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The Collected Ghost Stories
Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James. M.R. James is probably the finest ghost-story writer England has ever produced. These tales are not only classics of their genre, but are also superb examples of beautifully-paced understatement, convincing background and chilling terror. As well as the preface, there is a fascinating tail-piece by M.R. James, Stories I Have Tried To Write , which accompanies these thirty tales. Among them are 'Casting the Runes', 'Oh, Whistle and I'll come to you, My Lad', 'The Tractate Middoth', 'The Ash Tree' and 'Canon Alberic's Scrapbook'.
468 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1931
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About the author
M.R. James
1,520 books910 followersMontague Rhodes James, who used the publication name M.R. James, was a noted English mediaeval scholar & provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–18) & of Eton College (1918–36). He's best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal Gothic trappings of his predecessors, replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
M.R.^James
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
M.R.^James
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 488 reviews
November 20, 2021
I’m not usually a fan of short story collections, so I was a little hesitant going into this book. But I actually really enjoyed it!
Collected Ghost Stories is a classic collection of ghost stories by M.R. James. Argued to be the inspiration behind ghost/horror stories as we know them.
As a slight warning, if you go into this book expecting to be scared then you are likely to be disappointed. What did jump out at me was the beauty of M.R. James’ writing. This book is a classic, and like all classics I’ve read it’s not necessarily easy to read. But after the first page or so I was really able to get into each story and it became much easier to read.
I don’t actually have a favourite from this collection, all of the stories were strong in their own way. There was one that gave me slight goosebumps and did creep me out though! I also loved being able to pick this book up when I only had a short period of reading time. This has taught me not to avoid short story collections anymore, because I may find a gem like this one!
I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of classics and horror!
Collected Ghost Stories is a classic collection of ghost stories by M.R. James. Argued to be the inspiration behind ghost/horror stories as we know them.
As a slight warning, if you go into this book expecting to be scared then you are likely to be disappointed. What did jump out at me was the beauty of M.R. James’ writing. This book is a classic, and like all classics I’ve read it’s not necessarily easy to read. But after the first page or so I was really able to get into each story and it became much easier to read.
I don’t actually have a favourite from this collection, all of the stories were strong in their own way. There was one that gave me slight goosebumps and did creep me out though! I also loved being able to pick this book up when I only had a short period of reading time. This has taught me not to avoid short story collections anymore, because I may find a gem like this one!
I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of classics and horror!
May 12, 2015
Montague Rhodes James brings the classic British understatement to the field of horror stories and makes them terrifying beyond imagination. His writing is without any frills; there is very little by the way of atmosphere-building; and the stories themselves seem to be an odd form of reportage. By going against convention, M. R. James creates a nightmare world which is more frightening than that of any of his more traditional contemporaries. He is helped in this by his encyclopaedic knowledge of Church History.
James' ghosts are most exclusively European, mostly British. They emanate from the Celtic woodlands of pre-Roman Britain, and inhabit the wooded copses and cavernous churches of the English countryside. Often the protagonist is a scholarly enquirer who stumbles upon unwelcome and potentially dangerous knowledge in the course of his enquiries, and his journey, along with the story, slowly descend into a madness equalling that of Lovecraft, but in a gentlemanly, English way.
I would rank Casting the Runes at the very top of these gems. This story has given me delicious nightmares ever since I first encountered it during my teens. "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" is another story which stays in the mind. Mind you, that does not mean the others are lesser-these are just personal favourites.
Curl up in your favourite corner during a rainy night, listen to the wind howling in the rafters, and read these stories preferably in dim light. That is, if you dare...
James' ghosts are most exclusively European, mostly British. They emanate from the Celtic woodlands of pre-Roman Britain, and inhabit the wooded copses and cavernous churches of the English countryside. Often the protagonist is a scholarly enquirer who stumbles upon unwelcome and potentially dangerous knowledge in the course of his enquiries, and his journey, along with the story, slowly descend into a madness equalling that of Lovecraft, but in a gentlemanly, English way.
I would rank Casting the Runes at the very top of these gems. This story has given me delicious nightmares ever since I first encountered it during my teens. "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" is another story which stays in the mind. Mind you, that does not mean the others are lesser-these are just personal favourites.
Curl up in your favourite corner during a rainy night, listen to the wind howling in the rafters, and read these stories preferably in dim light. That is, if you dare...
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July 25, 2019My introduction to the fiction of M.R. James is Collected Ghost Stories. I'm leaving my rating undeclared because while I abandoned this at the 35% mark, don't believe it deserves a one-star rating. Montague Rhodes James was a scholar and provost at a number of universities in England, but it was his post at King's College from 1905 to 1918 when he began an annual holiday tradition: writing a ghost story! James would invite his colleagues and students to his rooms on Christmas Eve and proceed to scare the hell out of them. So far, so good!
Another of the qualities that I admire here is the length James goes to ground his stories in reality. He uses university settings or features a scholar going about academic business and this incorporates most of the telling. However, due to when James was writing as well as where, the stories are also thick with information that alienated me. I take for granted how difficult it once was to receive information (by post) or travel (by cart, train or ship) or the role that the Anglican church and Latin played in the scholastic life and James spares no detail here.
He takes the long way around the mulberry bush to reveal anything eerie or suspenseful, and by that time, my attention had been annihilated. He uses way more words than are necessary for an average sentence, with lots of ... one might say ... and so on and so forth, etc., etc. He has a habit of striking out proper places or names, as if seeking to stay out of legal trouble, which is a bit perplexing as well. And the stories are just so, so long without any thrill. Here are the first two paragraphs of The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral:
This matter began, as far as I am concerned, with the reading of a notice in the obituary section of the Gentleman's Magazine for an early year in the nineteenth century:
'On February 26th, at his residence in the Cathedral Close of Barchester, the Venerable John Barwell Haynes, D.D., aged 57, Archdeacon of Sowerbridge and Rector of Pickhill and Candley. He was of -- College, Cambridge, and where, by talent and assiduity, he commanded the esteem of his seniors; when, at the usual time, he took his first degree, his name stood high in the list of wranglers. These academical honours procured for him within a short time a Fellowship of his College. In the year 1783 he received Holy Orders, and was shortly afterwards presented to the perpetual Curancy of Ranxton-sub-Ashe by his friend and patron the late truly venerable Bishop of Lichfield. His speedy preferments, first to a Prebend, and subsequently to the dignity of Precentor in the Cathedral of Barchester, form an eloquent testimony to the respect in which he was helf and to his eminent qualifications. He succeeded to the Archdeaconry upon the sudden decease of Archdeacon Pultney in 1810. His sermons, ever conformable to the principles of the religion and Church which he adorned, displayed in no ordinary degree, without the least trace of enthusiasm, the refinement of the scholar united with the graces of the Christian. Free from sectarian violence, and informed by the spirit of the truest charity, they will long dwell in the memories of his hearers [Here a further omission.] The productions of his pen include an able defence of Episcopacy, which, though often perused by the author of this tribute to his memory, affords but one additional instance of the want of liberality and enterprise which is a too common characteristic of the publishers of our generation. His published works are, indeed, confined to a spirited and elegant version of the Argonautica of Valerius Flacus, a volume of Discourses upon the Several Events in the Life of Joshua, delivered in his Cathedral, and a number of the charges which he pronounced at various visitations to the clergy of his Archdeaconry. These are distinguished by etc., etc. The urbanity and hospitality of the subject of these lines will not readily be forgotten by those who enjoyed his acquaintance. His interest in the venerable and awful pile under whose hoary vault he was so punctual an attendant, and particularly in the musical portion of its rites, might be termed filial, and formed a strong and delightful contrast to the polite indifference displayed by too many of our Cathedral dignitaries at the present time.'
Got all that? Two countries separated by a common language, anyone? So while I appreciate James' ardor for the supernatural and his commitment to penning a story every Christmas, these stories themselves just aren't my cup of tea.
Another of the qualities that I admire here is the length James goes to ground his stories in reality. He uses university settings or features a scholar going about academic business and this incorporates most of the telling. However, due to when James was writing as well as where, the stories are also thick with information that alienated me. I take for granted how difficult it once was to receive information (by post) or travel (by cart, train or ship) or the role that the Anglican church and Latin played in the scholastic life and James spares no detail here.
He takes the long way around the mulberry bush to reveal anything eerie or suspenseful, and by that time, my attention had been annihilated. He uses way more words than are necessary for an average sentence, with lots of ... one might say ... and so on and so forth, etc., etc. He has a habit of striking out proper places or names, as if seeking to stay out of legal trouble, which is a bit perplexing as well. And the stories are just so, so long without any thrill. Here are the first two paragraphs of The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral:
This matter began, as far as I am concerned, with the reading of a notice in the obituary section of the Gentleman's Magazine for an early year in the nineteenth century:
'On February 26th, at his residence in the Cathedral Close of Barchester, the Venerable John Barwell Haynes, D.D., aged 57, Archdeacon of Sowerbridge and Rector of Pickhill and Candley. He was of -- College, Cambridge, and where, by talent and assiduity, he commanded the esteem of his seniors; when, at the usual time, he took his first degree, his name stood high in the list of wranglers. These academical honours procured for him within a short time a Fellowship of his College. In the year 1783 he received Holy Orders, and was shortly afterwards presented to the perpetual Curancy of Ranxton-sub-Ashe by his friend and patron the late truly venerable Bishop of Lichfield. His speedy preferments, first to a Prebend, and subsequently to the dignity of Precentor in the Cathedral of Barchester, form an eloquent testimony to the respect in which he was helf and to his eminent qualifications. He succeeded to the Archdeaconry upon the sudden decease of Archdeacon Pultney in 1810. His sermons, ever conformable to the principles of the religion and Church which he adorned, displayed in no ordinary degree, without the least trace of enthusiasm, the refinement of the scholar united with the graces of the Christian. Free from sectarian violence, and informed by the spirit of the truest charity, they will long dwell in the memories of his hearers [Here a further omission.] The productions of his pen include an able defence of Episcopacy, which, though often perused by the author of this tribute to his memory, affords but one additional instance of the want of liberality and enterprise which is a too common characteristic of the publishers of our generation. His published works are, indeed, confined to a spirited and elegant version of the Argonautica of Valerius Flacus, a volume of Discourses upon the Several Events in the Life of Joshua, delivered in his Cathedral, and a number of the charges which he pronounced at various visitations to the clergy of his Archdeaconry. These are distinguished by etc., etc. The urbanity and hospitality of the subject of these lines will not readily be forgotten by those who enjoyed his acquaintance. His interest in the venerable and awful pile under whose hoary vault he was so punctual an attendant, and particularly in the musical portion of its rites, might be termed filial, and formed a strong and delightful contrast to the polite indifference displayed by too many of our Cathedral dignitaries at the present time.'
