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Supernatural Literature of the World: An Encyclopedia [Three Volumes]
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
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Binding: Hardcover
 Dziemianowicz, Stefan
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ASIN: 0313327742 |
Book Description
The literature of the supernatural has had a distinguished history over the past two centuries, while the incorporation of the supernatural in literary works can be traced back as far as classical antiquity. Such prominent writers as Edith Wharton and Henry James made use of the supernatural in their writings, and numerous contemporary writers continue to do so. Supernatural literature is widely enjoyed by high school students and general readers, and scholars are devoting more and more attention to it. This encyclopedia provides thorough coverage of the literature of the supernatural. The most exhaustive work of its kind, it covers authors and works from the ancient world to the present. Two of the world's foremost authorities on supernatural literature have coordinated a team of internationally recognized contributors, including: Mike Ashley, Benjamin F. Fisher, Paula Guran, Stephen Jones, Darrell Schweitzer, and Brian Stableford. While other references chiefly offer biographical and critical information, this encyclopedia also provides entries on numerous special topics, including: Alien Abduction, Curses, Dreams and Nightmares, Fantasy Tales, Feminism, Hinduism, Islam, Munsey Magazines, Occultism, Southern Gothic, Urban Legends, Voodoo, Werewolves, and many more. The set includes roughly 1,000 alphabetically arranged entries and presents the work of some 70 contributors. It provides entries on such major canonical writers as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and Oscar Wilde, while also devoting attention to Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, R. L. Stine, and other popular contemporary writers. Entries also include special topics and cultural traditions in the genre. Entries cite works for further reading, and the encyclopedia closes with a selected, general bibliography of major works on supernatural literature. Supernatural literature figures prominently in the curriculum, and students are often interested in reading such works on their own. This encyclopedia is an essential tool for student research on supernatural literature and world literary traditions, and is equally valuable for teachers planning related courses. Both school and public libraries need this work to support the interests of general readers.
Book Description
Strongly recommended. M R JAMES NEWSLETTER Stories of restless spirits returning from the afterlife are as old as storytelling. In medieval Europe ghosts, nightstalkers and unearthly visitors from parallel worlds had been in circulation since before the coming of Christianity. Here is a collection of ghostly encounters from medieval romances, monastic chronicles, sagas and heroic poetry. These tales bore a peculiar freight of spooks and spirituality which can still make the hair stand on end. Look at the story of Richard Rowntree's stillborn child, glimpsed by his father tangled in swaddling clothes on the road to Santiago, or the sly habits of water sprites resting as golden rings on the surface of the river, just out of reach. Writer and broadcaster Andrew Joynes brings together a vivid selection of these tales, with a thoughtful commentary that puts them in context and lays bare the layers of meaning in them.
Customer Reviews:
Ghosties, Ghoulies and Things That Go Bump in the Night.......2004-02-12
If you like ghost stories, you'll love the anthology MEDIEVAL GHOST STORIES compiled and edited by Andrew Joynes. Joynes compiled European tales that range from the 8th to the 14th centuries. The book is divided into four sections. Part One is Miracula and the Monastic Vision of Ghosts. Part Two is Mirabilia and Ghosts in Court Writing. Part Three is entitled Revenants, Prodigies and the Restless Dead. Part Four is Ghosts in Medieval Vernacular Literature. Each section has an overall introduction and each author or literary text also has information before it. The information links the stories from widely different periods together and shows that these tales, although quite different from the modern ghost story, are its literary ancestors.
I enjoyed all the stories, but find that I was quite fond of the stories regarding the Wild Hunt, The Tale of King Herla and Bisclavret by Marie de France.
If you are interested in the mindset of Middle Ages or enjoy legends and tales of the supernatural, you will definitely enjoy this lovely anthology. A selected bibliography and index are included.
Book Description
Plagued by insane nightmare visions, Walter Gilman seeks help in Miskatonic University's infamous library of forbidden books, where, in the pages of Abdul Alhazred's dreaded Necronomicon, he finds terrible hints that seem to connect his own studies in advanced mathematics with the fantastic legends of elder magic. “The Dreams in the Witch House,” gathered together here with more than twenty other tales of terror, exemplifies H. P. Lovecraft's primacy among twentieth-century American horror writers.
