Maurice Level - Thirty Hours with a Corpse

[dem bones]

Maurice Level - Thirty Hours with a Corpse and Other Tales of the Grand Guignol (Dover, 2016)

Josef Fenneker [attributed] The Dance of Death, 1919

Introduction by S. T. Joshi

The Debt Collector
The Kennel
Who?
Illusion
In the Light of the Red Lamp
A Mistake
Extenuating Circumstances
The Confession
The Test
Poussette
The Father
"For Nothing"
In the Wheat
The Beggar
Under Chloroform
The Man Who Lay Asleep
Fascination
The Bastard
That Scoundrel Miron
The Taint
The Kiss
A Maniac
The 10:50 Express
Blue Eyes
The Empty House
The Last Kiss
Under Ether
The Spirit of Alsace
At the Movies
The Little Soldier
The Great Scene
After the War
The Appalling Gift
Night and Silence
The Cripple
The Look
The Horror on the Night Express
Thirty Hours with a Corpse
She Thought of Everything

Blurb:
Characterized by gratuitous acts of brutality and surprise endings, these tales of obsession and violence are the creations of a twentieth-century French writer whose works were staged by the legendary Théâtre du Grand-Guignol of Paris. The precursors of modern thrillers and slasher films, these stories have been specially selected for this edition and introduced by horror specialist S. T. Joshi.

Thirty-nine conte cruel ("cruel tales") include "In the Light of the Red Lamp," in which a husband's photographs of his dead wife reveal a deeper tragedy; "Fascination," the tale of a morbid passion that develops when the narrator, determined to stay at home, shoots his mistress for the sake of peace and quiet; and "The Bastard," concerning a father's suspicions about his son's paternity. Other stories include "The Taint," a view of infanticide as mercy-killing; "The Test," in which an accused murderer is forced to reenact his crime; and "A Maniac," recounting a thrill-seeker's ghoulish impulse to witness death-defying stunts gone wrong.

The Debt Collector: (Crises, 1920). Ravenot, ten years a model bank employee, steals 200,000 francs which he entrusts to a lawyer before surrendering to the police. Five years later, on this release from prison, he calls to collect his fortune.

4. "The Kill." The Countess (Miss Sybil Thorndike) with two of the hounds to which her husband later on throws her lover. 5. "The Kill." The Countess realises that her lover whose body her husband has just cast to the famished hounds was not then dead (Mr Lauderdale Maitland and Miss Sybil Thorndike). — Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News, 16 April 1921

The Kennel: (Crises, 1920: Hugh Lamb [ed.], The Man Wolf & Others, 1978). A lover suffers a heart attack in Madame de Hartevel's bedroom. Her husband acts decisively to prevent a scandal. As admired by Charles Birkin, who included his own version in The Kiss of Death.

Who?: (Crises, 1920). A memento mori atop the doctor's bookcase briefly takes on human flesh! Weeks later, an agitated young man is admitted to his consulting room. The Doctor recognises his face as identical to that of the apparition.

Illusion: (Crises, 1920). A suicidal beggar, weary, destitute and freezing, is adamant that, given the choice, he would taker an hour of true happiness over riches and luxury. Wandering the street, he meets a poor soul in even worse circumstances than his own ...

TBC

[andydecker]

Another one I have on my list for ages.

 I only read one or two of Level's stories, among them "The Last Kiss" in Michel Parry's More Devil's Kisses. I liked them a lot.

[dem bones]

Mar 16, 2024 13:08:19 GMT andydecker said:

Another one I have on my list for ages.

 I only read one or two of Level's stories, among them "The Last Kiss" in Michel Parry's More Devil's Kisses. I liked them a lot.

The Thirty Hours with a Corpse paperback is priced at £7.30 - new - from Am*z*n.uk just now ...

In the Light of the Red Lamp: (Crises, 1920: Hugh Lamb [ed.], Gaslit Nightmares 2, 1991). A loving husband takes a photograph of his dead wife so he can always see her as she was on that last day. Six months on from the funeral, he has not yet plucked up the courage to have it developed. Tonight the narrator agrees to assist him in the dark room.

A Mistake: (Crises, 1920). The doctor's misdiagnosis drives his patient to commit three needless mercy killings.

Extenuating Circumstances: (Crises, 1920). Jules Michon faces court-martial for murder and robbery. His mother's ill-considered intervention only makes matters worse.

The Confession: (Crises, 1920). "Watch me die, it will be well worth while." For decades Deroux, the Public Prosecutor of the Republic, has been tormented by the strong probability that he sent an innocent man to the guillotine.