Got all that? Two countries separated by a common language, anyone? So while I appreciate James' ardor for the supernatural and his commitment to penning a story every Christmas, these stories themselves just aren't my cup of tea.
December 23, 2018
I’m so glad that the BBC have decided to revive their ‘Ghost Stories for Christmas’ series, spooky tales in dark cold winters nights are just perfect.
With the majority of stories chosen to adapt were by M. R. James, I only felt it was right to finally tackle he’s creepy tales during the lead up to the festive season.
There’s so many great stories in this collection, my favourites being Lost Hearts, Number 13, ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’, Casting the Runes and A View from a Hill.
I read one or two a night, it soon become a nightly treat after a day at work.
Anyone who loves spooky stories will certainly find plenty to enjoy.
Most of the episodes are available on YouTube and was fun to watch after reading that story.
I’m looking forward to this years tale (though its original story written by Mark Gatiss this time), along with repeats of Lost Hearts and The Ash Tree.
These really are timeless classics!
With the majority of stories chosen to adapt were by M. R. James, I only felt it was right to finally tackle he’s creepy tales during the lead up to the festive season.
There’s so many great stories in this collection, my favourites being Lost Hearts, Number 13, ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’, Casting the Runes and A View from a Hill.
I read one or two a night, it soon become a nightly treat after a day at work.
Anyone who loves spooky stories will certainly find plenty to enjoy.
Most of the episodes are available on YouTube and was fun to watch after reading that story.
I’m looking forward to this years tale (though its original story written by Mark Gatiss this time), along with repeats of Lost Hearts and The Ash Tree.
These really are timeless classics!
July 18, 2015
M. R. James is considered the master of the Victorian ghost story and this collection contains most of his short stories. I liked it, but be warned, modern readers who have gotten their scares from likes of Steven King will probably be disappointed. James is a subtle and understated writer and his stories are masterpieces of tone and atmosphere, but usually bloodless, with a lot left to the reader’s imagination. Take, for example, this excerpt from “The Treasure of Abbott Thomas”:
“Well, I felt to the right, and my fingers touched something curved, that felt--yes--more or less like leather; dampish it was, and evidently part of a heavy, full thing. There was nothing, I must say, to alarm one. I grew bolder, and putting both hands in as well as I could, I pulled it to me, and it came. It was heavy, but moved more easily than I expected. As I pulled it towards the entrance, my left elbow knocked over and extinguished the candle. I got the thing fairly in front of the mouth and began drawing it out. Just then Brown gave a sharp ejaculation and ran quickly up the steps with the lantern. He will tell you why in a moment. Startled as I was, I looked round after him, and saw him stand for a minute at the top and then walk away a few yards. Then I heard him call softly, “All right, sir,” and went on pulling out the great bag, in complete darkness. It hung for an instant on the edge of the hole, then slipped forward on to my chest, and put its arms round my neck”.
This is classic James. The narrator is on a narrow staircase and quickly finds himself in complete darkness and alone with some THING. Only vague descriptions are given of the thing: “I can only just manage to tell you now the bare outline of the experience. I was conscious of a most horrible smell of mould, and of a cold kind of face pressed against my own, and moving slowly over it, and of several--I don’t know how many--legs or arms or tentacles or something clinging to my body. I screamed out, Brown says, like a beast, and fell away backward from the step on which I stood, and the creature slipped downwards”. James is content to let the reader fill in the rest of the details of what the creature looks like, knowing that the reader’s own imagination would paint a far scarier picture than anything a writer could dream up.
The horror in his stories is most often even more subtle: it’s the tapping at the window in the dead of night, the faint sounds of scratching at a closed bedroom door, the extinguishing of a candle in the middle of a darken hallway, and the nearby sounds of rustling when you think you are alone in your bed. The writing is a bit old-fashioned which is to be expected for stories written in the late 1800’s and very British with class distinctions mentioned quite often. My only criticism is that there is a very subtle prejudice against Roman Catholics in several of the stories.
While there are a few duds in the collection, overall the quality of the stories is high. Some of the standouts are “The Ash Tree”, “Casting The Runes”, “The Mezzotint”, and “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad”. A number of the stories have been adapted for both TV and the movies. “Casting the Runes” was made into a movie called “Night of the Demon” back in the 50’s and the plot of “The Mezzotint” was adapted by the old TV show Night Gallery effectively. The plot of “The Mezzotint” is classic: a painting of a house slowly changes each night showing a creature leaving a nearby graveyard and making it’s way closer and closer to the house at each viewing. It’s a plot that’s very creepy on the page and equally creepy in the TV adaptation.
If you’re patient, the book offers some thrills and chills and a chance to become familiar with an influential author.
“Well, I felt to the right, and my fingers touched something curved, that felt--yes--more or less like leather; dampish it was, and evidently part of a heavy, full thing. There was nothing, I must say, to alarm one. I grew bolder, and putting both hands in as well as I could, I pulled it to me, and it came. It was heavy, but moved more easily than I expected. As I pulled it towards the entrance, my left elbow knocked over and extinguished the candle. I got the thing fairly in front of the mouth and began drawing it out. Just then Brown gave a sharp ejaculation and ran quickly up the steps with the lantern. He will tell you why in a moment. Startled as I was, I looked round after him, and saw him stand for a minute at the top and then walk away a few yards. Then I heard him call softly, “All right, sir,” and went on pulling out the great bag, in complete darkness. It hung for an instant on the edge of the hole, then slipped forward on to my chest, and put its arms round my neck”.
This is classic James. The narrator is on a narrow staircase and quickly finds himself in complete darkness and alone with some THING. Only vague descriptions are given of the thing: “I can only just manage to tell you now the bare outline of the experience. I was conscious of a most horrible smell of mould, and of a cold kind of face pressed against my own, and moving slowly over it, and of several--I don’t know how many--legs or arms or tentacles or something clinging to my body. I screamed out, Brown says, like a beast, and fell away backward from the step on which I stood, and the creature slipped downwards”. James is content to let the reader fill in the rest of the details of what the creature looks like, knowing that the reader’s own imagination would paint a far scarier picture than anything a writer could dream up.
The horror in his stories is most often even more subtle: it’s the tapping at the window in the dead of night, the faint sounds of scratching at a closed bedroom door, the extinguishing of a candle in the middle of a darken hallway, and the nearby sounds of rustling when you think you are alone in your bed. The writing is a bit old-fashioned which is to be expected for stories written in the late 1800’s and very British with class distinctions mentioned quite often. My only criticism is that there is a very subtle prejudice against Roman Catholics in several of the stories.
While there are a few duds in the collection, overall the quality of the stories is high. Some of the standouts are “The Ash Tree”, “Casting The Runes”, “The Mezzotint”, and “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad”. A number of the stories have been adapted for both TV and the movies. “Casting the Runes” was made into a movie called “Night of the Demon” back in the 50’s and the plot of “The Mezzotint” was adapted by the old TV show Night Gallery effectively. The plot of “The Mezzotint” is classic: a painting of a house slowly changes each night showing a creature leaving a nearby graveyard and making it’s way closer and closer to the house at each viewing. It’s a plot that’s very creepy on the page and equally creepy in the TV adaptation.
If you’re patient, the book offers some thrills and chills and a chance to become familiar with an influential author.
August 12, 2011
Since it was his birthday recently, I decided to re-read the ghost stories of M.R. James, and I learned a few things. First, that I had not, apparently, read all the stories in this volume previously, like I thought I had, because there were some I didn't remember. Second, that even among the stories I had read there were parts that I had forgotten. And third, that M.R. James is King Shit of Space-Cat Mountain even more amazing than I had remembered.
Widely regarded as maybe the best ghost story writer of all time, having re-read these stories, and read some of them for the first time, all I can say is: Yes, yes he is. These stories are often so close to exactly what I long for whenever I pick up a ghostly story. James' easy voice, suited to the stories being read aloud, is perfect, and he can create an unsettling atmosphere or a creepy image with only a word or two. He seems to almost always know what to suggest and what to leave out entirely, and the haunts here are among the spookiest you'll ever encounter.
I always remember that I like James, but somehow I sometimes seem to forget just how much. Hopefully this will serve as a permanent reminder.
Widely regarded as maybe the best ghost story writer of all time, having re-read these stories, and read some of them for the first time, all I can say is: Yes, yes he is. These stories are often so close to exactly what I long for whenever I pick up a ghostly story. James' easy voice, suited to the stories being read aloud, is perfect, and he can create an unsettling atmosphere or a creepy image with only a word or two. He seems to almost always know what to suggest and what to leave out entirely, and the haunts here are among the spookiest you'll ever encounter.
I always remember that I like James, but somehow I sometimes seem to forget just how much. Hopefully this will serve as a permanent reminder.
June 12, 2012
M.R. James can be difficult for the modern reader, but his stories are worth the effort for the atmosphere alone. "Whistle and I'll Come to you My Lad" is probably my favorite, and I'm far from alone. This creepy story involves old ruins, a found whistle with a strange inscription, and an unused bed that is suddenly no longer empty. "An Episode of Cathedral History" Is what a vampire story shoudl be. This one does not glitter. Stephen King once wrote that James' ghosts were harmless; I wonder if he'd forgotten "A Warning to the Curious", which concerns a guardian of sorts who is not to be trifled with.