Customer Reviews:
The Key-Stone of Lovecraft's Oeuvre, or: Illusions Shattered.......2006-09-26
While reading the penguin omnibus *The Call of Cthulhu* a few years back - my first foray into the Cyclopedean mnemonic-Coliseum of H. P. Lovecraft's oeuvre - it felt as if I were perusing fragments of a much larger cosmology, hinted glimpses of nightmarish mythology, an intuition given credence by the continual reference in the footnotes to other stories, most notably `The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.' As Lovecraft's work is usually self-contained, I continued through that first volume and the follow-up, *The Thing on the Doorstep*, and the gaps in my conception began to slowly and surely bridge together, fashioning an overall portrait of cosmic horror and lurking fear, gallows-humor and existential doom, all woven together by Lovecraft's gloriously-florid prose. Yet it wasn't until I held this volume, *The Dreams in the Witch House,* that I realized here was compiled at last the keystone and map to the underpinnings of the Cthulhu Mythos... and I recall, upon reading the first half-dozen stories, a sense of irritation, having just completed the Conan stores by Lovecraft's contemporary Robert E. Howard, recently published in their original forms and chronological order; why, I wondered, with the numerous printings of Lovecraft's horror throughout the decades, had a similar treatment not been done? *Dreams in the Witch House* spans the creative arch from the halcyon-phase of 1919 to very near the end, Lovecraft's second-to-last story `The Shadow Out of Time' (1935). I surmised that if Penguin and the editor S. T. Joshi had compiled Lovecraft's oeuvre in a chronological fashion, then all that mystery, all that tension-filled `unknown' from the first and second volume, could have been expanded, given a richer foundation.
Not until I delved deeper into this third (and, I presume, last) Penguin edition that the slow realization as to the particular compilation came forth. *Dreams in the Witch House* is unlike its predecessors in several ways, most notably that it contains the bulk of Lovecraft's more fantastical stories, `tone poems' of a mythology that expanded over the course of a pulp-fiction career, with the style differing from the `standard Lovecraft' treatment - in that, a first person narrative of mortal man stumbling upon the secrets to a vaster and inhumanly horrific universe, and the consequences that ensue from these visions of the Void. Although these `standard' stories filter throughout *Dreams in the Witch House*, around half the book is devoted to the more fantastic imagery inspired by the work of Lord Dunsany, and even the regular stories contain hints or progress themes from this concentrated legendry.
Therein lay the quandary, at least for this reader. Lovecraft's gift for horror lay in his hinting at the hideous and horrific, a struggling-obtuse framework for that beyond human conception; due to the writer's refined technique, this usually imparted both a growing tension and curiosity as to the mystery presented. Even when maddeningly diffuse, Lovecraft managed to reveal just enough to satisfy and stimulate, to give shape in the reader's head of the daemonic reality, despite his protagonist's oft-whimpered reluctance to reveal concise detail. That was Lovecraft's genius - in showing not enough, but just the right amount - a literary technique by and large failed by his predecessors and that, in this day and age of shock n' draung, seems downright antiquated. Yet for me it is the hint that haunts the most, as I find most modern horror with non-psychological basis a paltry swine-trough for necronerds and the emotionally stunted, a tawdry romp within the confines of Western culture's death-fixation through violence and adolescent revenge wish-fulfillment (the slasher/gore genre in general).
So - with the revelations of this volume - a mythology that grows through `The Doom that Came to Sarnath', `The Cats of Ulthar,' `The Nameless City', `The Unnamable' - and culminates with `The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath' - I found the magic dissipated with revelation, the climax of so much sinister suggestion found somewhat lacking in a mythos-construct eerily resembling a macabre Oz. Not to say I didn't enjoy `Dream-Quest' or its related stories in this realm-within-a-realm; I generally enjoyed every story of the three Penguin collections, ever-stirred by Lovecraft's prose and resultant imagery. This was simply a case of shattered illusions, the Pandora's Box opened to personal regret
It came clear by the end of *Dreams in the Witch House* that this collection contained a stronger thematic development than the previous two compilations, with the developmental flow between `Unknown Kadath', `The Silver Key' and the inferior follow-up `Through the Gates of the Silver Key' into `The Shadow Out of Time' - with nearly ten years separating this last from the former entries - giving a sense of apotheosis to Lovecraft's `Cluthu Mythos'. And it is this final story that, for me, seems to represent the absolute best of the author's work. Although the structure is very similar to `At the Mountains of Madness,' the concluding novella `The Shadow Out of Time' begins with an overview of the dimensional / space-time theme and progresses into an evocative yarn of alien-haunted beauty, disturbing in a sense that few of Lovecraft's tales managed to impart on this reader.
At last I understood Joshi & Penguin's intent in combining the more mythical and fantastic elements of Lovecraft's work into a concluding volume. Although the first two compilations can be considered more necessary in terms of story-craft and classical status, *The Dreams in the Witch House* nicely dovetails these two volumes and, in its own way, explains all. Venture with caution, however, lest you wish those illusions - of fitful mortal explorations into alien cosmology, of the delight in the horror of the unknown - revealed and subsequently shattered.
Also, a note: the cover is similar yet different than that presented above. Curious...
Third Collection.......2004-10-21
Having read the two previous collections it was a logical step to go on and get the third (and apparently final)one. So what to expect with this book? Some really good stuff and some really bad stuff (my opinion).
