Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Penguin (1959), Edition: 1st Edition, 154 pages
Description
Fiction. Horror. Short Stories. Suspense. HTML: Author Montague Rhodes James was a medieval scholar by training, and he was interested in the oral storytelling tradition that prevailed before the printed word took hold and gained worldwide popularity. His ghost stories were written to be read aloud in a group setting, but even if you dare to read them all alone, you'll appreciate their subtlety, elegance and slow building of suspense..
User reviews
LibraryThing member GrazianoRonca
A School Story
‘Si tu non veneris ad me, ego veniam ad te’
(If you don’t come to me, I’ll come to you) (page 13)
Two men were talking of their school days, especially concerning ghost stories.
During Latin grammar lessons, Mc Leod stops thinking, maybe feeling something strange coming from the
One night Mc Leod is watching at the professor’s window: ‘there was a man sitting or kneeling on Sampson’s window-sill … beastly thin … looking around and whispering as if he hardly liked to hear himself.’ (page 15)
The next day Mr. Sampson was gone.
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The Rose Garden
Quieta non movere
or Are ghosts noisy?
Mr. Anstruther and his wife are talking about their rose garden, he disagrees with his wife because the spot is not very nice: there are shrubs, and it is not sunny. Eventually Mrs. Anstruther makes sure that her husband starts the job.
A previous owner of the estate, Miss Wilkins, visits Mrs. Anstruther; they talk about the rose garden. But when Mrs Anstruther is telling to Miss Wilkins her project, the latter thoughts ‘were evidently elsewhere.’ When Miss Wilkins and his brother Frank were children, he disappeared for a while and reappeared on the bench of the rose garden. Frank had been asleep and he had had ‘a very odd disjointed sort of dream.’ Frank was in a court for a trial, and after he was walking towards the gallow. ‘He never saw much of what was around him, but he felt the scenes most vividly.’ (page 30)
The same night, Mr. Anstruther had had the same dream.
‘Mrs. Anstruther … was sure some rough had got into the plantation during the night.
- And another thing, George: the moment that Collins is about again, you must tell him to do something about the owls.’ (page 35)
Are ghosts among us? or are they just owls?
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‘Si tu non veneris ad me, ego veniam ad te’
(If you don’t come to me, I’ll come to you) (page 13)
Two men were talking of their school days, especially concerning ghost stories.
During Latin grammar lessons, Mc Leod stops thinking, maybe feeling something strange coming from the
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teacher, Mr. Sampson. One night Mc Leod is watching at the professor’s window: ‘there was a man sitting or kneeling on Sampson’s window-sill … beastly thin … looking around and whispering as if he hardly liked to hear himself.’ (page 15)
The next day Mr. Sampson was gone.
*********************************************************************
The Rose Garden
Quieta non movere
or Are ghosts noisy?
Mr. Anstruther and his wife are talking about their rose garden, he disagrees with his wife because the spot is not very nice: there are shrubs, and it is not sunny. Eventually Mrs. Anstruther makes sure that her husband starts the job.
A previous owner of the estate, Miss Wilkins, visits Mrs. Anstruther; they talk about the rose garden. But when Mrs Anstruther is telling to Miss Wilkins her project, the latter thoughts ‘were evidently elsewhere.’ When Miss Wilkins and his brother Frank were children, he disappeared for a while and reappeared on the bench of the rose garden. Frank had been asleep and he had had ‘a very odd disjointed sort of dream.’ Frank was in a court for a trial, and after he was walking towards the gallow. ‘He never saw much of what was around him, but he felt the scenes most vividly.’ (page 30)
The same night, Mr. Anstruther had had the same dream.
‘Mrs. Anstruther … was sure some rough had got into the plantation during the night.
- And another thing, George: the moment that Collins is about again, you must tell him to do something about the owls.’ (page 35)
Are ghosts among us? or are they just owls?
**********************************************************************
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LibraryThing member kwkslvr
So far, love everything available by James. This one is no exception.
LibraryThing member isabelx
The whispering in my house was more persistent tonight. I seemed not to be rid of it in my room. I have not noticed this before. A nervous man, which I am not, and hope I am not becoming, would have been much annoyed, if not alarmed, by it. The cat was on the stairs tonight. I think it sits there
It's over a month since I finished this book, and I always find short stories harder to review than novels, so this will be short. My favourite stores in this book were Casting the Runes and The Rose Garden, and my least favourite was A School Story.