There are many more stories involving hair-and-bones demons, a ghost whose appearance is signaled by the appearance of sawflies, a room that appears and disappears, a mezzotint that becomes an early moving picture, and many others. James remains my favorite horror author. His wordy, dense stories tell horrifying original tales that stick with you, sometimes invading your dreams.
Just a note: as this is not the edition I own, I can't guarantee that it features the same stories. My volume is the complete edition of James' ghost stories.
There are many more stories involving hair-and-bones demons, a ghost whose appearance is signaled by the appearance of sawflies, a room that appears and disappears, a mezzotint that becomes an early moving picture, and many others. James remains my favorite horror author. His wordy, dense stories tell horrifying original tales that stick with you, sometimes invading your dreams.
Just a note: as this is not the edition I own, I can't guarantee that it features the same stories. My volume is the complete edition of James' ghost stories.
October 30, 2025
Of the three short story collections I read during September / October this was by far my favourite. It was so easy to lose myself in these supremely written, atmospheric. unsettling chillers, and don my posh Edwardian reading voice.
For those interested, you can listen to the wonderful Michael Horden reading these stories on YouTube, and I baked the most amazing loaf of bread while doing just that.
If anyone asked the question "name one book everyone should own", it would be this one, or maybe The Labybird book of Llamas.
For those interested, you can listen to the wonderful Michael Horden reading these stories on YouTube, and I baked the most amazing loaf of bread while doing just that.
If anyone asked the question "name one book everyone should own", it would be this one, or maybe The Labybird book of Llamas.
January 22, 2015
Montague Rhodes James (1862 - 1936) was a distinguished mediaevalist scholar who during his lifetime published many works of academic significance. However, two generations on, he is best remembered, and deservedly so, as the master of the ghost story. He started writing tales in this form as an entertainment for his friends and colleagues, beginning in 1893 with Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook. A tradition was subsequently acquired of reading a new ghostly tale to his chums each Christmas - the darkest period of the year seems to lend itself perfectly to such a practice. Imagine, after a shared festive meal, they adjourn to James’s candlelit study, and all but one of the candles having been extinguished, allowing James just enough light to read his handwritten manuscript, he begins. It must have been such a thrilling experience to be one of the first to hear him read a classic like Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad (certainly one of my favourites!), which was delivered in this way to friends and colleagues in December 1903.
Personally, I think the thing that makes James’s writing so memorable is what he doesn’t choose to tell us - he is economical with his descriptions and in this way he never ‘over-eggs the pudding’. His ghostly manifestations are almost invariably shrouded in a mist, half-seen imaginings, a spidery or tentacle-like arm, a hideously deformed face partly glimpsed through the corner of one eye, a pair of red eyes watching from the dense shadows of a cloister. James often narrates in the first person; however, he is generally telling us a story he was once ‘told’ by an acquaintance or is passing on something that once happened to a colleague. He adopts almost a documentary approach, and deliberately omits chunks of time that are not absolutely essential to the story he’s relating to us. I think this lack of embellishment in the storytelling is fundamental to the effectiveness of his style. We are never going to experience any passage written by James that sounds anything like this: “The ghoulish creature staggered out of the darkness, and where its eyes had once been there were now only gaping pits of raw flesh, oozing with greyish-green slime ...” He is much more likely to describe something along the lines of an impenetrably dense shadow that has inexplicably appeared beside a tomb from where his protagonist thinks he may have caught the tiniest movement or perhaps heard a small, dry, laugh. I know which of these two examples makes my hair go tingly!
If you’re looking for a gory thrill-fest, then M R James is probably not for you. These are stories to curl up with on a winter’s evening beside a cosy fireside while the wind outside is rattling at the window panes. The language is of its time, of course, however, James isn’t given to verbosity, and his stories skip along at a thoroughly enjoyable pace. When I read these tales I felt that James was simply having a great deal of fun and that he wanted to communicate this pleasure with me, his reader. I can highly recommend them.
Personally, I think the thing that makes James’s writing so memorable is what he doesn’t choose to tell us - he is economical with his descriptions and in this way he never ‘over-eggs the pudding’. His ghostly manifestations are almost invariably shrouded in a mist, half-seen imaginings, a spidery or tentacle-like arm, a hideously deformed face partly glimpsed through the corner of one eye, a pair of red eyes watching from the dense shadows of a cloister. James often narrates in the first person; however, he is generally telling us a story he was once ‘told’ by an acquaintance or is passing on something that once happened to a colleague. He adopts almost a documentary approach, and deliberately omits chunks of time that are not absolutely essential to the story he’s relating to us. I think this lack of embellishment in the storytelling is fundamental to the effectiveness of his style. We are never going to experience any passage written by James that sounds anything like this: “The ghoulish creature staggered out of the darkness, and where its eyes had once been there were now only gaping pits of raw flesh, oozing with greyish-green slime ...” He is much more likely to describe something along the lines of an impenetrably dense shadow that has inexplicably appeared beside a tomb from where his protagonist thinks he may have caught the tiniest movement or perhaps heard a small, dry, laugh. I know which of these two examples makes my hair go tingly!
If you’re looking for a gory thrill-fest, then M R James is probably not for you. These are stories to curl up with on a winter’s evening beside a cosy fireside while the wind outside is rattling at the window panes. The language is of its time, of course, however, James isn’t given to verbosity, and his stories skip along at a thoroughly enjoyable pace. When I read these tales I felt that James was simply having a great deal of fun and that he wanted to communicate this pleasure with me, his reader. I can highly recommend them.
August 3, 2018
Video review
All shits and giggles until HAIRY SPIDER DEMON.
Especially relevant to scholars and academics: who hasn't considered hexing that very impolite peer reviewer who bashed your essay so cruelly?
All shits and giggles until HAIRY SPIDER DEMON.
Especially relevant to scholars and academics: who hasn't considered hexing that very impolite peer reviewer who bashed your essay so cruelly?
November 10, 2013
My view of this author changed considerably in the course of my reading of this collection. I embarked on it as a follow-up to the magnificent Tales of Hoffmann, and, at first, by comparison, it seemed distinctly lightweight, though engaging and fun to read. I became more and more intrigued by these stories as I went along, though. They’re deceptively simple, and M. R. himself quite determinedly played down their importance in his few critical remarks on them (“The stories … do not make any very exalted claim”). There is a lot to them, however, singly and, still more, collectively. I read an academic article when I finished reading throwing the combined weight of Benjamin, Baudrillard, Derrida, and Kristeva at them (Penny Fielding, “Reading Rooms: M. R. James and the Library of Modernity”, MFS Modern Fiction Studies, 46/3 (2000)), and it didn’t seem at all a case of using a hammer to crack a nut.
M. R. James was a medieval historian and bibliophile—he’s still a familiar name in Cambridge as he compiled the first modern catalogues of the college libraries (all of them, incredibly enough)—and there’s something rather donnish in his style. Academics, antiquarians, librarians, book-collectors are the protagonists of many of his stories; typically, they make some kind of discovery in the course of their researches that unlocks an evil force from the distant or proximate past. These stories are conventionally described as ghost stories, but the evils unleashed are just as often demons or fiends or nameless horrors as they are conventional ghosts. The genre is really more “curse of the Pharoah” than ghost.
Here’s how James describes his literary formula (the edition I used, Oxford World Classics’s Casting the Runes and Other Ghost Stories, has an interesting collection of his critical statements as an appendix):
Let us … be introduced to the actors in a placid way; let us see them going about their ordinary business, undisturbed by forebodings, pleased with their surroundings; and into this calm environment let the ominous thing put out its head, unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage.
He emphasizes pacing and crescendo here, and he’s a real master of them; in fact, his writing is generally excellent, in an unobtrusive kind of way. “Reticence” seems to be one of his key aesthetic principles, and at his best he exploits it brilliantly, pulling away from the horror at just the right moment to let your imagination take over and do the rest.
The “ordinary business” of the stories, as James calls it, the scene-setting, can seem conventional to the point of banality—dusty old bachelors (or middle-aged bachelors or young bachelors) pottering round libraries, staying on their own in out-of-the-way seaside resorts, or entertaining themselves with a round of golf. The banality is the point, though, obviously; it’s the contrast between the stolidity of the protagonists and the uncanniness of the ancient horrors they unwittingly conjure up that is the pivot of the stories. The dynamic is that of the return of the repressed, and it’s perhaps not surprising that James’s nasties have such a distinctly sexual character (there’s a lot of hairiness and wetness and sliminess and dark holes—need I go on?) The article I cited above goes on about this at some length.
One thing I found intriguing in the book, as a historian of sorts myself, was James’s inquest in these stories into his own profession. The protagonists are close enough to him in professional and lifestyle terms to function as self-parodies, and their impulse to unearth things best left unearthed (epitomized in the superb “A Warning to the Curious”) is clearly also some kind of parody of the curiosity about the past that fueled his own research. It is almost always physical artifacts from the past, of the type James was used to working with, that act as vehicles or triggers for the revenant horrors in these stories— books, an ancient whistle, a mezzotint, a maze, a stained-glass window. James conveys very well the intrinsic uncanniness of the past, and its undeadness, and the eerie charisma of its surviving physical relics. I remember discussing once with my students why handling old books is such a peculiar and compelling sensory experience. We didn’t get very far in analyzing it, but I think I could do better now having read James.
M. R. James was a medieval historian and bibliophile—he’s still a familiar name in Cambridge as he compiled the first modern catalogues of the college libraries (all of them, incredibly enough)—and there’s something rather donnish in his style. Academics, antiquarians, librarians, book-collectors are the protagonists of many of his stories; typically, they make some kind of discovery in the course of their researches that unlocks an evil force from the distant or proximate past. These stories are conventionally described as ghost stories, but the evils unleashed are just as often demons or fiends or nameless horrors as they are conventional ghosts. The genre is really more “curse of the Pharoah” than ghost.
