That Quiet Earth

Over time I have read a fair few short stories of a strange, supernatural nature, and it occurred to...

Over time I have read a fair few short stories of a strange, supernatural nature, and it occurred to me that it might be nice to share a list of the ones I think would be of interest. Certainly, short stories are often as powerful as any sprawling novel and in some cases can easily be read in one sitting (I read Hoffmann’s Sandman on the plane to America); the only nuisance is that the tales on my list are scattered in numerous different books. Certain anthologies of stories are well worth buying, however, if the Gothic and weird is your thing: for example, Late Victorian Gothic Tales and The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre, both published by Oxford World’s Classics, are accessible editions with plenty of helpful notes. Note on Lovecraft: I have barely scratched the surface of his oeuvre and am by no means an expert, but I have found that the Penguin editions of his stories, edited by S. T. Joshi, are very informative; and if you like Lovecraft, you could do a lot worse than read Arthur Machen’s short stories. Finally, I decided to omit Poe because his stories are a fairly obvious choice, gorgeous as they are; hopefully some of these writers and/or tales will be new to you.

• Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan* and The White People
• Vernon Lee, Dionea*
• Henry James, Sir Edmund Orme*
• H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness and The Picture in the House
• Hans Christian Andersen, The Shadow
• E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Sandman†
• Franz Kafka, In the Penal Colony†
• John Polidori, The Vampyre
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wall-Paper and The Giant Wistaria
• M.R. James, Lost Hearts, The Ash-tree and ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’
• Virginia Woolf, A Haunted House
• Elizabeth Gaskell, The Old Nurse’s Story
• Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown
• Robert Louis Stevenson, Ollala‡

* Included in Late Victorian Gothic Tales (Oxford World’s Classics, ed. by Roger Luckhurst)

† Included in Tales of the German Imagination from the Brothers Grimm to Ingeborg Bachmann (Penguin Classics, ed. by Peter Wortsman)

‡ Although I technically haven’t read this story, I know it involves vampirism so you can’t go wrong.

All this is my inner English lit student being OTT at 1:30 in the morning.

Belong, Keep Still

Belong, Keep Still

'Spirit of Indian Syna and Misses Wood and...

'Spirit of Indian Syna and Misses Wood and Fairlamb', 1874

Spirit photograph, 1920s

Spirit photograph, 1920s

Eugène Thièbault, Henri Robin and a Spectre, 1863

Eugène Thièbault, Henri Robin and a Spectre, 1863

Photo

Photo

Violet Paget in a portrait by John Singer Sargent, 1881. Under...

Violet Paget in a portrait by John Singer Sargent, 1881. Under the pseudonym Vernon Lee, Paget wrote the supernatural tales for which she is best remembered today.

dansemacabre-: by Gary Crutchley

dansemacabre-:

by Gary Crutchley

Oh my goodness, your icon... I always said that men in suits are my weakness but this time I can't even say anything but splendid!

Goodness gracious me, I amn't used to all this lovely stuff! Everybody cease, now, or you shall all transform into kittens for being so adorable and oh dear I had best be quiet now, yes. Crivens to Betsy, perhaps I should wear a suit every day, at this rate!

you're very beautiful. xx

Ah! Mon Dieu, thank you so much, dearest. I am really very flattered; you are a handsome darling yourself (with a lovely blog). X

Goblin Market, illustrated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1862

Goblin Market, illustrated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1862

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Photo

Photo

Photo

Alexander Munro (summer 1859)Taken by Charles Dodgson a.k.a....

Alexander Munro (summer 1859)
Taken by Charles Dodgson a.k.a. Lewis Carroll

Courtesy of Lewis Carroll, Photographer

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Recent paper cutouts of mine. As usual, they were cut without...

Recent paper cutouts of mine. As usual, they were cut without drawing any designs first; though I did use a photograph to help get the silhouettes of the birds correct enough, copying the outline by looking. To the left is a grinning mask, which I take to be an impish Faunus; and on the right is a little sprite, who likes to dance merrily among the verdure on sunny June afternoons such as these (I saw her in the hedges). There we are!