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اشباح در ادبيات كلاسيك موجودات پوچ و بخارمانندی بودند كه توان انجام هيچ كاری نداشتند جز ترساندن آدمها. در بدترين حالت، يك موجود از گور برگشته فقط میتوانست استخوانهای اسكلتش را تلق تلق به صدا درآورد و ردای پوسيده و كپكزدهاش را تكان بدهد يا با زنجيرش جرينگ جرينگ كند. حالا اما برای ترساندن آدمها به چيزی فراتر از اينها نياز است. شبحهای امروزی اسكلتشان را توی گاراژ يا انباری نگه میدارند، جايی كه بتوانند دائم تميز و روغن كاریاش كنند و سرپا نگهش دارند؛ لباسهای قديمیشان را هم به سمساری دادهاند و مثل آدمهای زنده لباس میپوشند. شبحهای امروزی از خنداندن آدمها لذت میبرند، حتی وقتهايی كه از ترس جيغشان را درآوردهاند. شبحهای امروزی میدانند كه دست انداختن آدمها و مسخره كردنشان خيلی كارسازتر از تهديد و ارعاب آنها است؛
250 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1921
128 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Scarborough
83 books12 followersEmily Dorothy Scarborough was an American writer who wrote about Texas, folk culture, cotton farming, ghost stories and women's life in the Southwest.
Scarborough was born in Mount Carmel, Texas. At the age of four she moved to Sweetwater, Texas for her mother's health, as her mother needed the drier climate. The family soon left Sweetwater in 1887, so that the Scarborough children could get a good education at Baylor College.
Even though Scarborough's writings are identified with Texas, she studied at University of Chicago and Oxford University and beginning in 1916 taught literature at Columbia University.
While receiving her PhD from Columbia, she wrote a dissertation, "The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction (1917)". Sylvia Ann Grider writes in a critical introduction [1] the dissertation "was so widely acclaimed by her professors and colleagues that it was published and it has become a basic reference work."
Dorothy Scarborough came in contact with many writers in New York, including Edna Ferber and Vachel Lindsay. She taught creative writing classes at Columbia. Among her creative writing students were Eric Walrond, and Carson McCullers, who took her first college writing class from Scarborough.[1]
Her most critically acclaimed book, The Wind (first published anonymously in 1925), was later made into a film of the same name starring Lillian Gish.
Scarborough was born in Mount Carmel, Texas. At the age of four she moved to Sweetwater, Texas for her mother's health, as her mother needed the drier climate. The family soon left Sweetwater in 1887, so that the Scarborough children could get a good education at Baylor College.
Even though Scarborough's writings are identified with Texas, she studied at University of Chicago and Oxford University and beginning in 1916 taught literature at Columbia University.
While receiving her PhD from Columbia, she wrote a dissertation, "The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction (1917)". Sylvia Ann Grider writes in a critical introduction [1] the dissertation "was so widely acclaimed by her professors and colleagues that it was published and it has become a basic reference work."
Dorothy Scarborough came in contact with many writers in New York, including Edna Ferber and Vachel Lindsay. She taught creative writing classes at Columbia. Among her creative writing students were Eric Walrond, and Carson McCullers, who took her first college writing class from Scarborough.[1]
Her most critically acclaimed book, The Wind (first published anonymously in 1925), was later made into a film of the same name starring Lillian Gish.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 10, 2017
CONTENTS:
The Canterville Ghost
By Oscar Wilde
The Ghost-Extinguisher
By Gelett Burgess
"Dey Ain't No Ghosts"
By Ellis Parker Butler
The Transferred Ghost
By Frank R. Stockton
The Mummy's Foot
By Théophile Gautier
The Rival Ghosts
By Brander Matthews
The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall
By John Kendrick Bangs
Back from that Bourne
Anonymous
The Ghost-Ship
By Richard Middleton
The Transplanted Ghost
By Wallace Irwin
The Last Ghost in Harmony
By Nelson Lloyd
The Ghost of Miser Brimpson
By Eden Phillpotts
The Haunted Photograph
By Ruth McEnery Stuart
The Ghost that Got the Button
By Will Adams
The Specter Bridegroom
By Washington Irving
The Specter of Tappington
Compiled by Richard Barham
In the Barn
By Burges Johnson
A Shady Plot
By Elsie Brown
The Lady and the Ghost
By Rose Cecil O'Neill
It's kind of amazing how many of those names are unfamiliar; a hundred years is apparently longer than I think. There are some like Wilde's that really stand out: The Mummy's Foot and The Rival Ghosts. I can't abide the dialect written in "Dey Ain't No Ghosts" but the story is amusing. Anyway, Dickens has trained me to associate ghosts with Christmas, so to me it's a good lead-up.