Various kinds of stories are gathered here, as was the case with the previous publications by Penguin; that is, there are some "macabre tales", "dreams and fantasies tales" and some "Great Old Ones tales".
"Polaris", the first story, really gave me a bad impression. It's a short piece but its worthiness is just as short. The second tale is not great either. Fortunately this goes up with the third "The Terrible Old Man," though it's nothing properly astounding.
One of the biggest stories in this collection (100 pages or so), namely "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" is the only Lovecraft story I did not finish after having started it. But this one is just too much. It's a dream tale, lots of beautiful imagery with flowery descriptions, weird names of people and towns and god knows what else, etc... etc... The problem is that its length is way too much for a tale of that kind. The fact that it's all a dream completely kills any kind of suspence or tension or expections: in a world where cats can jump off roofs to go behind the moon to gather is a world where you expect absolutely anything. And that's where the weak spot is. If anything can happen then you're just expecting anything and whatever happens is not surprising. So that is not your usual Lovecraft story; but I expect some readers may like that kind of thing; it's not bad it's just so incredibly long that in the end the potential power of such a tale is flattened entirely because of its unfit length and crowding stuff. I only read half of it but after that my interest was so lacking that I just found it useless to go, besides I had lost the thread of what was going on.
I would say this collection is slightly weaker than the two first ones. It's still worth getting if you like Lovecraft. I was just a bit disappointed by some stories in there that are really weak. Yet there are also some good surprises: "The Nameless City", a kind of pre-At the Mountains of Madness is a very interesting story; "In the Vault", however simple and classical it is, still is a pretty good tale.
I'd recommend you check out "The Call of Cthulhu" if you have never read any Lovecraft before and are interested in doing so. Otherwise this book is worth getting (even if some tales do suck).
PS: the footnotes and individual presentations on each story is as always very interesting and informative.
Book Description
New England's dark hills, fogbound coasts, and hidden villages have inspired generations of writers such as Hawthorne, Lovecraft, and King. But these authors' dark imaginings pale when compared to little-known but well-documented and true tales. In this delightfully spine-tingling tour of all six New England states, Citro chronicles the haunted history and folklore of a region steeped in hardship and horror, humor and pathos.
Customer Reviews:
Thoughts You've Never Thunk Before.......2006-04-14
What you'll love about this book is that Citro spins a good yarn. His storytelling style reads well, and your eyes effotlessly flow over the words. As for whether these stories are true, he includes some fantastically compelling reasons why they could possible be more than simple legend or folklore. Documentation, methodical investigations by qualified skeptics, law enforcement sightings, journalists, and witness-upon-witnesses, all shared in a non-overbearing fashion. He's not trying to prove anything, he's just tickling our thoughts -- and it works!
The stories themselves are either interesting, quirky, terrifying (or all of the above), and all of them -- I mean all of them -- are utterly unique. Just stuff you couldn't have made up on your own even if you were using hallucinogens!
If you're a skeptic it will challenge you. If you're a person of faith it will make you rethink your pre-assumed theologies. But ultimately this book succeeds because at its heart they're just well-told stories that will chill you to the bone and make you think at the same time.
true tales of new england hauntings and horrors.......2006-02-26
the book was interesting,not the type of book to read on a cold
dark rainy night.some of the tales were dated,but still of interest to me since i have lived in new england all my life
Scary!.......2004-09-19
A great, scary read. I had read none of these stories before and enjoyed every one of them. Very well written and quite entertaining. Read this alone on a stormy autumn night! Guaranteed to give you chills.
a great read.......2004-01-06
This book is a must have if you like off-the-beaten-path reads. It is well written, and keeps you turning each page. Joseph Citro is one of my favorite authors, he doesn't push it down your throat, you are left to decide what you believe, but they are all great stories. Definitely in my library for keeps.
Citro taps into a rich vein of lore........2003-01-28
This is not a collection of ghost stories designed for telling 'round the campfire. Citro isn't trying to frighten his readers, nor is he striving for a horrific, ghastly atmosphere. Instead, he simply tells the stories in a relaxed, informal narrative which is every bit as riveting as it is informative. He doesn't try to persuade anyone, either; he offers various theories and plausible explanations for the events he describes, but they seldom ring true -- obviously, Citro selected stories of happenings which, to date, have yielded no good answers.
But while the explanations generally don't hold water, the stories themselves sound very believable and real. That's because Citro also hasn't targeted the stories where a single gibbering yokel stammered out his story to a disbelieving audience; he's tapped tales with witnesses (at times numbering in the dozens or more), substantial documentation and, where possible, the results of formal investigations.