Here’s how James describes his literary formula (the edition I used, Oxford World Classics’s Casting the Runes and Other Ghost Stories, has an interesting collection of his critical statements as an appendix):
Let us … be introduced to the actors in a placid way; let us see them going about their ordinary business, undisturbed by forebodings, pleased with their surroundings; and into this calm environment let the ominous thing put out its head, unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage.
He emphasizes pacing and crescendo here, and he’s a real master of them; in fact, his writing is generally excellent, in an unobtrusive kind of way. “Reticence” seems to be one of his key aesthetic principles, and at his best he exploits it brilliantly, pulling away from the horror at just the right moment to let your imagination take over and do the rest.
The “ordinary business” of the stories, as James calls it, the scene-setting, can seem conventional to the point of banality—dusty old bachelors (or middle-aged bachelors or young bachelors) pottering round libraries, staying on their own in out-of-the-way seaside resorts, or entertaining themselves with a round of golf. The banality is the point, though, obviously; it’s the contrast between the stolidity of the protagonists and the uncanniness of the ancient horrors they unwittingly conjure up that is the pivot of the stories. The dynamic is that of the return of the repressed, and it’s perhaps not surprising that James’s nasties have such a distinctly sexual character (there’s a lot of hairiness and wetness and sliminess and dark holes—need I go on?) The article I cited above goes on about this at some length.
One thing I found intriguing in the book, as a historian of sorts myself, was James’s inquest in these stories into his own profession. The protagonists are close enough to him in professional and lifestyle terms to function as self-parodies, and their impulse to unearth things best left unearthed (epitomized in the superb “A Warning to the Curious”) is clearly also some kind of parody of the curiosity about the past that fueled his own research. It is almost always physical artifacts from the past, of the type James was used to working with, that act as vehicles or triggers for the revenant horrors in these stories— books, an ancient whistle, a mezzotint, a maze, a stained-glass window. James conveys very well the intrinsic uncanniness of the past, and its undeadness, and the eerie charisma of its surviving physical relics. I remember discussing once with my students why handling old books is such a peculiar and compelling sensory experience. We didn’t get very far in analyzing it, but I think I could do better now having read James.
May 7, 2017
I somehow prefer Victorian horror and ghost stories to anything modern, even though there are some modern horror authors that I like. In the oldie books, they didn't think they had to be 'clever' or gory in order to induce the creeps. The stories in this book are chilling and frightening, merely by the existence of the supernatural and the deliberate erasing out of the gore.
My favourite has to be The Mezzotint, a story about a creepy painting that comes to life. Another one is The Diary of Mr. Poyntner, about a cloth pattern that proves to be not so benign as one would think. The others are just as entertaining and scary. What makes it more fun is that these stories usually are set in a very peaceful background where you wouldn't think anything bad ever happens. Except that it does.
There are more than 30 short stories in the book, each more delightful than the last. But I found the last six or seven stories didn't really match up to the rest. They were too short and weren't really much of a story either, more like short sketches that were not too scary or interesting. So striking off one star. But otherwise, this book is a great collection of ghost stories, not for the faint of heart.
My favourite has to be The Mezzotint, a story about a creepy painting that comes to life. Another one is The Diary of Mr. Poyntner, about a cloth pattern that proves to be not so benign as one would think. The others are just as entertaining and scary. What makes it more fun is that these stories usually are set in a very peaceful background where you wouldn't think anything bad ever happens. Except that it does.
There are more than 30 short stories in the book, each more delightful than the last. But I found the last six or seven stories didn't really match up to the rest. They were too short and weren't really much of a story either, more like short sketches that were not too scary or interesting. So striking off one star. But otherwise, this book is a great collection of ghost stories, not for the faint of heart.
January 14, 2014
M.R. James wrote antiquarian scary stories and was a huge influence on H.P. Lovecraft. I'd previously read one of his stories in an anthology so I figured in the spirit of the cold and dark days of winter being a perfect time for scary stories, I decided to read a set of his complete ghost stories. Below are some snippet reviews of each story.
Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book: A scholar spends time with a skittish overseer in a dilapidated cathedral photographing the interior. He acts a bit too cavalierly and gets his just desserts.
Lost Hearts: A recent orphan goes to live with an eccentric and much older cousin. There is a strange temple attached to the house and the orphan begins to hear, see, and feel strange things during the night. Just what is the cousin up to and why? Super creepy with a very satisfying ending.
The Mezzotint: A Mezzotint was an early kind of picture/drawing placed onto a metal plate. A scholar (I feel like we're going to be seeing a lot of scholars) is sent a Mezzotint of what appears to be just a normal house. However, each time the picture is left by itself and then later looked at it changes. The changes are subtle at first but quickly escalate. The race to find the house featured in the Mezzotint is exciting. Do the changes show an event from the past or does it predict the future? Awesome story.
The Ash-Tree: A woman accused of witchcraft is put to death. Was she? (Yep, and it does not end well for the accuser or his ancestors) Good stuff.
Number 13: A scholar (see I told you!) stays in a boarding house while he performs his research in town. He stays in room number 12 and notices that the room next to his is room 14....or is it? Where is room 13? Is there something creepy going on here? Does it tie into his research? I think you know the answers. Good stuff. Lovecraft clearly took some notes when he read this one.
Count Magnus: Is the spirit of a cruel former lord of the manor still around? Take a wild guess folks. Spooky and awesome.
'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad': Previously reviewed in "Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural."
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas: I've always loved a good treasure hunt! In this, a holy man back in the 1600's left some clues in his church as to where he buried a huge amount of gold. A modern day scholar (that's right gang, another scholar!) is the first to decipher the clues. It gives the location of the treasure but warns that he has "placed a guardian over them." The scholar finds the location and more than he bargained for, and, oh yeah, probably loses his mind in the process. Good times!
A School Story: This is two old gentlement remembering scary stories of their youth. One recounts a tale of an old professor her had that had a mysterious coin on the end of a chain with initials and a date inscribed upon it. Someone or something is not happy that the professor has it and is willing to go to increasingly scary lengths to make this known. Less is definitely more in this little gem.
The Rose Garden: A woman wants to place a new rose garden on a piece of land that has a shady past. It brings new meaning to the phrase "Judge not least ye be judged." Creepy and great.
The Tractate Middoth: A librarian gets embroiled in a plot involving an old Hebrew book, a missing will, and an angry old son-of-a-bitch who won't stay dead. One of the few legitimately happy endings I've ever read in a scary story.
Casting the Runes: An interesting tale of a cursed man trying to save himself. Great villain and quite a satisfying conclusion.
The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral: A holy man slowly suspects three sinister looking wooden sculptures mean him harm. You can probably guess whether or not he's right. Good stuff.
Martin's Close: I'm loving the framing devices of his stories. This begins with someone taking a tour of a large property and seeing an oddly, secluded area which leads to a flashback story of a gentleman carelessly playing with the affections of a simple-minded, homely country girl. She ends up murdered and he ends up on trial for it. To give anything else away would spoil the fun, but this is a great story!
Mr. Humphreys and His Inheritance: I do so love a good story about a lawn maze! The aforementioned inheritor finds himself in possession of an estate which includes a locked, super spooky and mysterious lawn maze. If you need to know more to read this story then we are two very different people! Splendid stuff!
The Residence at Whitminster: This story took a sharp right turn in the middle of it. I loved the first half about the malevolent young lord better than what followed but still and entertaining read.
The Diary of Mr. Poynter: Haunted drapes!
An Episode of Cathedral History: Another scholar goes snooping around an old cathedral and finds out some creepy business that has gone down there in the past. Is it a demon? Yes, it is a demon. Good stuff.
The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance: A strange story told through found letters (I love M.R. James framing devices!) of an unliked Uncle who goes missing right before Christmas and the nephew who tries to find him. An odd story that I think I would get more from if "Punch and Judy" was still a popular thing. I know that sounds like an odd then to say but read the story and you'll get it.
Two Doctors: This story has everything: Evil magic. Pod People. Mysterious deaths. The story is told through found deposition testimony of all things. I can see the structure and ideas of this story in many horror tales/movies that have followed.
The Haunted Dolls' House: A less scary version of "The Mezzotint." M.R. James even admits as much at the end of the story. Not my favorite.
The Uncommon Prayer-Book: Haunted Bible!
A Neighbour's Landmark: A fantastically creepy story about cursed soul and a haunted forest. And it all begins with a deceptively simple expression: "That which walks in Betton Wood Knows why it walks or why it cries." Great stuff.
A View from a Hill: Binoculars that can see in the past...but at what price? (It's a bad price. Spoiler alert, the price is bad.)
A Warning to the Curious: A young man digs up an ancient crown which may or may not be cursed. Saw a lot of spots later used by H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King in this one. Very good stuff.
An Evening's Entertainment: Ol' Grandma telling the kids a ghost story by the fire. Odd morality tale that seems like a veiled criticism of homosexuality. Some creepy images but mostly a very odd story.
There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard: This one was based on an off-hand line from Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale." A character begins a story with this line only to be interrupted and is never allowed to finish the story. James took it upon himself to do so. An old miser lives by a graveyard and sees that some gold is buried with a body. You can probably guess what happens, but this is a short, sweet, and spooky story.
Rats: A young scholar (because of course) stays in a small Inn to do some reading. There is a mysterious locked room that he just has to get into. What does he find inside? Spoiler alert: Not rats, oddly enough. Good stuff.
After Dark in the Playing Fields: Incredibly strange, almost Shakespearean tale about a talking Owl in the dead of night. This one uses a lot of humor with mixed results.
Wailing Well: A morality tale about one good Boy Scout and one bad Boy Scout. This would be a good camp fire story for kids because the bad scout gets punished severely and there is a fair amount of humor throughout to keep the kids interested.