The Test: (Crises, 1920: Hugh Lamb [ed.], Gaslit Nightmares 2, 1991). Gautet denies stabbing the woman on the slab. Why, he never saw her before in his life! The many witnesses who claim they were lovers are mistaken. Convinced of his guilt, still the Magistrate has little hope of a successful prosecution until he commands the accused to place his fingers against the corpse's bruised throat ...

[dem bones]

The Man Who Killed Death

Poussette: (Crises, 1920). A domestic pet's night on the tiles provokes a fanatically chaste Old Maid to violent frenzy.

The Father: (Crises, 1920). Master Jean would rather he'd been spared mother's deathbed confession. A crisis with a happy outcome for once.

"For Nothing": (Crises, 1920). Starving and destitute, Jean Gautet traces the wealthy father who abandoned him at birth. The old man has a reputation for meanness, but surely he won't see his son in penury?

In the Wheat: (Crises, 1920). His mother insinuates to Jean Madek that, while they toil in the wheat field, Celine, his flighty young wife, is having it off with the master. Madek broods as he scythes until he hears laughter from beneath a tree ...

Not all of these vignettes are 'horror stories,' all revolve around horrible situations and deeply unpleasant decisions for protagonists who invariably take the worse course of action. Personal picks from the above are, of course, the nastiest. The Kennel, In the Light of the Red Lamp, In the Wheat, The Test, A Mistake (likely inspiration for René Berton's censor antagonising stage play, The Man Who Killed Death), and Poussette.

[dem bones]

The Beggar: (Crises, 1920). As a farmer is slowly crushed beneath an overturned hay cart, a tramp runs to the nearest house for help. The residents, a husband and wife, threaten him with a rifle, tell him to get lost - filthy scroungers ain't welcome in these parts.

Under Chloroform: (Crises, 1920). A doctor torn between saving the life of his married lover and preventing any possibility of her betraying their secret.

The Man Who Lay Asleep: (Crises, 1920). On his release from prison, Ferrou returns to Paris intent on committing a lovely murder — anyone will do, he's not fussy. Finding an unsecured door, he slips inside a house, conceals himself behind the drapery of a hanging wardrobe. Voices. A young woman addressing her infant son! How perfect! "The thought of the coming massacre gave him more joy than the hope of plunder." But who's this burly brute come to lie down in the bedroom?

Fascination: (Crises, 1920). "It is impossible to understand the temptation that assaults one in the face of certain kinds of danger. I remember that one day when I was in the park of the Buttes Chaumont I was obliged to hang onto the parapet of the place they call 'The Suicide's Bridge' to prevent myself from leaping off into space. Several times when I have been alone in a railway carriage I have felt a sick longing to pull the alarm-signal. The nickel knob drew me toward it, seemed to beg to be pulled ..."

The narrator is wrongly acquitted of murdering a mistress he dispassionately shot in the face for repeatedly interrupting his reading. As he commits his thoughts to paper, he toys with his revolver, which now holds a terrible fascination. How did she feel as realisation hit (shortly followed by a bullet). What does it feel like to hold the barrel to one's temple...?

The Bastard: (Crises, 1920). Village gossip has it that, while the father is running the farm, his wife is seeing her lover of old, Big Jacquet. It is driving him insane. Time to settle the business once and for all. Is the boy even his, or is he raising Big Jacquet's child? In other news, the Heutrots mad dog escaped before it could be shot.

That Scoundrel Miron: (Crises, 1920). Fifteen years after his disappearance made headlines, a disgraced artist returns to Paris to paint again under an assumed name. According to a dealer, his work will finally relegate that of the shamed Miron to deserved obscurity.

Forgot we had a previous, much better Level thread, courtesy of Steve Goodwin here (Tales of Mystery and Horror is a US edition of Crises).

[dem bones]

The Taint: (Crises, 1920). A mother, recently widowed, strangles her baby at birth. The father came from a family with a history of epilepsy, madness and idiocy.

The Kiss: (Crises, 1920). A youth shoots himself for love of a prostitute who despises emotional attachment. A nun consoles him throughout his final delirium.

A Maniac: (Crises, 1920). A thrill-seeking ghoul who gets his kicks from catastrophe, nightly attends the performance of a death-defying stunt cyclist. Is there something he can do to hasten the inevitable fatal miscalculation?

The 10:50 Express: (Crises, 1920). A lightening strike paralyses the driver of an express train carrying two hundred passages. Ahead on the track, a stalled goods vehicle ...

[dem bones]

Blue Eyes: (Crises, 1920; Hugh Lamb [ed.], Return from the Grave, 1976). When her lover, Vandat, is executed for murderer, a sick prostitute leaves hospital to pray by his grave. If only she had money for flowers. Fevered and emaciated, she has difficulty attracting a client, until ...