Amazon.com
The young Robert Louis Stevenson suffered from repeated nightmares of living a double life, in which by day he worked as a respectable doctor and by night he roamed the back alleys of old-town Edinburgh. In three days of furious writing, he produced a story about his dream existence. His wife found it too gruesome, so he promptly burned the manuscript. In another three days, he wrote it again. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published as a "shilling shocker" in 1886, and became an instant classic. In the first six months, 40,000 copies were sold. Queen Victoria read it. Sermons and editorials were written about it. When Stevenson and his family visited America a year later, they were mobbed by reporters at the dock in New York City. Compulsively readable from its opening pages, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is still one of the best tales ever written about the divided self.
This University of Nebraska Press edition is a small, exquisitely produced paperback. The book design, based on the original first edition of 1886, includes wide margins, decorative capitals on the title page and first page of each chapter, and a clean, readable font that is 19th-century in style. Joyce Carol Oates contributes a foreword in which she calls Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a "mythopoetic figure" like Frankenstein, Dracula, and Alice in Wonderland, and compares Stevenson's creation to doubled selves in the works of Plato, Poe, Wilde, and Dickens.
This edition also features 12 full-page wood engravings by renowned illustrator Barry Moser. Moser is a skillful reader and interpreter as well as artist, and his afterword to the book, in which he explains the process by which he chose a self-portrait motif for the suite of engravings, is fascinating. For the image of Edward Hyde, he writes, "I went so far as to have my dentist fit me out with a carefully sculpted prosthetic of evil-looking teeth. But in the final moments I had to abandon the idea as being inappropriate. It was more important to stay in keeping with the text and, like Stevenson, not show Hyde's face." (Also recommended: the edition of Frankenstein illustrated by Barry Moser) --Fiona Webster
Book Description
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published as a "shilling shocker" in 1886, and became an instant classic--even read by Queen Victoria. Inspired by three specific scenes in a dream Robert Louis Stevenson had (including one in which Mr. Hyde transforms right before the eyes of his pursuers) the story follows Dr. Jekyll, who by day works as a respectable doctor and by night roams the back alleys of old-town London as a monstrous criminal.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is still considered one of the best stories ever written about the complexity of the divided self--the good and the evil sides of humankind. With fascinating insights into Victorian society and early psychology, it is also a remarkable snapshot of its time. With striking illustrations and extended captions unique to the Whole Story, this striking edition provides background information modern readers could otherwise access only through a broad range of supplemental research. This distinctive approach places Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--first published in 1886--within the context of its era, bringing it vividly to life.
157 Illustrations
92 Captions
Customer Reviews:
Super Reader.......2007-08-31
A scientist invents a formula that can bring out man's dual nature. His opposite number, in this case, is somewhat of super-powered wanton, who does whatever he likes. Free of the social restraint of his other half, he happily commits any crime that comes to mind as he feels like it.
Eventually, investigators begin to suspect something, and a hunt is on for who is behind it.
The Amazing book.......2007-04-25
This book was very interesting. It had its ups and downs and at time was hard to understand. I like the suspence and the mystery. For example I liked the part when out of no were Mr.Hyde lashed out and killed another man. I also liked the part were the lawyer went to go see Dr.Jekyll and there was a letter that the Doctor gave to the lawyer which was from Mr.Hyde the scary part was that there was no retern address and the door worker said that no one had hand delivered it. That is why i liked the book.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.......2006-10-24
I thought this was a very challenging book, and it was hard to understand. I couldn't understand alot of the words since it is so old. But once you start understanding it, it really is a great story. Even though I already knew before I started reading it that they were the same person, I didn't know the rest of the story, and it was very interesting how Jekyll had written his will to Mr. Hyde. I like how he had the potion to stop and he was doing a good job, but then he finally gave in. I like this book, but it was challenging.
Classics for your school aged children& children at heart!.......2006-08-19
"Great Illustrated Classics" series of classic books such as The Strange Case of DR. Jekyll and MR. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson are perfect books for children (and adults) of all reading ages.
The text is large and easy to read. They all come bound in a glossy hard cover.
These books are fantastic for book reports and general reading for your school aged children. They will also put up with almost any type of abuse your child can put them trough and still look great.
Perfect for use in book report requirements of any school in the US. They are of course the classics and this title is no exception.
These titles are perfect for the class room, to the school library or simply at home. The pricing on the new ones alone make this series obtainable in any home with school aged children.
Whether they are new to reading or nearly graduating - this is a must own series! There are not many illustrations (about 2-3 per chapter) so older children would not be put off.
I cannot say enough about these books - reading is so important, to have all the classics in such a hardy book binding, laid out in easy to read text at such great prices should make every parent want to purchase the entire collection!