Personal copy
The Canterville Ghost
By Oscar Wilde
The Ghost-Extinguisher
By Gelett Burgess
"Dey Ain't No Ghosts"
By Ellis Parker Butler
The Transferred Ghost
By Frank R. Stockton
The Mummy's Foot
By Théophile Gautier
The Rival Ghosts
By Brander Matthews
The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall
By John Kendrick Bangs
Back from that Bourne
Anonymous
The Ghost-Ship
By Richard Middleton
The Transplanted Ghost
By Wallace Irwin
The Last Ghost in Harmony
By Nelson Lloyd
The Ghost of Miser Brimpson
By Eden Phillpotts
The Haunted Photograph
By Ruth McEnery Stuart
The Ghost that Got the Button
By Will Adams
The Specter Bridegroom
By Washington Irving
The Specter of Tappington
Compiled by Richard Barham
In the Barn
By Burges Johnson
A Shady Plot
By Elsie Brown
The Lady and the Ghost
By Rose Cecil O'Neill
It's kind of amazing how many of those names are unfamiliar; a hundred years is apparently longer than I think. There are some like Wilde's that really stand out: The Mummy's Foot and The Rival Ghosts. I can't abide the dialect written in "Dey Ain't No Ghosts" but the story is amusing. Anyway, Dickens has trained me to associate ghosts with Christmas, so to me it's a good lead-up.
Personal copy
June 10, 2023
3.5⭐
Introduction: The Humorous Ghost by Dorothy Scarborough ✔
The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde 5⭐
The Ghost-Extinguisher by Gelett Burgess 4⭐
“Dey Ain't No Ghosts” by Ellis Parker Butler 3⭐
The Transferred Ghost by Frank R. Stockton 4⭐
The Mummy's Foot by Théophile Gautier 4⭐
The Rival Ghosts by Brander Matthews 3⭐
The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall by John Kendrick Bangs 4.5⭐
Back from that Bourne by Anonymous [Edward Page Mitchell] 2.5⭐
The Ghost-Ship by Richard Middleton 4⭐
The Transplanted Ghost by Wallace Irwin 3⭐
The Last Ghost in Harmony by Nelson Lloyd 3.5⭐
The Ghost of Miser Brimpson by Eden Phillpotts 4.5⭐
The Haunted Photograph by Ruth McEnery Stuart 3.25⭐
The Ghost that Got the Button by Will Adams 2.25⭐
The Specter Bridegroom by Washington Irving 4⭐
The Specter of Tappington Compiled by Richard Harris Barham 3⭐
In the Barn by Burges Johnson 3.25⭐
A Shady Plot by Elsie Brown 3.25⭐
The Lady and the Ghost by Rose Cecil O'Neill 2.5⭐
Introduction: The Humorous Ghost by Dorothy Scarborough ✔
The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde 5⭐
The Ghost-Extinguisher by Gelett Burgess 4⭐
“Dey Ain't No Ghosts” by Ellis Parker Butler 3⭐
The Transferred Ghost by Frank R. Stockton 4⭐
The Mummy's Foot by Théophile Gautier 4⭐
The Rival Ghosts by Brander Matthews 3⭐
The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall by John Kendrick Bangs 4.5⭐
Back from that Bourne by Anonymous [Edward Page Mitchell] 2.5⭐
The Ghost-Ship by Richard Middleton 4⭐
The Transplanted Ghost by Wallace Irwin 3⭐
The Last Ghost in Harmony by Nelson Lloyd 3.5⭐
The Ghost of Miser Brimpson by Eden Phillpotts 4.5⭐
The Haunted Photograph by Ruth McEnery Stuart 3.25⭐
The Ghost that Got the Button by Will Adams 2.25⭐
The Specter Bridegroom by Washington Irving 4⭐
The Specter of Tappington Compiled by Richard Harris Barham 3⭐
In the Barn by Burges Johnson 3.25⭐
A Shady Plot by Elsie Brown 3.25⭐
The Lady and the Ghost by Rose Cecil O'Neill 2.5⭐
May 18, 2018
This was a fun collection from 1921. At the end of each story I was looking forward to the next -- which is quite unusual -- I generally get tired of the short form after three or four in a row. So kudos to this collection!
