Glen Hirshberg's Blog - Posts Tagged "reggie-oliver"
Reggie Oliver's "The Man in the Grey Bedroom"
T.R.U.E. (Tuesday Round-up of Everything), Week of 7/15, Post #1:
(note--been traveling all week, so any posts I put up today are likely to relate to reading I've snatched along the way; a return to more diversified posts next week)
Reggie Oliver "The Man in the Grey Bedroom" (from Masques of Satan: Twelve Tales and a Novella)
I’d heard that Reggie Oliver is perhaps the best Jamesian writer of this era. I think he’s better than that. It is absolutely true that the trappings of “The Man in the Grey Bedroom,” the first story I’ve had the pleasure of reading from him, are classical: the manor house operated by the National Trust, toured by the family of a scholar, Jack, who thinks he knows and understands just a little more about the place’s murky history than he does, the room that no one is supposed to go into, the designated docent—or perhaps, caretaker—or occupant?--of that room. And the door in the back of that room, which leads to the Black Room. Where you’re REALLY not supposed to go…
It’s also true that the best elements of the story are the classical ones: the echoing halls; the odd moments of suppressed conflict with strangers that crop up out of nothing, seem to lead nowhere, but prickle with unspecified menace (very Ramsey Campbell, that); the bits of disturbing—and perhaps not completely verified—historical lore; the grey bedroom, which is a little too aptly named; and the Black Bedroom behind the door, which we don’t get to see, but Jack does…
Reggie Oliver isn’t an imitator, though; he’s a craftsman. He understands how these machines work so well that he’s able to build brand new ones. And if the things his very contemporary machines ultimately do are the same things we know (and have loved), and the flavors and aromas they give off and the shivers they create are the same ones classical ghost story lovers know (and love)…aren’t those the smells and sensations we go and have always gone to these stories for?
(note--been traveling all week, so any posts I put up today are likely to relate to reading I've snatched along the way; a return to more diversified posts next week)
Reggie Oliver "The Man in the Grey Bedroom" (from Masques of Satan: Twelve Tales and a Novella)
I’d heard that Reggie Oliver is perhaps the best Jamesian writer of this era. I think he’s better than that. It is absolutely true that the trappings of “The Man in the Grey Bedroom,” the first story I’ve had the pleasure of reading from him, are classical: the manor house operated by the National Trust, toured by the family of a scholar, Jack, who thinks he knows and understands just a little more about the place’s murky history than he does, the room that no one is supposed to go into, the designated docent—or perhaps, caretaker—or occupant?--of that room. And the door in the back of that room, which leads to the Black Room. Where you’re REALLY not supposed to go…
It’s also true that the best elements of the story are the classical ones: the echoing halls; the odd moments of suppressed conflict with strangers that crop up out of nothing, seem to lead nowhere, but prickle with unspecified menace (very Ramsey Campbell, that); the bits of disturbing—and perhaps not completely verified—historical lore; the grey bedroom, which is a little too aptly named; and the Black Bedroom behind the door, which we don’t get to see, but Jack does…
Reggie Oliver isn’t an imitator, though; he’s a craftsman. He understands how these machines work so well that he’s able to build brand new ones. And if the things his very contemporary machines ultimately do are the same things we know (and have loved), and the flavors and aromas they give off and the shivers they create are the same ones classical ghost story lovers know (and love)…aren’t those the smells and sensations we go and have always gone to these stories for?
The trick still works
T.R.U.E., Week of 7/15, Post #3
Dean Young (again) "Romanticism 101" (another excerpt)
I dedicate this snippet to Reggie Oliver. Seemed apt, given my blather about his excellent work in this week's post #1:
"Then I realized even when you catch the mechanism
the trick still works....
We were all chasing nothing
which left no choice but to intensify the chase..."
He's good. The Dean.
Dean Young (again) "Romanticism 101" (another excerpt)
I dedicate this snippet to Reggie Oliver. Seemed apt, given my blather about his excellent work in this week's post #1:
"Then I realized even when you catch the mechanism
the trick still works....
We were all chasing nothing
which left no choice but to intensify the chase..."
He's good. The Dean.