The Experiment: A rather boring and rather short resurrection story.
The Malice of Inanimate Objects: The original "Final Destination." Be careful shaving...
A Vignette: There's a spooky path near a church. Short and not at all scary.
This was great stuff and I could definitely see where Lovecraft got his inspiration. Whereas James was most terrified of ancient religious history and knowing too much, Lovecraft was more concerned with ancient alien/monster history and knowing too much. Although a word of warning, don't try to read this book straight through. Much like Lovecraft, you'll need to take breaks with different books lest you get burned out. That being said, a strong recommend to anyone who likes a good scary story on a dark and stormy night.
Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book: A scholar spends time with a skittish overseer in a dilapidated cathedral photographing the interior. He acts a bit too cavalierly and gets his just desserts.
Lost Hearts: A recent orphan goes to live with an eccentric and much older cousin. There is a strange temple attached to the house and the orphan begins to hear, see, and feel strange things during the night. Just what is the cousin up to and why? Super creepy with a very satisfying ending.
The Mezzotint: A Mezzotint was an early kind of picture/drawing placed onto a metal plate. A scholar (I feel like we're going to be seeing a lot of scholars) is sent a Mezzotint of what appears to be just a normal house. However, each time the picture is left by itself and then later looked at it changes. The changes are subtle at first but quickly escalate. The race to find the house featured in the Mezzotint is exciting. Do the changes show an event from the past or does it predict the future? Awesome story.
The Ash-Tree: A woman accused of witchcraft is put to death. Was she? (Yep, and it does not end well for the accuser or his ancestors) Good stuff.
Number 13: A scholar (see I told you!) stays in a boarding house while he performs his research in town. He stays in room number 12 and notices that the room next to his is room 14....or is it? Where is room 13? Is there something creepy going on here? Does it tie into his research? I think you know the answers. Good stuff. Lovecraft clearly took some notes when he read this one.
Count Magnus: Is the spirit of a cruel former lord of the manor still around? Take a wild guess folks. Spooky and awesome.
'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad': Previously reviewed in "Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural."
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas: I've always loved a good treasure hunt! In this, a holy man back in the 1600's left some clues in his church as to where he buried a huge amount of gold. A modern day scholar (that's right gang, another scholar!) is the first to decipher the clues. It gives the location of the treasure but warns that he has "placed a guardian over them." The scholar finds the location and more than he bargained for, and, oh yeah, probably loses his mind in the process. Good times!
A School Story: This is two old gentlement remembering scary stories of their youth. One recounts a tale of an old professor her had that had a mysterious coin on the end of a chain with initials and a date inscribed upon it. Someone or something is not happy that the professor has it and is willing to go to increasingly scary lengths to make this known. Less is definitely more in this little gem.
The Rose Garden: A woman wants to place a new rose garden on a piece of land that has a shady past. It brings new meaning to the phrase "Judge not least ye be judged." Creepy and great.
The Tractate Middoth: A librarian gets embroiled in a plot involving an old Hebrew book, a missing will, and an angry old son-of-a-bitch who won't stay dead. One of the few legitimately happy endings I've ever read in a scary story.
Casting the Runes: An interesting tale of a cursed man trying to save himself. Great villain and quite a satisfying conclusion.
The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral: A holy man slowly suspects three sinister looking wooden sculptures mean him harm. You can probably guess whether or not he's right. Good stuff.
Martin's Close: I'm loving the framing devices of his stories. This begins with someone taking a tour of a large property and seeing an oddly, secluded area which leads to a flashback story of a gentleman carelessly playing with the affections of a simple-minded, homely country girl. She ends up murdered and he ends up on trial for it. To give anything else away would spoil the fun, but this is a great story!
Mr. Humphreys and His Inheritance: I do so love a good story about a lawn maze! The aforementioned inheritor finds himself in possession of an estate which includes a locked, super spooky and mysterious lawn maze. If you need to know more to read this story then we are two very different people! Splendid stuff!
The Residence at Whitminster: This story took a sharp right turn in the middle of it. I loved the first half about the malevolent young lord better than what followed but still and entertaining read.
The Diary of Mr. Poynter: Haunted drapes!
An Episode of Cathedral History: Another scholar goes snooping around an old cathedral and finds out some creepy business that has gone down there in the past. Is it a demon? Yes, it is a demon. Good stuff.
The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance: A strange story told through found letters (I love M.R. James framing devices!) of an unliked Uncle who goes missing right before Christmas and the nephew who tries to find him. An odd story that I think I would get more from if "Punch and Judy" was still a popular thing. I know that sounds like an odd then to say but read the story and you'll get it.
Two Doctors: This story has everything: Evil magic. Pod People. Mysterious deaths. The story is told through found deposition testimony of all things. I can see the structure and ideas of this story in many horror tales/movies that have followed.
The Haunted Dolls' House: A less scary version of "The Mezzotint." M.R. James even admits as much at the end of the story. Not my favorite.
The Uncommon Prayer-Book: Haunted Bible!
A Neighbour's Landmark: A fantastically creepy story about cursed soul and a haunted forest. And it all begins with a deceptively simple expression: "That which walks in Betton Wood Knows why it walks or why it cries." Great stuff.
A View from a Hill: Binoculars that can see in the past...but at what price? (It's a bad price. Spoiler alert, the price is bad.)
A Warning to the Curious: A young man digs up an ancient crown which may or may not be cursed. Saw a lot of spots later used by H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King in this one. Very good stuff.
An Evening's Entertainment: Ol' Grandma telling the kids a ghost story by the fire. Odd morality tale that seems like a veiled criticism of homosexuality. Some creepy images but mostly a very odd story.
There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard: This one was based on an off-hand line from Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale." A character begins a story with this line only to be interrupted and is never allowed to finish the story. James took it upon himself to do so. An old miser lives by a graveyard and sees that some gold is buried with a body. You can probably guess what happens, but this is a short, sweet, and spooky story.
Rats: A young scholar (because of course) stays in a small Inn to do some reading. There is a mysterious locked room that he just has to get into. What does he find inside? Spoiler alert: Not rats, oddly enough. Good stuff.
After Dark in the Playing Fields: Incredibly strange, almost Shakespearean tale about a talking Owl in the dead of night. This one uses a lot of humor with mixed results.
Wailing Well: A morality tale about one good Boy Scout and one bad Boy Scout. This would be a good camp fire story for kids because the bad scout gets punished severely and there is a fair amount of humor throughout to keep the kids interested.
The Experiment: A rather boring and rather short resurrection story.
The Malice of Inanimate Objects: The original "Final Destination." Be careful shaving...
A Vignette: There's a spooky path near a church. Short and not at all scary.
This was great stuff and I could definitely see where Lovecraft got his inspiration. Whereas James was most terrified of ancient religious history and knowing too much, Lovecraft was more concerned with ancient alien/monster history and knowing too much. Although a word of warning, don't try to read this book straight through. Much like Lovecraft, you'll need to take breaks with different books lest you get burned out. That being said, a strong recommend to anyone who likes a good scary story on a dark and stormy night.
June 10, 2023
Ơn giời đã đọc xong cuốn này hic hic đọc ebook nên không biết, mở goodreads mới biết gần 700 trang, thảo nào đọc một lèo xong bị bấn loạn đọc xong sợ quá phải lao đi dọn nhà, nhổ cỏ, bật Harry Styles cả tìm một cuốn tươi mát đọc giải độc :((
Cái này không phải truyện ma mà là truyện quỷ bên Thiên chúa á. Dù tôi không quen thuộc với ma quỷ bên đó nhưng đọc tối chẳng dám đi ngủ mà đọc ngày thì đuội hết cả con người :(( Ba kiểu ma quỷ lưỡi dài máu me thì tôi chẳng sợ lắm đâu nhưng cái thể loại như The Ring với Monster kể điềm đạm tà tà thế này hãi lắm huhu Ông này giống bà Agatha á, viết rất dễ chịu, không cổ súy cái ác, thỉnh thoảng lại cho các đôi cưới nhau nữa =))) Đọc đỉnh lắm nhưng xin thề (lần thứ bao nhiêu không biết) là không đọc truyện ma nữa huhu nhát như thỏ đế mà bày đặt huhu
Cái này không phải truyện ma mà là truyện quỷ bên Thiên chúa á. Dù tôi không quen thuộc với ma quỷ bên đó nhưng đọc tối chẳng dám đi ngủ mà đọc ngày thì đuội hết cả con người :(( Ba kiểu ma quỷ lưỡi dài máu me thì tôi chẳng sợ lắm đâu nhưng cái thể loại như The Ring với Monster kể điềm đạm tà tà thế này hãi lắm huhu Ông này giống bà Agatha á, viết rất dễ chịu, không cổ súy cái ác, thỉnh thoảng lại cho các đôi cưới nhau nữa =))) Đọc đỉnh lắm nhưng xin thề (lần thứ bao nhiêu không biết) là không đọc truyện ma nữa huhu nhát như thỏ đế mà bày đặt huhu
July 12, 2012
I had hoped that I would be scared. I really like to scare myself and laugh about it. When I saw the Orphanage, I couldn't open the bathroom door because I was frozen wondering what was on the other side. After watching Alien at home in the dark, my husband kidded me that they had just landed in our backyard as a roll of thunder broke out. I couldn't move!! And I loved it!
But these are Victorian stories and I guess I've never really been scared by a story. They are written in a Victorian fashion, so I love the writing, just not the ghosts. Excuse the extensive quote, but here is the type of writing I am gushing over.
Nothing is more common form in old-fashioned books than the description of the winter fireside, where the aged grandam narrates to the circle of children that hangs on her lips story after story of ghosts and fairies, and inspires her audience with pleasing terror. But we are never allowed to know what the stories were. We hear, indeed, of sheeted spectres with saucer eyes - and still more intriguing - of 'Rawhead and Bloody Bones' (an expression which the Oxford Dictionary traces back to 1550), but the context of these striking images eludes me.