But-- and this is a glaring, flashing neon light exception -- I enjoyed these stories EXCEPT for the one slightly racist story ("A Shady Plot"), the two dismayingly racist stories ("The Ghost Extinguisher" and "The Ghost that Got the Button"), and the one hideously, horribly, overwhelmingly, apallingly racist story ("Dey Ain't No Ghosts").
Unfortunately that's par for the time period. I have recently read a good number of books from the early 1920s, and have frequently found myself zipping along, enjoying both the story and the world of the time, when suddenly these hideously racist beliefs -- beliefs which were soon to lead to eugenics and the Nazis -- pop up, grinning at me like a skull.
That is part of the value of reading old literature, though. It shatters our complacent views of who we, as a culture, are and where we've been, and allows the past to speak for itself -- in its own words. Good or bad, it helps us understand where we are now to remember where we were then.
But-- and this is a glaring, flashing neon light exception -- I enjoyed these stories EXCEPT for the one slightly racist story ("A Shady Plot"), the two dismayingly racist stories ("The Ghost Extinguisher" and "The Ghost that Got the Button"), and the one hideously, horribly, overwhelmingly, apallingly racist story ("Dey Ain't No Ghosts").
Unfortunately that's par for the time period. I have recently read a good number of books from the early 1920s, and have frequently found myself zipping along, enjoying both the story and the world of the time, when suddenly these hideously racist beliefs -- beliefs which were soon to lead to eugenics and the Nazis -- pop up, grinning at me like a skull.
That is part of the value of reading old literature, though. It shatters our complacent views of who we, as a culture, are and where we've been, and allows the past to speak for itself -- in its own words. Good or bad, it helps us understand where we are now to remember where we were then.
May 8, 2015
Some were good; some were not. None were humorous
October 13, 2017
i have a theory, racism is something hacks use instead of words. if a pen for hire is incapable of the craft of developing characters or a theme one thing they pour liberally of some lazy caricatures. this book is the most extraordinary example. It is not a long book but it is a difficult read. my favorite stories were Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost, The Transferred Ghost by Frank R. Stockton and Washington Irving's The Spector Bridegroom. It gets really out there weird like all great compilations do with In the Barn, Ghost Extinguisher and The Lady and the Ghost. the haunted Photograph was good too. Im not going to say which stories get all racial because one of the stories i bet you can guess. Its an important book that shows racism as a contrived cliche only used by the easily forgotten.
November 29, 2017
A collection of funny novellas. Some hilarious, some not so hilarious.
December 17, 2015
This is a collection of ghost stories from around the turn of the century. It is interesting to see which aspects of what frightens us when things go bump in the night have stayed the same, and which things have changed. Some of the stories are written in what was considered old Southern uneducated dialect, which is definitely not popular these days. Altogether, it was a pleasant read, but not spectacular.
November 1, 2011
This is a collection of older (mostly written around 1900) ghost stories. Imaginative and funny.
June 14, 2012
Only finished cause it bothers me not to. Not worth the time. Was not really funny just a story.
November 22, 2012
I didn't finish the book. I read the first story, tried with the second and the third and eventually gave up.
February 2, 2014
Over all a good book; but as it is a collection of short stories they vary in quality. I found "Dey ain't no Ghost" unreadable.
April 3, 2017
The author's definition of 'humorous' is pretty far away from my own definition of the same word. My breakdown of the stories runs to 2 funny, 1 horribly racist and not funny, four decent stories but not actually funny and the erst of the stories (13 left) ranging from not funny through terribly boring. Too say I was disappointed is an underestimation.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews