it with the translation. A bit surprised that this has been anthologized so often. It had its effective moments, but it seems very old-fashioned in its content. Even for 1921. On the other hand, I never read May Sinclair, so I may be miles off.