And so on. The stories are worth reading for the language if for nothing else. A few have their finer points because the ghost is something unexpected, but for the most part, you know the ending before you reach it. One of my favorites is "The Mezzotint" because it IS a ghost story, but it's NOT a ghost story. I liked the idea associated with this one.
So, if you like Dickens and Scott and the Victorian writers, pick this up. It's a newly released edition of the Collected Stories.
But these are Victorian stories and I guess I've never really been scared by a story. They are written in a Victorian fashion, so I love the writing, just not the ghosts. Excuse the extensive quote, but here is the type of writing I am gushing over.
Nothing is more common form in old-fashioned books than the description of the winter fireside, where the aged grandam narrates to the circle of children that hangs on her lips story after story of ghosts and fairies, and inspires her audience with pleasing terror. But we are never allowed to know what the stories were. We hear, indeed, of sheeted spectres with saucer eyes - and still more intriguing - of 'Rawhead and Bloody Bones' (an expression which the Oxford Dictionary traces back to 1550), but the context of these striking images eludes me.
And so on. The stories are worth reading for the language if for nothing else. A few have their finer points because the ghost is something unexpected, but for the most part, you know the ending before you reach it. One of my favorites is "The Mezzotint" because it IS a ghost story, but it's NOT a ghost story. I liked the idea associated with this one.
So, if you like Dickens and Scott and the Victorian writers, pick this up. It's a newly released edition of the Collected Stories.
June 19, 2012
I can't finish these. The first few were good and so was "Whistle, and I'll come to you my lad" but they're just too formulaic for me. I feel like they always start out really well, with great atmosphere and great potential. And then the end is so anti-climactic. The formula goes:
1) Scholar is looking into old manuscripts/paintings/artifacts etc.
2)Scholar discover something hidden
3)Manuscript/painting/artifact is haunted and calls forth some sort of "being" (usually hairy)
4)Being scares scholar with the equivalent of standing there and going "Ooogie, Boogie, Boogie!"
5)Scholar puts away manuscript/painting/artifact
6)Haunting stops but scholar has been scared.
BOOORING!!!!!!
The young adult ghost story book that I recently read was scarier than this.
1) Scholar is looking into old manuscripts/paintings/artifacts etc.
2)Scholar discover something hidden
3)Manuscript/painting/artifact is haunted and calls forth some sort of "being" (usually hairy)
4)Being scares scholar with the equivalent of standing there and going "Ooogie, Boogie, Boogie!"
5)Scholar puts away manuscript/painting/artifact
6)Haunting stops but scholar has been scared.
BOOORING!!!!!!
The young adult ghost story book that I recently read was scarier than this.
January 14, 2022
I was introduced to M.R. James after reading The Wordsworth Book Of Horror Stories - a gargantuan compilation of horror tales written between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. It contained many obscure treasures by authors all over England, Europe and America. I even recall there being an Australian in there as well. Of course, the book was slow-going at times. But overall, I found it thrillingly scary and enchanting to read. Along with Bram Stoker's Dracula, it is what ignited my love not just for "pre-modern" horror fiction, but classic literature in general. I have never forgiven myself for giving the book away, since then, to some charity shop or perhaps my church, so that some other lucky schmuck can get hold of it. If anyone has this on their shelves, or ever comes across it in a second-hand bookstore, I would highly recommend buying it. It’s easily worth $50 at least, and yet I got it new for a mere twenty bucks.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Among many other literary greats like Doyle, Dickens, Le Fanu and Scrotum, this book featured an inconsistent concentration of James’s work. But all the better for it. I remember being mesmerised with almost every one of his stories. That was back in 2010 or somewhere thereof, and apart from reading Oh, Whistle once more in another compilation, I haven’t come across any of his stuff then. That is, until this book, which I was more than excited to read.
Revisiting Dracula) a second time, the experience could not have been more rewarding, and I was certain that I would love this guy’s short but chilling work just as much, if not more, on reading it again.
Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out quite that way. And it still hurts and baffles me to say this. But I don’t mean any disrespect to James, because this book was, by all means, most enjoyable, and often scary. It just didn’t live up to the greatness that I have, until now, attributed to his work. I understand that many still idolise him, and I suppose I still do as well. It’s just that I don’t think I would call him one of my favourites anymore. The point is, on revisiting what pretty much makes up the entirety his work, I found myself enjoying it hardly more than I have similar compilations of the likes of Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Wilkie Collins. There were a number of really great stories, but overall I think most of them started to feel too repetitive and not altogether satisfying in the end.
Firstly, I’ll just list my favourite ones, which I had nothing against. These were all genuinely creepy, or at least interesting. Lost Hearts - which I’m sure I hadn’t read before, and this one was quite creepy (I also liked the black humour in the story’s title). The Ash Tree was average at first, but the ending stayed with me a night or two. Number 13, again, was actually pretty average, but for a few little touches that made it hard to shake off (like, for instance, the image of that door suddenly opening slightly, and the arm reaching out and clawing at the air).
Oh Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad, I always considered to be James’s equivalent of Bierce’s An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge, in that it was certainly decent, but not deserving as being his most famous story, because he had several superior ones out there. Well, after reading this a third time - and alongside all his other stories - I think I’ll finally comply with the majority now. This probably is his best story.
The Tractate Middoth and Casting The Runes were similar in that neither was all that frightening, but I certainly got involved in the character’s plight in each work. And then there was An Episode Of Cathedral History, which was actually another pretty freaky story - despite its quite unpromising title.
These stories were all great. And, to be fair, there weren’t any bad entries in this book. But there were many that just seemed way too average to be given much thought or credit. Certain tropes of James become a little too noticeable when you read a large amount of his work in direct sequence. I found it kind of annoying how so many of his stories began on the “it happened to a friend of a friend of a colleague of mine” premise. Also, James was often very good at building suspense and setting his atmosphere perfectly ... only to break the subtlety by bringing some ludicrous "hairy monster" into the equation. (Many of his stories’ monsters were described as being covered in grey hairs, and wearing dark cloaks. I don't know what his problem was, but he was terrified of these things. God, it's a good thing he died before Star Wars came out). This was all fine the first couple of times, but after a while it got too silly to take seriously.
I also found - and I could be overstepping here, holding my personal failings against him - that his descriptions of geographical landscapes were a bit dry and uninspired. I found myself having to pause and strain my mind to picture his locales more clearly, because he didn’t give me much, and what he did give me - things like the architectural features of churches and mansion exteriors - I just didn’t understand the anatomies for in the first place, and so found myself picturing, for most of these stories, backdrops no less vague than something presented in a high-school play.
None of these are exactly major flaws, but they did get in the way of my relishing the book as much as I wanted to. But all in all, I still can’t bring myself to say anything against M.R. James. I still admire the man, and I still love his period of horror fiction. I just think that, in retrospect, reading the book from start to finish might not have been the best idea. Like pretty much all the greats, his work is more easily appreciated when consumed in smaller doses. After all, that is how he originally gave them to the world ... having his students gather around the fire each Christmas and relating a story prepared for the occasion. There are few ideas more appealing than being in on those private occasions. He must have given many young boy a nightmare in his day.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Among many other literary greats like Doyle, Dickens, Le Fanu and Scrotum, this book featured an inconsistent concentration of James’s work. But all the better for it. I remember being mesmerised with almost every one of his stories. That was back in 2010 or somewhere thereof, and apart from reading Oh, Whistle once more in another compilation, I haven’t come across any of his stuff then. That is, until this book, which I was more than excited to read.
Revisiting Dracula) a second time, the experience could not have been more rewarding, and I was certain that I would love this guy’s short but chilling work just as much, if not more, on reading it again.
Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out quite that way. And it still hurts and baffles me to say this. But I don’t mean any disrespect to James, because this book was, by all means, most enjoyable, and often scary. It just didn’t live up to the greatness that I have, until now, attributed to his work. I understand that many still idolise him, and I suppose I still do as well. It’s just that I don’t think I would call him one of my favourites anymore. The point is, on revisiting what pretty much makes up the entirety his work, I found myself enjoying it hardly more than I have similar compilations of the likes of Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Wilkie Collins. There were a number of really great stories, but overall I think most of them started to feel too repetitive and not altogether satisfying in the end.
Firstly, I’ll just list my favourite ones, which I had nothing against. These were all genuinely creepy, or at least interesting. Lost Hearts - which I’m sure I hadn’t read before, and this one was quite creepy (I also liked the black humour in the story’s title). The Ash Tree was average at first, but the ending stayed with me a night or two. Number 13, again, was actually pretty average, but for a few little touches that made it hard to shake off (like, for instance, the image of that door suddenly opening slightly, and the arm reaching out and clawing at the air).
Oh Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad, I always considered to be James’s equivalent of Bierce’s An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge, in that it was certainly decent, but not deserving as being his most famous story, because he had several superior ones out there. Well, after reading this a third time - and alongside all his other stories - I think I’ll finally comply with the majority now. This probably is his best story.
The Tractate Middoth and Casting The Runes were similar in that neither was all that frightening, but I certainly got involved in the character’s plight in each work. And then there was An Episode Of Cathedral History, which was actually another pretty freaky story - despite its quite unpromising title.
These stories were all great. And, to be fair, there weren’t any bad entries in this book. But there were many that just seemed way too average to be given much thought or credit. Certain tropes of James become a little too noticeable when you read a large amount of his work in direct sequence. I found it kind of annoying how so many of his stories began on the “it happened to a friend of a friend of a colleague of mine” premise. Also, James was often very good at building suspense and setting his atmosphere perfectly ... only to break the subtlety by bringing some ludicrous "hairy monster" into the equation. (Many of his stories’ monsters were described as being covered in grey hairs, and wearing dark cloaks. I don't know what his problem was, but he was terrified of these things. God, it's a good thing he died before Star Wars came out). This was all fine the first couple of times, but after a while it got too silly to take seriously.