19TH CENTURY CLASSIC .......2006-07-22
I never thought I'd say this about a book, but the movie was better - the one starring Spencer Tracey. I appreciate the subdued style of 19th century literature, but this offered little in the way of memorable descriptions of or insights into either Hyde's or Jekyll's mental state. It really seems like Stevenson put little thought or effort into writing this one. I also get irritated when authors ignore such fundamental scientific concepts as the conservation of mass - Jekyll shrinks when he becomes Hyde. Comic-book science fiction does it all the time, but I expect better from a serious author.
According to the "About the author" at the end of the book, Stevenson won international fame from this book. Perhaps for the time, the insight that we have an evil personality within us was so new that this story deserves this fame. Since it is short, it is worth reading.
(Peter Payne, author of CAPTAIN CALIFORNIA: A YOUNG MAN'S ENCOUNTER WITH THE EVIL WITHIN HIMSELF)
Book Description
Introduction by China Miéville
Long acknowledged as a master of nightmarish visions, H. P. Lovecraft established the genuineness and dignity of his own pioneering fiction in 1931 with his quintessential work of supernatural horror, At the Mountains of Madness. The deliberately told and increasingly chilling recollection of an Antarctic expedition’s uncanny discoveries–and their encounter with untold menace in the ruins of a lost civilization–is a milestone of macabre literature.
This exclusive new edition, presents Lovecraft’s masterpiece in fully restored form, and includes his acclaimed scholarly essay “Supernatural Horror in Literature.” This is essential reading for every devotee of classic terror.
Customer Reviews:
Further into the Canon.......2007-07-09
As some of the other reviews indicate, there's not much new here, beyond Melville's introduction, but the key words are "Modern Library" - along with the Penguin editions of Mr. Joshi's corrected texts and the startling admission of Lovecraft into the Library of America in 2005, this book puts HPL that much further into the canon of American literature and further from the generally cult status that's restricted interest in his work among other readers and critics. It seems a little odd that ML chose "Mountains" rather than "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," which is arguably closer to a novel as most readers understand the term - more unified and complex in its narrative layout, with none of the tangential Mythos references one finds here. Let's hope they add "Ward" to their list, maybe in tandem with "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath," which certainly deserves more attention from readers of fantasy
splendid concept. dull execution........2007-03-11
funny how subjective art is. my copy of this book has this blurb by michael chabon on the front cover: "one of the greatest short novels in american literature, and a key text in my own understanding of what literature can do." wow. weird thing is; by the time i finished this book i was bored (and it's only 99 pages long!). great idea: acients from outer space living down under in antartica, but the novel suffers from that typical genre defect; no character development at all. the narrator is simply the generic voice that 99% of these old (supposed classic) genre pieces are told through. not a single character is anything other than a cardboard cutout designed (barely) to move the narrative along. now if character development matters not at all to you, and you simply want a story, then this might be for you. no doubt about it, lots of effort went into this novella. mr lovecraft had lots of geological terminology conquered, and knew a lot of big words, he simply wasn't interested in making real people a reader (who wants that sort of thing) could possibly relate to or care about. i actually enjoyed the essay on supernatural horror in literature at the end of this book more than i did the novella itself. also, i would like to mention the introduction by china mieville. talk about over-intellectualizing a silly little story, mr mieville takes the cake here. so much effort, so much usage of big words and terms and references to historical theory, all to defend the fact that one likes pulp fiction! relax mr mieville. it's okay to like trite, thrilling little tales. you don't have to become harold bloom as a defense mechanism to hide your feelings of inadequacy because you like this stuff. gee whiz.
FANTASTIC.......2006-07-28
This was a very freaky and disturbing book. I think it is kind of cool how a lot of his stories tie in with the ancient book 'Necronomicon'. Many of the 'fictional' monsters in Lovecraft's works, such as the Cthulu, are monsters that the Necronomicon tells you how to 'supposedly!!' conjure up. It's also kinda cool how you can connect the covers of all his books to form a mural of disturbing sights. Greaaat book!
Conceptually compelling, in execution less so.......2006-06-25
The prime flaw of most genre fiction is that its prose execution never matches the vitality of the conceptual core. And so it is with Lovecraft's fiction, and in particular with this novella, which first saw the light of day in a chopped up version in the sf pulp magazine Astounding. The images and ideas lie there with seductive power: ice blowing through the Antarctic abyss, ominous mountains towering above, a derelict and seemingly abandoned city of unbelievable age, and bewildered men wandering through this maze with emotions that flicker among disgust, fascination, and dread. But it never quite works as it should, given Lovecraft's penchant for repetition, tortuous locution, and narrative hemming and hawing. Early on, the reader has a good guess as to how matters really sit, and in the meantime must bear with the author's endless recounting of yet another chamber with still more bas-reliefs that somehow allow the characters to draw ever more incredibly detailed conclusions about the history of the alien Old Ones, even to the point of deciding that their starry heads bore socialist ideals. And yet there is no denying the compelling nature of HPL's imagination. If only he had been more attuned to the modernist prose of his own century rather than the measured, somewhat musty forms of previous ones. Worth reading, but as others may have noted, from the Library of America collection, which is the best one volume assembly of Lovecraftian works, if one is going to stop at owning just one book by the old gentleman.
