Decadence and the Dark
The Decadent movement in literature had a significant influence on the development of the Ghost story in England.
The ornamented style which they took from the Symbolists was perfect for creating the atmosphere of a good story of the supernatural and the elements of decay and decadence also translated well. What the English writers brought to the party was a sense of a world beyond our senses that then infiltrated daily lives.
For me, the best of them were Arthur Machen and William Hope Hodgson. As a member of The Golden Dawn, Machen had considerable knowledge of the occult – as did Algernon Blackwood, who I am less fond of. Blackwood’s John Silence was one of Hodgson’s inspirations for the Carnacki stories, although again I prefer Hodgson’s version.
I have just bread a collection by Richard Middleton – The Ghost Ship. Middleton was an acquaintance of Machen, who wrote the introduction to the book. Paradoxically, the best story is the title one which shares little with the intense prose of the other tales. Unlike Machen, the other stories are all atmosphere and none of the feeling of transcendent powers Machen brings.
The other ghost story I have just read is Charles Williams early Et in Sempiternum Pereant. I am a great admirer of Williams novels and, while not as good as those, the short story also creates an intense atmosphere of the reality behind the mundane. Williams was one of the Inklings and while there is little of CS Lewis or Tolkein in his writing he did influence Lewis’ That Hideous Strength, which I have always thought the best of his novels. Both men were deeply Christian, but Williams uses his beliefs in the philosophy of his fiction rather than trying to translate the Christian mythos to SF and Fantasy. Williams work is equally influenced by Arthur and the Matter of Britain and is closer in themes to Dion Fortune.
The writer who most reminds me of Williams is David Lindsay – not Arcturus, but Sphinx, The Violet Apple and his other works. Williams is the more polished writer, but Lindsay perhaps the more powerful one.