I also found - and I could be overstepping here, holding my personal failings against him - that his descriptions of geographical landscapes were a bit dry and uninspired. I found myself having to pause and strain my mind to picture his locales more clearly, because he didn’t give me much, and what he did give me - things like the architectural features of churches and mansion exteriors - I just didn’t understand the anatomies for in the first place, and so found myself picturing, for most of these stories, backdrops no less vague than something presented in a high-school play.
None of these are exactly major flaws, but they did get in the way of my relishing the book as much as I wanted to. But all in all, I still can’t bring myself to say anything against M.R. James. I still admire the man, and I still love his period of horror fiction. I just think that, in retrospect, reading the book from start to finish might not have been the best idea. Like pretty much all the greats, his work is more easily appreciated when consumed in smaller doses. After all, that is how he originally gave them to the world ... having his students gather around the fire each Christmas and relating a story prepared for the occasion. There are few ideas more appealing than being in on those private occasions. He must have given many young boy a nightmare in his day.
January 8, 2014
These stories took me back to my childhood, holidays at the beach in old houses, howling winds and the crashing of the waves at night. Four children whiling away the evening hours reading ghost stories from books borrowed from the local library.
A childhood filled with the fairies and talking animals and tales of adventuring children garnered from the works of English authors who dominated our childish world view at that time.
These ghost stories of M R James are the stuff of children's nightmares and fears, the lurking presence on the other side of the door, the hand that may grab you if you reach to close the window at night, the words of an ancient book which may or may not summon something dark and terrifying when read aloud by unsuspecting lips.
By today's standards these stories do not manage to terrify but in the context of their time, when so much of life was yet to be subjected to the scrutiny of science and laid bare by the 20th century's media and entertainment revolution, they send a chill up the spine and send one scuttling quickly through darkened hallways to regain the perceived security of the light and warmth and comfort of one's own bedroom.
M R James is truly the master of the chillingly accessible ghost story, the story that is told of someone not so different from oneself or one's acquaintance or family and in this way, probably the grandfather of the Urban Myth.
A childhood filled with the fairies and talking animals and tales of adventuring children garnered from the works of English authors who dominated our childish world view at that time.
These ghost stories of M R James are the stuff of children's nightmares and fears, the lurking presence on the other side of the door, the hand that may grab you if you reach to close the window at night, the words of an ancient book which may or may not summon something dark and terrifying when read aloud by unsuspecting lips.
By today's standards these stories do not manage to terrify but in the context of their time, when so much of life was yet to be subjected to the scrutiny of science and laid bare by the 20th century's media and entertainment revolution, they send a chill up the spine and send one scuttling quickly through darkened hallways to regain the perceived security of the light and warmth and comfort of one's own bedroom.
M R James is truly the master of the chillingly accessible ghost story, the story that is told of someone not so different from oneself or one's acquaintance or family and in this way, probably the grandfather of the Urban Myth.
February 8, 2019
Fab!!!
But couldn’t read after sunset 😂
But couldn’t read after sunset 😂
December 19, 2017
This Wordsworth volume gathers together all but a tiny handful of M.R. James’s shorter and more obscure tales, and is such a treasure house of the supernatural and the uncanny that it is difficult for me to single out my favourite half a dozen tales, let alone a story that I could possibly say ranked above the others. That said, I find that the earlier tales in the book – those originally published as ‘Ghost Stories of an Antiquary’ in 1904 – are of a consistently higher quality than some of his later efforts, although there are undeniably gems amongst his later pieces such as ‘An Episode of Cathedral History,’ ‘A View from a Hill’, and ‘A Warning to the Curious’, that rank amongst the author’s best. Given the nature of his posthumous popularity, it would be interesting to know what James, being an accomplished mediaeval scholar, would have made of being remembered for a series of tales that he penned for personal amusement, rather than for his academic endeavours.
For me, as well as for many others, the stories contained in this anthology represent a high watermark in the English ghost story tradition. Understatement and restraint are key to their effectiveness; they are atmospheric works of suggestion that lure the reader into a suspension of disbelief, with their success being as dependent upon what they do not show, as what they do. Such a style may not be as popular today as it once was, but for my tastes, this more genteel approach to ‘horror’ is one that resonates more profoundly than the plethora of formulaic works of vampire and zombie fiction, stripped of adverbs and adjectives, that casts its pall over the dulled imaginations of readers today.
For me, as well as for many others, the stories contained in this anthology represent a high watermark in the English ghost story tradition. Understatement and restraint are key to their effectiveness; they are atmospheric works of suggestion that lure the reader into a suspension of disbelief, with their success being as dependent upon what they do not show, as what they do. Such a style may not be as popular today as it once was, but for my tastes, this more genteel approach to ‘horror’ is one that resonates more profoundly than the plethora of formulaic works of vampire and zombie fiction, stripped of adverbs and adjectives, that casts its pall over the dulled imaginations of readers today.
November 18, 2023
4.5* Re-read
When you mention ‘ghost stories’, M.R. James’s name is bound to appear in the conversation. His stories, especially his most famous one 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to you, My Lad', are included in most anthologies of the genre.
Over the years, I have read quite a few of his, enjoying them immensely, before I finally bought this volume. Here I discovered more excellent tales but also so much more. The introduction to the author and his life was fascinating. I knew James was an academic but had no idea of his character. Those details built a better image of how this repressed Victorian ended up penning such stories. Somehow, his fears and obsessions, combined with the settings he knew best, that of universities and visited locales, work amazingly well. Several themes do recur too, such as the danger of searching for truths. How contradictory that a scholar would be so afraid of ‘knowledge’? Actually, no, it makes sense if you take knowledge in the biblical sense... (now, I’m thinking of Philip Pullman. The way the mind jumps!). The volume also had an enlightening appendix of the author’s own writings on the genre. Again, this added a new angle.
Favourite stories? Quite a few. ‘Oh Whistle’ of course, but also ‘Casting the Runes’, ‘Warning to the Curious’, ’The Tractate Middoth’,and ’Number 13’.
When you mention ‘ghost stories’, M.R. James’s name is bound to appear in the conversation. His stories, especially his most famous one 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to you, My Lad', are included in most anthologies of the genre.
Over the years, I have read quite a few of his, enjoying them immensely, before I finally bought this volume. Here I discovered more excellent tales but also so much more. The introduction to the author and his life was fascinating. I knew James was an academic but had no idea of his character. Those details built a better image of how this repressed Victorian ended up penning such stories. Somehow, his fears and obsessions, combined with the settings he knew best, that of universities and visited locales, work amazingly well. Several themes do recur too, such as the danger of searching for truths. How contradictory that a scholar would be so afraid of ‘knowledge’? Actually, no, it makes sense if you take knowledge in the biblical sense... (now, I’m thinking of Philip Pullman. The way the mind jumps!). The volume also had an enlightening appendix of the author’s own writings on the genre. Again, this added a new angle.
Favourite stories? Quite a few. ‘Oh Whistle’ of course, but also ‘Casting the Runes’, ‘Warning to the Curious’, ’The Tractate Middoth’,and ’Number 13’.
November 9, 2011
this is one of my favourite books. i re-read it quite often. it is a wonderful combination of comfort and discomfort: of meals, and beds in country inns, leisurely pursuits pursued by fuddled englishmen; and then they find the inside of dark corners where unspeakable horrors hide, where unmade beds whistle up into frightening formless forms, and many an academic that has one last glass before he succumbs to the madness; sometimes his simply saying simple words aloud damning him.
the fates, they swirl all around these stories. they remind you how quickly the world can turn on its head. also, holes have scary things inside them a lot of the time.
the fates, they swirl all around these stories. they remind you how quickly the world can turn on its head. also, holes have scary things inside them a lot of the time.
August 19, 2022
These Victorian horror stories, from a master of the ghost genre, are an absolute treat. One caveat to consider, however, is that James relies on certain literary devices. This means that if you read his stories one after the other, you can almost predict what is going to happen, which takes away the surprise and effect. My advice? Read these stories occasionally, interleaving them with other books/stories, so that you don't spoil James's tales by anticipating his twists and turns.
October 15, 2010
I acquired an early love of ghost stories. In mentioning the work of M. R. James a recent contributor to my Ana the Imp blog reminded me just how much I love them, how much I love his work in particular. Montague Rhodes James, to give him his full name, was actually a specialist in medieval manuscripts and the provost of King’s College, Cambridge and then of Eton. But he is best remembered for his delicious tales of the supernatural.
I say ghost stories but he really crosses boundaries, touching on less spectral, far more tangible forms of horror. His tales touch on discoveries of things best hidden, of secrets that should never be told, of forces uncovered by antiquarians from which they recoil, unable to close that which has been opened; marvellous stories like Count Magnus, A Warning to the Curious, Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and Whistle and I’ll come to you; even writing the titles brings a tingle of remembrance!
I first came across them in an anthology that father has in his library, one of the books from his own Eton days. I delight in recalling the terrors in reading the stories by torchlight under my duvet after lights out, stopping at every creak and imagined noise! Sir John Betjeman, also a lover of these stories, had a similar early encounter;
In the year 1920 I was a new boy at the Dragon school, Oxford, then called Lynam's, of which the headmaster was C. C. Lynam, known as 'the Skipper'. He dressed and looked like an old Sea Salt, and in his gruff voice would tell us stories by firelight in the boys' room of an evening with all the lights out and his back to the fire. I remember he told the stories as having happened to himself.…they were the best stories I ever heard, and gave me an interest in old churches, and country houses, and Scandinavia that not even the mighty Hans Christian Andersen eclipsed.
Skipper was being wonderfully disingenuous because, as Betjeman later discovered, the stories he was claiming as his own reality were in fact the fictions of James. But I can’t think of a more delightful way of discovering them, adding a verisimilitude that must have amplified one’s sense of terror.