And 5 stars for Mieville's introduction.......2006-02-23
One of the most amazing things I have ever read, made even more intriguing because I could not get it out of my mind that this book was written in 1936. It begins as a paleontological study set in Antarctica. Lovecraft writes almost as if this is a scientific documentary. It is convincing enough that within the first 20 pages I was researching what little was known about Antarctica in the 1930s and I was questioning what was known about paleontology at the time. The next 20 pages I was researching fictional citations of the Cthulhu Mythos and the Necronomicon. This book is ground breaking on so many levels.
`At the Mountains of Madness' is nonstop fascinating discovery. Every single page is a thrill and every single page builds, like a documentary, knowledge of this alien world on a mostly unknown continent - at the time of the writing - on our very planet.
This Modern Library Classics edition contains an introduction by China Mieville. I hope nobody tries to read the introduction before reading 'At the Mountains of Madness', but what a pairing is this story and Mielville's introduction. Mielville marvels at Lovecraft's art then takes Lovecraft, the man, apart. I love that these two pieces were put together. I closed the book at 1:30AM after reading the introduction and was sleepless for 2 hours despicably inspired. It is sickening and amazing to be human in all its variety. Beautiful.
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Classic Ghost Stories: Eighteen Spine-Chilling Tales of Terror and the Supernatural
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Classic Horror Stories: Sixteen Legendary Stories of the Supernatural
ASIN: 1592280560 |
Book Description
Even now, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, when science has largely replaced superstition as our way of viewing the world, who among us does not hesitate, however briefly, before entering a darkened room? Who does not feel an involuntary shiver at the sound of footfalls somewhere back there? Who does not wonder, even fleetingly, if the spirits of the dead might still wander the earth? Who does not feel a jolt of primal fear at things that go bump in the night?
For all these reasons and more, stories of ghosts, unexplained happenings, and the supernatural remain among the most popular and enduring tales in all of world literature. Now The Lyons Press presents CLASSIC GHOST STORIES, a chilling collection of some of the very best tales of mystery and imagination ever penned, by some of the finest writers the world has ever produced. So curl up in a comfortable chair, turn on a few more lights to chase away the shadows, and prepare to be scared silly. These are delightfully creepy tales that have stood the test of time, from such stellar authors as:
Ambrose Bierce
Edgar Allan Poe
Edith Wharton
E.F. Benson
Guy de Maupassant
William Fryer Harvey
Charles Dickens
Amelia B. Edwards
M.R. James
Algernon Blackwood
Rudyard Kipling
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Mary E. Wilkins
...and many more
Customer Reviews:
Excellent collection!.......2003-10-04
This is a really great collection of excellent old ghost stories. My favorites are The Screaming Skull and The Body-Snatcher. Highly recommended.
Average customer rating:
- The supernatural in literature
- The Cook's Tour of English Fantasy
- The Beginning of Horror
- Oooh, old horror tales...
- I rediscovered lost works...
|
The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction
Dorothy Scarborough
Manufacturer: Lethe Press
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ASIN: 1590210018
Release Date: 2001-06-30 |
Product Description
The supernatural is a traditional element in literature. Since the epic of Beowulf, there has been a continuing presence of the unearthly and weird in poetry, drama, and fiction. The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction, first published in 1917 during a period of renewed social and literary interest in the occult and spiritualism, offers readers an overview of some of the greatest known, as well as some forgotten yet eerily important, works of English literature. From the precursor of supernaturalism, the Gothic novel with its gloomy castles and cloisters, to the ghosts and madness and horrors written in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, this volume is a guide to a grotesquerie of tales. With chapters like The Devil and His Allies, The Supernatural in Folk-Tales, and Supernatural Science, the unearthly and the bizarre are met inside these pages in all their myriad guises. This is a book that will appeal to aficionados of fantastic and horror literature, offering new insight into the history of so many grand and delightfully macabre stories.
Customer Reviews:
The supernatural in literature.......2002-07-24
First of all the potential reader should know that this book was published in 1917, so the 'Modern' in the title refers to the latter part of the nineteenth century, and the earliest part of the twentieth century.
Secondly, the author omits mention of most of the ghost story authors from that period who are still popular today, e.g. J. S. Le Fanu (first ghostly tale published in 1838) and M. R. James (first collection of stories published in 1904). She also leaves out most of Victorian ladies whose ghost stories are still in print today, e.g. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, E. Nesbit, and Mrs. Riddell.
