Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1989.
Description
A selection of forty-two stories written between 1829 and 1968.
User reviews
LibraryThing member isabelx
Although every word of this story is as true as despair, I do not expect people to believe it. Nowadays a 'rational explanation' is required before belief is possible. Let me then, at once, offer the 'rational explanation' which finds most favour among those who have heard the tale of my life's
A very well-chosen selection of ghost stories, most of them written between 1890 and 1940, the golden era of English ghost stories.
I had read "The Monkey's Paw", "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad!" and "The Roll-Call of the Reef" before, but the rest were new to me. Between the covers of this book you will find malevolent ghosts, lost and lonely ghosts, and ghosts who needed to make amends. Haunted landscapes and haunted houses, and in some cases it seems to be the house itself that is doing the haunting. Omens of death, murderers haunted by the ghosts of their victims, as well as a couple of ghosts who don't seem to have a grudge against their murderers, and one well-meaning ghost whose well-meaning actions are thwarted by changes that have happened since his death.
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tragedy. It is held that we were 'under a delusion', Laura and I, on that 31st of October; and that this supposition places the whole matter on a satisfactory and believable basis. The reader can judge, when he, too, has heard my story, how far this is an 'explanation' and in what sense it is 'rational'. There were three who took part in this: Laura and I and another man. The other man still lives, and can speak to the truth of the least credible part of my story. A very well-chosen selection of ghost stories, most of them written between 1890 and 1940, the golden era of English ghost stories.
I had read "The Monkey's Paw", "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad!" and "The Roll-Call of the Reef" before, but the rest were new to me. Between the covers of this book you will find malevolent ghosts, lost and lonely ghosts, and ghosts who needed to make amends. Haunted landscapes and haunted houses, and in some cases it seems to be the house itself that is doing the haunting. Omens of death, murderers haunted by the ghosts of their victims, as well as a couple of ghosts who don't seem to have a grudge against their murderers, and one well-meaning ghost whose well-meaning actions are thwarted by changes that have happened since his death.
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LibraryThing member kvanuska
This is a marvelous little collection of proper English ghost stories to keep handy. Besides stories by the familiar -- Sir Walter Scott, Bram Stoker, Henry James, H.G. Wells, W. Somerset Maugham, Edith Wharton, Hugh Walpole, and V.S. Pritchett -- there are also quite a few unfamiliar, yet
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deliciously English names. The names Oliver Onions, Barry Pain, and Simon Raven speak to a profession of ghost story writer chosen at birth. Show Less
LibraryThing member witchystine
Core reading for anyone interested in the ghost story as a genre.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1986
ISBN
0192826662 / 9780192826664