tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post8828182775357253124..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Give me thy foggy lips divine - please suggest some ghost storiesAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-56828471439286114062022-11-06T18:11:30.575-06:002022-11-06T18:11:30.575-06:00No doubt I would, although I see the book has a lo...No doubt I would, although I see the book has a logistical problem - how to chew through so many stories. A good book to read over the course of years.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-40076725004425304052022-11-06T16:31:21.149-06:002022-11-06T16:31:21.149-06:00You may like Pu Songling.
I'm also a cold-bloo...You may like Pu Songling.<br />I'm also a cold-blooded reader and I enjoyed the stories. Not in an I'm-scared way. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-90048815952943062962022-11-06T15:28:59.774-06:002022-11-06T15:28:59.774-06:00I don't remember why I did not read any Pu Son...I don't remember why I did not read any Pu Songling for this little stunt. No access to modern translations maybe. I did not use archive.org so much back then, or perhaps it was different.<br /><br />This little ghost story pop-up was one of my better ideas.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-60647984129608983752022-11-06T10:49:40.290-06:002022-11-06T10:49:40.290-06:0010 years late, but I'm glad that someone menti...10 years late, but I'm glad that someone mentioned Pu Songling.<br />My advantage is that a lot more Pu Songling stories have been translated into Vietnamese than into English.Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-27435645830087123602012-10-19T21:23:55.544-05:002012-10-19T21:23:55.544-05:00A very strange bed, of course, sure, pile it on. ...A very strange bed, of course, sure, pile it on. It turns out that 75% of ghost stories are about very strange beds.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-58863497573336195402012-10-19T11:33:03.419-05:002012-10-19T11:33:03.419-05:00Not properly a ghost story, but I just remembered ...Not properly a ghost story, but I just remembered Collins' "A Very Strange Bed." No doubt your post today brought it to mind, stories about rooms etc.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-21108772113699206592012-10-19T08:16:30.205-05:002012-10-19T08:16:30.205-05:00I like the sound of "My New Year's Eve am...I like the sound of "My New Year's Eve among the Mummies" but I fear that a title that good can only lead to disappointment.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-77961684533347714322012-10-19T05:46:52.633-05:002012-10-19T05:46:52.633-05:00Here is a link to 28 Victoria ghost stories
http...Here is a link to 28 Victoria ghost stories<br /><br />http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/ghost-stories.htmlMel uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714473754458914681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-59571111279110702692012-10-19T05:43:40.045-05:002012-10-19T05:43:40.045-05:00Maybe "the canterville ghost" by Oscar W...Maybe "the canterville ghost" by Oscar Wilde. Sticking with the Irish, Charlotte Riddell wrote some very good ghost stories. Mel uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714473754458914681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-41508316022675174772012-10-17T23:18:10.595-05:002012-10-17T23:18:10.595-05:00Fred up above recommends "The Willows" b...Fred up above recommends "The Willows" by Blackwood; the anthologies keeping me company have a couple of other stories.<br /><br />I have read some of Hearn's ghost stories, actually, <i>Kwaidan</i>. Maybe I have read more ghost stories than I remember. Aside from the ghost stories, <i>Kwaidan</i> contains as essay on ants that is among the craziest things I have ever read.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-18535119380576109572012-10-17T20:56:53.715-05:002012-10-17T20:56:53.715-05:00Another ghost tradition- Japanese- crossed into En...Another ghost tradition- Japanese- crossed into English with the work of Lafcadio Hearn.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-71085835600389285752012-10-17T19:15:57.502-05:002012-10-17T19:15:57.502-05:00Has anyone mentioned Algernon Blackwood yet? His s...Has anyone mentioned Algernon Blackwood yet? His stories are maybe not <i>that</i> old, but Algernon's good and dead.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-20538132148176745402012-10-17T08:38:13.267-05:002012-10-17T08:38:13.267-05:00"Rats" is outstanding"Rats" is outstandingAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16763659094408522105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-40327740875967633892012-10-16T23:08:16.425-05:002012-10-16T23:08:16.425-05:00I finally got some actual dang writing done - Gask...I finally got some actual dang writing done - Gaskell & Mary Wilkins Freeman are up first. Not bad, not bad. M. R. James is up tomorrow.<br /><br />Le Fanu is a good idea. I read <i>Uncle Silas</i> long, long ago. I guess it has no ghosts though - more of a proto-mystery - so maybe that's why I did not think of him.<br /><br />I love "Enoch Soames." Oh yes, good one, good one. And who or what is I. A. Ireland? I could read more of those.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-48857327564055510922012-10-16T22:50:58.149-05:002012-10-16T22:50:58.149-05:00Other than Kipling's tales and Stevenson's...Other than Kipling's tales and Stevenson's Thrawn Janet the best old English short ghost stories that I know are Max Beerbohm's Enoch Soames and the following very short story by I. A. IRELAND:<br /><br />How strange!, said the girl, moving cautiously. And how heavy is this door!<br />-While still speaking, she touched the door and it closed suddenly, with a bang.<br />- God!, said the man. It seems not to have a handle on the inside. You have doomed us both!<br />-Both of us, no: just one. The girl said.<br />She walked through the door and disappeared.