I would classify this book as an overview of the literature of supernatural fantasy and horror (including a Byronic poem about a vampire). The ghost story as defined and brought to its peak by Victorian and Edwardian authors, receives only brief mention in the chapter, "Modern Ghosts."
Scarborough begins with the Gothic Romance, of which she says: "The mysterious twilights of medievalism invited eyes tired of the noonday glare of Augustan formalism. The natural had become familiar to monotony, hence men craved the supernatural. And so the Gothic novel came into being."
'Gothic' is used to designate the eighteenth-century, pseudo-medieval novel of horror. The author begins with Horace Walpole's, "The Castle of Otranto"--if you are at all fond of Regency romances, you are bound to run across a heroine who is reading Walpole's tale of mad monks and haunted castles, or Mrs. Radcliffe's horrific "Mysteries of Udolpho." These novels depicting "decaying castles with treacherous stairways leading to mysterious rooms, halls of black marble, and vaults whose great rusty keys groan in the locks"--plus a heroine who wanders through spider-webbed corridors at midnight--did not have much staying power. According to Scarborough, Jane Austin finally gave this genre the kiss of death when she satirized their gloomy, overwrought style in "Northanger Abbey," which remained unpublished until after her death in 1818. "The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction" describes many gothic romance peculiarities in detail, while having a certain amount of gentle fun with them.
A chapter on European supernatural literature is followed by the aforementioned chapter on "Modern Ghosts." The author makes much of the effect Poe, Balzac, Hoffmann and other Romantic supernaturalists had on the nineteenth century English and American ghost story. Balzac in particular exerted a strong influence over Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author of "The Haunters and the Haunted," and progenitor of that infamous opening sentence, "It was a dark and stormy night..." (yes, that Bulwer-Lytton). Other stories that the author selects for discussion depend more on the Romantic tradition of insanity, gruesome decline, and horrid death to spark them along, rather than a purely supernatural mechanism. (As a matter of fact, Scarborough even published a novel in which the heroine was driven mad by the wind.)
She also expends a great deal of print on Spiritualism (which was already on the decline when this book was written), and the mystical, folkloric pantheism of such writers as W.B. Yeats ("The Celtic Twilight") and Algernon Blackwood ("Ancient Sorceries").
Scarborough draws heavily upon Romanticism, Spiritualism, and folklore for her chapters on "The Devil and His Allies," "Supernatural Life (which contains an excellent exposition on the legend of the Wandering Jew)," and "The Supernatural in Folk-tales."
"Supernatural Science" is the only really dated chapter in this book, with its discussions of hypnotism, the Fourth Dimension, uncanny chemistry, and students who exchange eyeballs. Even here, the author provides interesting commentary on A. Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, Arthur Machen (whom she despises), and Ambrose Bierce, among other authors who were popular at the beginning of the twentieth century (and still are).
"The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction" should appeal to anyone who is interested in the evolution of fantasy and horror literature. Try "Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood" by Jack Sullivan or "Night Visitors: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story" by Julia Briggs if your interest is more focused on literature that is entirely devoted to ghosts.
The Cook's Tour of English Fantasy.......2002-03-25
This is the latest in Lethe Press's series of reissues of works on the occult. 'The Supernatural In Modern English Fiction' was written in 1917 by Dorothy Scarborough. Given that the series has been uneven so far I did not have high expectations for this volume, and have only now discovered that it is a veritable treasure trove of books and literary history. It covers the period from Horace Walpole's 'Castle of Otranto' and other Gothic romances straight through to the author's own present times in the early 20th Century.
This makes for a literal cast of thousands. I was quite surprised to discover that horror and fantasy were a major part of the world's literary output from the very beginnings of popular literature. From Walpole, Maturin, and Shelley right through to Doyle, Machen, and Blackwood it was indeed a crowded stage. And Scarborough manages to present most of these efforts in a readable and well-organized fashion. Initially we are given a historical approach, but then the themes are taken up separately. Ghost stories, the demonic, the wandering Jew, rebirth, the afterlife, folk tales, and even 'scientific' monsters each get their turn in the sun.
As I've indicated Scarborough writes without any of the boring academic tone which often haunts this kind of material. This makes this volume an entertaining way to hunt down new reading material as well as a help in steering one's way through book stall accretions with a steady hand. Keep a pencil and a piece of paper handy while reading this book, you are bound to find things of interest.
My only regret is the lack of a bibliography. Scarborough is quite up front about this. In addition to the 3,000 or so titles that she drew upon for the book, there was an even larger additional number that she felt should be provided to the reader/researcher. There simply was no room at the inn. Unfortunately, to our loss, the bibliography promised as a second volume never materialized. There is, however, a good index, which will have to serve in it's stead.
The Beginning of Horror.......2001-12-20
Ever wonder where Horror Fiction came from? How has it progressed from the beginning Gothic story to the stuff it is made of today? This book will answer your questions.