The Empty House: (Crises, 1920). A killer burgles the home of a recently dead man. Loading his pockets, his eyes meet a glaring face in the darkness.

The Last Kiss: (Crises, 1920; Linda Lovecraft [ed], More Devil's Kisses, 1977). A man catches up with the wife who threw acid in his face, leaving him blind and hideous. How noble that, once the case reached court, he should plead clemency on her behalf! All he asks of her is a last, lingering kiss goodbye ...

Under Ether: (Tales of Wartime France, 1918). A doctor tends a Prussian whose regiment have been stationed in his home town, St. Quentin, this past six months. How astonishing that the soldier was quartered in the house of the physician's mother. "Ah! Mon Dieu! How is she!" "She is well!" The Doctor, greatly relieved, prepares him for surgery. Let's hope the soldier sticks to this story under gas!

The Spirit of Alsace: (Tales of Wartime France, 1918). A French village is taken by the Boche whose Commandant threatens M. Schmoll, the Mayor, and Hermann the draper with torture unless they reveal the road taken by their fleeing compatriots. To the disgust of his Mayor, Hermann leads the troops in their footsteps.

At the Movies: (Tales of Wartime France, 1918). A mother takes her little boy to a cinema screening footage of the 1914 campaign. The camera pans along a file of hated German prisoners - to pause on a close up of a bestial face. Her husband didn't die fighting for his country after all.

The Little Soldier: (Tales of Wartime France, 1918). A consumptive young soldier offers a lady his coat in a storm.

The Great Scene: (Tales of Wartime France, 1918). The director is furious that Monsieur Fanjard is ruining the play's pivotal scene with his stupefied reaction to news of his son's death in battle. No father could remain unexpressive at such a moment! The actor begs to differ.

After the War: (Tales of Wartime France, 1918). "Our superiority in all branches of human activity is such that no people can resist us. That is a fact. Why don't the French admit it? Since we are the most cultured nation on earth — the chosen people you might say — why don't they let themselves be guided by us? We should realize great things together. But there the old Latin obstinacy comes in. How regrettable it is on their part! For — I tell this between ourselves — I am very fond of the French."

The Colonel insists his men treat their hosts with the greatest courtesy and respect their property as they do their own. It is all about setting a good example. Of course, there may be the odd occasion when one must put the Fatherland first ...

[dem bones]

Joseph Doolin (Weird Tales, Feb 1932)

The Appalling Gift: (Living Age, 24 March 1923). The Juteliers receive an ornament from Aunt Sophie for the New Year. She really shouldn't have. Comedy.

Night and Silence: (Pan, Jan. 1922: Christine Campbell Thomson [ed], Grim Death, 1932: Weird Tales, Feb. 1932). Perhaps his most famous horror story after The Last Kiss. A pair of aged cripples - one blind, the other a deaf mute - freeze in their hovel. They are in bereavement for the old girl encoffined in the same room. That night the blind man hears muffled cries from within the box ...

The Cripple: (Weird Tales, Feb. 1933: Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, Martin H. Greenberg & Robert Weinberg [eds,], 100 Wild Little Weird Tales, 1994). When young Françoise slips into the river, Trache need only reach out a hand to save her. But to do so may jeopardize his industrial injury pay out.

The Look: (Weird Tales, March 1933: Marvin & Saralee Kaye [eds]. Weird Tales, 1996). A hunting accident provides opportunity for a doctor and the woman he loves to be rid of her husband.

The Horror on the Night Express: (Mystery, Feb. 1934). Four passengers - an elderly gent, a young married couple and the narrator, a doctor - discuss the recent murder in Pergolese Street - "a lady of easy virtue" stabbed for her jewellery. As the train approaches a tunnel, the doctor, a medical consultant on the case, let's slip that the culprit left behind a bloody handprint, revealing a distinctive scar.

[dem bones]

Two suspense items to end on.

Thirty Hours with a Corpse: (Mystery, Sept. 1934). At 19 pages far the longest story in the book (most are told inside 5-6 pages). Two students, Barthe and Guiret visit the apartment of friend Marouise and his young mistress, Chouchou, to whom they lose heavily at cards. Chouchou, sweet on Barthe, follows them back to their room, where she rashly flaunts her riches .... Her body packed inside a trunk, the pair make ready for flight. A diligent concierge seems determined on delaying them.

She Thought of Everything: (Mystery, May 1935). Madame Chertier meticulously plans her husband's murder. Nothing can be left to chance. Not the slightest suspicion may be allowed to fall upon her lover or herself.