I’m older now; the childish fears have gone, the seduction of fear has gone, though the memory remains. I could never forget Count Magnus; never forget the terrible pursuit through time and distance of poor scholarly Mister Wraxall, who disturbed those who never should have been disturbed;
People still remember last year at Belchamp St Paul how a strange gentleman came one evening in August years back; and how the next morning but one he was found dead, and there was an inquest; and the jury that viewed the body fainted, seven of 'em did, and none of 'em wouldn't speak to what they see, and the verdict was visitation of God; and how the people as kep' the 'ouse moved out that same week, and went away from that part. But they do not, I think, know that any glimmer of light has ever been thrown, or could be thrown, on the mystery. It so happened that last year the little house came into my hands as part of a legacy. It had stood empty since 1863, and there seemed no prospect of letting it; so I had it pulled down, and the papers of which I have given you an abstract were found in a forgotten cupboard under the window in the best bedroom.
I say ghost stories but he really crosses boundaries, touching on less spectral, far more tangible forms of horror. His tales touch on discoveries of things best hidden, of secrets that should never be told, of forces uncovered by antiquarians from which they recoil, unable to close that which has been opened; marvellous stories like Count Magnus, A Warning to the Curious, Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and Whistle and I’ll come to you; even writing the titles brings a tingle of remembrance!
I first came across them in an anthology that father has in his library, one of the books from his own Eton days. I delight in recalling the terrors in reading the stories by torchlight under my duvet after lights out, stopping at every creak and imagined noise! Sir John Betjeman, also a lover of these stories, had a similar early encounter;
In the year 1920 I was a new boy at the Dragon school, Oxford, then called Lynam's, of which the headmaster was C. C. Lynam, known as 'the Skipper'. He dressed and looked like an old Sea Salt, and in his gruff voice would tell us stories by firelight in the boys' room of an evening with all the lights out and his back to the fire. I remember he told the stories as having happened to himself.…they were the best stories I ever heard, and gave me an interest in old churches, and country houses, and Scandinavia that not even the mighty Hans Christian Andersen eclipsed.
Skipper was being wonderfully disingenuous because, as Betjeman later discovered, the stories he was claiming as his own reality were in fact the fictions of James. But I can’t think of a more delightful way of discovering them, adding a verisimilitude that must have amplified one’s sense of terror.
I’m older now; the childish fears have gone, the seduction of fear has gone, though the memory remains. I could never forget Count Magnus; never forget the terrible pursuit through time and distance of poor scholarly Mister Wraxall, who disturbed those who never should have been disturbed;
People still remember last year at Belchamp St Paul how a strange gentleman came one evening in August years back; and how the next morning but one he was found dead, and there was an inquest; and the jury that viewed the body fainted, seven of 'em did, and none of 'em wouldn't speak to what they see, and the verdict was visitation of God; and how the people as kep' the 'ouse moved out that same week, and went away from that part. But they do not, I think, know that any glimmer of light has ever been thrown, or could be thrown, on the mystery. It so happened that last year the little house came into my hands as part of a legacy. It had stood empty since 1863, and there seemed no prospect of letting it; so I had it pulled down, and the papers of which I have given you an abstract were found in a forgotten cupboard under the window in the best bedroom.
July 17, 2018
Classic and highly rereadable selection of arguably the most all-round consistent 'golden age' period horror master's oeuvre. While one must focus almost solely on Arthur Machen's 1890s output, whittle Algernon Blackwood's vast output down to a small selection of outright masterpieces of terror or dig around for Walter de la Mare's always excellent, but unfortunately scattered and few, horror stories from his varied career, M. R. James' horror stories are satisfyingly presented in a volume of sufficient consistency and length. His opening Ghost Stories of an Antiquary selection is an astoundingly perfect collection, and each story reaches an acknowledged level of exceptionally high quality not worth expounding upon at the present time considering the wealth of online resources on James. His second collection is almost as good.
I agree with the fans and critics that later stories were less consistently well-honed, with one or two stories in each collection I'm less keen on than usual, but every single story here has at least something to learn from and cherish. Such stories as 'A Warning to the Curious', 'An Episode of Cathedral History', 'Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance', 'A View from a Hill', 'Rats' and 'Wailing Well' make even late Monty James nevertheless worth seeking out. I'm even partial to the rather unusual and fantastical talking owl story 'After Dark in the Playing Fields' and the de la Mare-esque intimacy of 'A Vignette'.
I agree with the fans and critics that later stories were less consistently well-honed, with one or two stories in each collection I'm less keen on than usual, but every single story here has at least something to learn from and cherish. Such stories as 'A Warning to the Curious', 'An Episode of Cathedral History', 'Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance', 'A View from a Hill', 'Rats' and 'Wailing Well' make even late Monty James nevertheless worth seeking out. I'm even partial to the rather unusual and fantastical talking owl story 'After Dark in the Playing Fields' and the de la Mare-esque intimacy of 'A Vignette'.
August 4, 2011
I find James's tales deeply compelling, yet at times unsatisfying. He is unmatched in my experience at providing atmosphere and 'setting a stage'. With most of the works included here I was quickly drawn into a delicious world of Victorian academics and antiquaries afield in remote, small towns; along lonely seashores; or about routine pursuits -- all of which were overhung by exquisite melancholy and an expectation of the strange or the perilous. Too often, however, the denouement proved awkward or disappointing. Where he might better leave the instrument of a curse or haunting unseen, James instead resorts to goblin-like runts who crawl out of holes, do their wickedness, and then retreat. I have always preferred ghost stories which relied on what has been called the 'numinous', a quality by which the haunting presence, though unable to affect our physical world directly, may yet arouse such dread in the living that harm indeed results, but only through panic and ensuing accident. Still, not all of James's stories fall short so, and some of his best are concentrated in the third quarter of this collection. I am confident I shall re-read many with great pleasure, and there is always a certain inimitable virtue to fiction written in or near the period it depicts.
January 1, 2015
Introduction
Preface
--Canon Alberic's Scrapbook
--Lost Hearts
--The Mezzotint
--The Ash-tree
--Number 13
--Count Magnus
--'Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad'
--The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas
--A School Story
--The Rose Garden
--The Tractate Middoth
--Casting The Runes
--The Stalls Of Barchester Cathedral
--Martin's Close
--Mr Humphreys And His Inheritance
--The Residence At Whitminster
--The Diary Of Mr Paynter
--An Episode Of Cathedral History
--The Story Of A Disappearance And An Appearance
--Two Doctors
--The Haunted Dolls' House
--The Uncommon Prayer-book
--A Neighbour's Landmark
--A View From A Hill
--A Warning To The Curious
--An Evenings Entertainment
--There Was A Man Dwelt By A Churchyard
--Rats
--After Dark In The Playing Fields
--Wailing Well
--Stories I Have Tried To Write
Preface
--Canon Alberic's Scrapbook
--Lost Hearts
--The Mezzotint
--The Ash-tree
--Number 13
--Count Magnus
--'Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad'
--The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas
--A School Story
--The Rose Garden
--The Tractate Middoth
--Casting The Runes
--The Stalls Of Barchester Cathedral
--Martin's Close
--Mr Humphreys And His Inheritance
--The Residence At Whitminster
--The Diary Of Mr Paynter
--An Episode Of Cathedral History
--The Story Of A Disappearance And An Appearance
--Two Doctors
--The Haunted Dolls' House
--The Uncommon Prayer-book
--A Neighbour's Landmark
--A View From A Hill
--A Warning To The Curious
--An Evenings Entertainment
--There Was A Man Dwelt By A Churchyard
--Rats
--After Dark In The Playing Fields
--Wailing Well
--Stories I Have Tried To Write
January 6, 2018
A timeless collection of England’s greatest ever ghost story writer - MR James.
Often read at Christmas but great to read at anytime of the year, this collection of short often very unsettling ghost stories are easy to read and digest quickly but leave an indelible impression in your mind and imagination.
There are too many to mention here but my three personal favourites are The Ash Tree, The Tractate Middoth and one of MR James most famous ghost stories, Oh Whistle and I’ll come to you my Lad.
Classic, old but still as riveting and addictive as they must have been when first published, these are scary stories of classic ‘bump in the night’ phantoms and unsettling happenings which really stay with you long after finishing. Definitely a book to be read late at night with a candle lit and the windows, doors and curtains firmly closed.......
Often read at Christmas but great to read at anytime of the year, this collection of short often very unsettling ghost stories are easy to read and digest quickly but leave an indelible impression in your mind and imagination.
There are too many to mention here but my three personal favourites are The Ash Tree, The Tractate Middoth and one of MR James most famous ghost stories, Oh Whistle and I’ll come to you my Lad.
Classic, old but still as riveting and addictive as they must have been when first published, these are scary stories of classic ‘bump in the night’ phantoms and unsettling happenings which really stay with you long after finishing. Definitely a book to be read late at night with a candle lit and the windows, doors and curtains firmly closed.......
January 14, 2024
A nice collection of some very well written ghost stories (does exactly what it says on the tin). It took quite a while to read because if you just read through as you would any other book all the stories blur into one, to enjoy them you need to read one at a time and put some space in-between them. A bit like poetry I suppose. As I said, very well written, an expert of his craft you might say, Oh I should also say that it is all very old fashioned but I quite like that, it lends itself well to the genre. I couldn't give 5 stars because after a while some of them do get a bit samey but don't let that put you off. Might have been better if I had taken even longer out between each story.
September 3, 2019
My rating reflects solely the enjoyment I got from reading this book, not the diction, construction of the stories or the imagination behind them. Something about James' style I found difficult, both in my ability to follow the course of action as well as to easily discern characters from each other. There were many words and phrases that threw or befuddled me, many unfamiliar religious or Latin references. Also, violence has become so commonplace for so long in our world, and the human imagination has expressed itself so variously and extensively over the time since these stories were written, much of what must undoubtedly have been shocking in 1895 is today simply mundane.
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