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-76125789369820270922012-10-16T17:44:59.060-05:002012-10-16T17:44:59.060-05:00"the Ghost and the Bone Setter" and &quo..."the Ghost and the Bone Setter" and "Mrs Crowl's Ghost" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, great stories. Le Fanu is author of Carmilla, first lesbian literary vampire, and a large number of paranormal stories. Can be found online. I will see if Charlotte Riddell has ghost stories. Mel uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714473754458914681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-85749233808333276942012-10-16T16:28:27.060-05:002012-10-16T16:28:27.060-05:00There are several MR James not in the first volume...There are several MR James not in the first volume that I like very much, but I'll restrict myself to recommending "Rats".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-78747811200530098012012-10-16T16:18:25.770-05:002012-10-16T16:18:25.770-05:00That's what I understand, that it was Voltaire...That's what I understand, that it was Voltaire's plays that made him rich.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-89058776110065552372012-10-16T16:15:45.704-05:002012-10-16T16:15:45.704-05:00Voltaire was actually quite successful as a playwr...Voltaire was actually quite successful as a playwright, wasn't he? "Zaïre" especially was a hit, and inspired no less than 13 operas! But tastes in theater change; the plays are less read and performed today.Doug Skinnerhttp://www.dougskinner.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-23065458717315253752012-10-16T15:51:44.720-05:002012-10-16T15:51:44.720-05:00I understand the French are catching up fast, embr...I understand the French are catching up fast, embracing Halloween more and more. The Germans have already swallowed Halloween completely. I guess the English tell their ghost stories at Christmas.<br /><br />That <a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoires_de_fant%C3%B4mes" rel="nofollow">French wiki page</a> would be better if it were written by someone familiar with French literature, someone who knew that French Romanticism or Villiers de l'Isle-Adam existed. Or for that matter German or Chinese literature - "of English origin," please.<br /><br />I have no doubt that there are many fewer French ghost stories than English, just as there are many fewer drawing room mysteries. But their presence or absence is <i>in no way</i> related to the "rationalism" of a literary tradition starring Villon, Rabelais, Sade, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Jarry and so on, the most extraordinary anti-rational literary tradition I have ever seen.<br /><br />It is exactly the English tradition that I realized I did not know about. I guess I have always considered it to be a little pale compared to French or German weirdness. But I'm likely wrong.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-53961364527829447862012-10-16T15:46:35.227-05:002012-10-16T15:46:35.227-05:00Poor Voltaire always wanted to be a successful cla...Poor Voltaire always wanted to be a successful classic playwright and never quite managed. I don't think his plays are much read now. <br /><br />I've never heard of Nodier and Sardou and thanks for the link. <br /><br />Yes, it's a bit odd to be named Sangsue and write about ghost stories but not as much as if he wrote about vampires. (for non French speaking visitors who might read this, it's like being named Bloodsucker)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-22035643667280469112012-10-16T15:40:26.349-05:002012-10-16T15:40:26.349-05:00As I mentioned above, Voltaire was inspired by &qu...As I mentioned above, Voltaire was inspired by "Hamlet" to introduce a ghost into "Sémiramis"; the audience laughed (the poor actor had to thread his way through the spectators on stage, which didn't help).<br /><br />I see that a man with the appropriate name of Daniel Sangsue has devoted a book to French ghost stories of the 19th century; he mentions Nodier, Nerval, Merimée, Sardou, and others: http://www2.unine.ch/unine/page-23529.html<br /><br />I believe Gautier was influenced mostly by Hoffmann; there's a German tradition as well...Doug Skinnerhttp://www.dougskinner.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-67128811176255983072012-10-16T14:43:57.804-05:002012-10-16T14:43:57.804-05:00Thanks for the link, Tom.
The season for ghost st...Thanks for the link, Tom.<br /><br />The season for ghost stories? Sooo American :-) <br /><br />Since I have froggy lips and not foggy ones, I'm still looking for French ghost stories, apart from Gautier and Le Horla by Maupassant. I googled Histoires de fantômes and found Roald Dahl and Henry James as first references. <br /><br />On the French Wikipedia, when you type "histoire de fantôme" it's written that this genre is of English origin and mostly takes place in a Victorian manoir. <br />So it seems I'm not that far off the mark with my assumption that this is really not a French thing.<br /><br />Unlike Shakespeare, Corneille, Racine and Molière don't use ghosts in their plays. (and if Molière used one somewhere, I bet the spectator knows it's a fake one used to make fun of a character)<br /><br />EmmaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-64825581805917718452012-10-16T13:30:07.861-05:002012-10-16T13:30:07.861-05:00"The Jolly Corner" is almost 15,000 word..."The Jolly Corner" is almost 15,000 words, which is almost OK but I think too long.<br /><br />The conceit, remember, is that I am going to read a bunch of stories I have never read and write about them <i>right now</i>. So I also have to be able to read them right now. Read tonight, write tomorrow.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-73640122560990057522012-10-16T13:00:02.493-05:002012-10-16T13:00:02.493-05:00Turn of the Screw is too long? Oh but it is so goo...Turn of the Screw is too long? Oh but it is so good! How about <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1190" rel="nofollow">The Jolly Corner</a> then? I've not read it but supposedly it is one of James's best ghost stories.Stefaniehttp://somanybooksblog.comnoreply@blogger.com