A School Story: Two men are discussing the sort of ghost stories told by boys at boarding schools, and one of them tells the other about something odd that happened when he was at school.
The Rose Garden: There was a bit of humour in this one, with poor Mr Anstruther being hen-pecked by his wife, and an interesting ending, with the rector being unsurprised by the haunting and saying that it would die out given time.
The Tractate Middoth: The story starts "Towards the end of an autumn afternoon an elderly man with a thin face and grey Piccadilly weepers pushed open the swing-door leading into the vestibule of a certain famous library". I had never heard of Piccadilly weepers and had to Google them. It is a style of facial hair consisting of exaggerated bushy sideburns with no beard. They were popular between 1840 and 1870, so they would have ben old-fashioned by the time this story is set.
Casting the Runes: Although it is not a ghost story, this is a sinister and suspenseful story, with an obsessive and vindictive villain who can't stand his wok being criticised by reviewers. It was my favourite of the stories in this book
The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral: Atmospheric and scary, although what happens is quite predictable.
Martin's Close: A tale of a death which may be murder, and a subsequent haunting by one of M. R James' corporeal ghosts. THe ghosts in his stories tend to be solid rather than purely spirit, and tend to try to clutch their victims than just wail or walk through walls.
Mr Humphreys And His Inheritance: A disused and overgrown maze with a sinister secret.
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always. There is no kitchen cat.It's over a month since I finished this book, and I always find short stories harder to review than novels, so this will be short. My favourite stores in this book were Casting the Runes and The Rose Garden, and my least favourite was A School Story.
A School Story: Two men are discussing the sort of ghost stories told by boys at boarding schools, and one of them tells the other about something odd that happened when he was at school.
The Rose Garden: There was a bit of humour in this one, with poor Mr Anstruther being hen-pecked by his wife, and an interesting ending, with the rector being unsurprised by the haunting and saying that it would die out given time.
The Tractate Middoth: The story starts "Towards the end of an autumn afternoon an elderly man with a thin face and grey Piccadilly weepers pushed open the swing-door leading into the vestibule of a certain famous library". I had never heard of Piccadilly weepers and had to Google them. It is a style of facial hair consisting of exaggerated bushy sideburns with no beard. They were popular between 1840 and 1870, so they would have ben old-fashioned by the time this story is set.
Casting the Runes: Although it is not a ghost story, this is a sinister and suspenseful story, with an obsessive and vindictive villain who can't stand his wok being criticised by reviewers. It was my favourite of the stories in this book
The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral: Atmospheric and scary, although what happens is quite predictable.
Martin's Close: A tale of a death which may be murder, and a subsequent haunting by one of M. R James' corporeal ghosts. THe ghosts in his stories tend to be solid rather than purely spirit, and tend to try to clutch their victims than just wail or walk through walls.
Mr Humphreys And His Inheritance: A disused and overgrown maze with a sinister secret.
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LibraryThing member john257hopper
After watching the well made adaptation of the ghost story Martin's Close broadcast this Christmas, this is the short story collection by master ghost story writer M R James featuring that tale, along with half a dozen others. A couple of these didn't particularly impress me, especially the rather
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tedious Stalls of Barchester Cathedral. I also found The Tractate Middoth and, to a degree, Casting the Runes rather less good than I expected. The Rose Garden and Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance were probably my favourites. Show Less
LibraryThing member Charrlygirl
This collection was a lot of fun. Even though some of the stories were very wordy compared to more contemporary tales, it was easy to get past that because of the vivid pictures the words painted.
There were a couple of stories that I thought were just okay, but there were also some real
I think my favorite in this collection was "Mister Humphreys and His Inheritance", but I could see that possibly changing upon a re-read. These tales were a good time for fans of classic horror.
Recommended!
There were a couple of stories that I thought were just okay, but there were also some real
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atmospheric knockouts.I think my favorite in this collection was "Mister Humphreys and His Inheritance", but I could see that possibly changing upon a re-read. These tales were a good time for fans of classic horror.
Recommended!
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1911
Physical description
152 p.; 6.93 inches