A must have for the speculative fiction lover, this book covers every genre from the early gothic to the ghost stories of the 20th century. First published in 1917, Dorothy Scarbouough covers it all, the madness and the horror of the 18oo's.
I'm glad I discovered this book, it will remain a favorite for years to come.
Oooh, old horror tales..........2001-12-18
A very cool find... a friend gave me a copy as a birthday gift... so many different stories by authors I had never read... plus the author, Scarborough, has this cute concise way of writing. My fav chapter was on "The Devil and His Allies."
I rediscovered lost works..........2001-08-31
My bookshelves are filled with anthologies, the favorites being ones that contain some of the more obscure stories. What a pleasure to find this book! Scarborough lists some writers I have never heard of and set me scurrying online. She writes in a pleasant, easy style.
Average customer rating:
- Ghosts Across Kentucky: My Old Stomping Grounds
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Ghosts Across Kentucky
William Lynwood Montell
Manufacturer: University Press of Kentucky
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ASIN: 081319007X |
Customer Reviews:
Ghosts Across Kentucky: My Old Stomping Grounds.......2000-12-02
Ghosts Across Kentucky really brings to life the folklore and beliefs of the residents, past and present, of Kentucky. I was really fascinated by the new variations of ghost stories that I had heard while growing up. Some stories made me quiver with delight while others made me snicker to myself, remembering the tales my great-grandmother told. It is full of hauntings, spooks and things that go bump in the night. If you are new to ghosts stories, or an old pro, this book is a must have. I will share the stories with my children's children in the years to come and they will never be outdated.
Average customer rating:
- The Complete Spectrum of Spectres
- This is one excellent book...
- Worth the money
|
The Oxford Book of the Supernatural
D. J. Enright
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0192142011 |
Amazon.com
This is a desk reference for all things paranormal. Enright covers subjects both malignant and benign, and as diverse as ghosts, telepathy and spontaneous human combustion. As eclectic as the subject matter are the sources: excerpts from Shakespeare and Stoker, Goethe and Jung, Huxley and King James I. Enright includes both Eastern and Western philosophies spanning from ancient to modern beliefs.
Book Description
The supernatural has this in common with nature: you may drive it out with a pitchfork, but it will constantly come running back. At a time when science and technology are proving ambivalent in their effects and institutionalized religion is weakened by self-inflicted wounds, interest in the supernatural is insatiable. This sweeping anthology presents material in which, touchingly, eerily, or bizarrely, the supernatural and the natural meet and ignite, illuminating our deepest anxieties, frailties, and hopes. While chiefly concerned with specific instances, it gives due weight to the views of philosophers and of lovers and lost souls. Mixing what is advanced as fact with what is offered as fiction, it takes in hauntings both malignant and benign, magic, vampires and other popular monsters, witches and fairies, the devil seeking whom he may devour, sex and the supernatural, dreams and coincidences, daemonic influences in art, comedies of the occult, near-death experiences and after-death expectations. The closing section sums up the war between believers and disbelievers and touches on the processes of reading and of writing about the subject. Testimonies cited are ancient and modern, drawn from East and West, from Christian, Islamic, and Buddhist sources, and range from Homer to Hardy, Pliny to Primo Levi, Apuleius to A.S. Byatt, through Rabelais, Shakespeare, Johnson, Goethe, Dickens, George Eliot, Flaubert, Kipling, Yeats, Rebecca West, and many others, including some who, like Browning's medium, Mr Sludge, find a little cheating comparable to the china egg that prompts a hen to lay a real one. For fervent believers and sceptics alike, there can be no more magical compendium than this.
Customer Reviews:
The Complete Spectrum of Spectres.......2000-05-01
D.J. Enright has put together an incredible collection of ghostly encounters, both fact, fiction, and all points in between. In this massive and meticulously researched tome, Enright draws upon science, literature, theology, psychology, and folklore to give his readers what is perhaps the most exhaustive, yet enjoyable, collage of the Supernatural yet written. Highly recommended, this book is well worth the price. No serious student of things that go bump in the night should be without it.
This is one excellent book..........1999-11-11
I've read many books on the supernatural but most really lose my interest after a while. I think this one was a great collection of many little stories and explanations of the supernatural. It has all kinds of interesting things in it. Anyone interested in the supernatural should definitely own this book=)
Worth the money.......1999-04-12
This book was so comprehensive and left me satisfied. I enjoyed all of the writings included in the book. I got chills as I read it in the night time. It is a very long book and includes so many classic writers as well as modern ones. I can thoroughly recommend buying this book. Its like getting many, many books in one.
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- The Hidden Key to Harry Potter: Understanding the Meaning, Genius, and Popularity of Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter Novels
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