General Weird discusion thread

[Connavar]

Speaking about wierd having read Washington Irving's The Adventure of The German Student, i got taste of him. He reminded me of E.A. Poe for some reason. The story was much more modern than the time it is from. Liked creepy feeling he built up in a story that was ony 10 pages. Has one read this story ?

Reading Henry James after he felt much more of a struggle with his more older writing style.


I want to read more of Irving ASP ! Hope Wordsworth with their cheap collections has some of his works.

 

[GOLLUM]

Speaking about wierd having read Washington Irving's The Adventure of The German Student, i got taste of him. He reminded me of E.A. Poe for some reason. The story was much more modern than the time it is from. Liked creepy feeling he built up in a story that was ony 10 pages. Has one read this story ?

Yes, that's one of his best efforts IMO.

 

[j d worthington]

YOU MEAN
LIKE THIS
HUH?
Book name

Anyway,what I meant with "others" were the other books referenced in the library book.I cant find an e-text if I dunt know the name .

On the cover... um, no, not quite what I meant.... I was referring to the cover art, the fact that it relies on information of that type, rather than a selection of a tableau from the text, etc. As for the "others"... I'll try to get you a few titles over the weekend. In the meantime, see what you can find on the Lock and Key Library. I posted a thread on these some time ago, with links to the volumes I could find online; you might find a fair amount of the things there of interest....

Speaking about wierd having read Washington Irving's The Adventure of The German Student, i got taste of him. He reminded me of E.A. Poe for some reason. The story was much more modern than the time it is from. Liked creepy feeling he built up in a story that was ony 10 pages. Has one read this story ?

Many times. In fact, after "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", it was probably the earliest Irving I read, in that book I've mentioned several times now that I got as a kid: Tales to Tremble By (which, if anyone's interested in a really, really nifty "children's" collection of superb horror tales, that and its companion volume More Tales to Tremble By, are things I'd put extremely high on the list...).

And, as I've read it to many times, obviously I was impressed. If you'd like to see the earliest known example of this motif, you can go to the link above for the Greek and Roman Ghost Stories (another quite wonderful book, alternating between synopses and translations of weird, eerie, and supernatural tales from classical sources, some of which are rather difficult to find in English translations otherwise). There's also Thomas Moore's ballad of The Ring, which I've posted elsewhere....

Reading Henry James after he felt much more of a struggle with his more older writing style.

I don't think James has so much an "older" writing style, as one more given to an at times almost pedantic precision and perhaps overly given to ambiguities of phrasing and syntax. At times that makes his work rather pompous in tone, which puts a fair number of people off. However, if you can adjust to the style, eventually you begin to see it's a very carefully chosen tool, and nothing else would quite work for what he's attempting... but that still doesn't mean he's one of my favorite writers; merely someone I admire and respect, even though I find him a bit irritating at times....

I want to read more of Irving ASP ! Hope Wordsworth with their cheap collections has some of his works.

I don't know if Wordsworth is going to have a collection of his weird works, as it was such a small portion of his output that I'm not sure there's quite enough to do so. However, if you can land a copy of The Complete Tales of Washington Irving for a decent price, you'll have quite a nice deal....

Yes, that's one of his best efforts IMO.

Have you ever read this one in context of its appearance in Tales of a Traveller? It rather alters the reading quite a bit, coming as it does in the "Strange Stories by a Nervous Gentleman"....

 

[Connavar]

I meant James seemed the typical,dated of his time more than Irving. It seemed he was from early 1800's and not Irving. Some writers from those days sounds soo much like their time.

Irving has atleast some collections with wierd,horror like stuff i saw in fantasticfiction. I am most interested of that at first.

Henry James i thought wrote horror more than he has when you see his name in many anthologies and so many people mentioning him as ghost stories writer etc

When i saw his bibliography in fantasticfiction it was many time period pieces that hollywood has made romantic stories of him like The Portrait of a Lady.

 

[Lobolover]

Thanks,J.D.

Started "The seven who were hanged"
and will start "A strange story found in a copper cylinder" today as well and will tell you how good it is.

 

[j d worthington]

Henry James i thought wrote horror more than he has when you see his name in many anthologies and so many people mentioning him as ghost stories writer etc

When i saw his bibliography in fantasticfiction it was many time period pieces that hollywood has made romantic stories of him like The Portrait of a Lady.

That's largely because one of those pieces, "The Turn of the Screw", is one of the most notable ghost stories ever written; certainly the figures of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are difficult to forget... even if they are ghosts in a somewhat different sense than usual....

All of James' ghostly tales were collected into a single, moderately-sized volume back in 1949: The Ghostly Tales of Henry James....

 

[Connavar]

That's largely because one of those pieces, "The Turn of the Screw", is one of the most notable ghost stories ever written; certainly the figures of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are difficult to forget... even if they are ghosts in a somewhat different sense than usual....

All of James' ghostly tales were collected into a single, moderately-sized volume back in 1949: The Ghostly Tales of Henry James....

Thats good to know. I was wondering what ghost stories he is famous for.


The name of Robert Louis Stevenson story you wondered about in the reading thread is The Body Snatcher.
A title that gives me hope about the macabre in the story

 

[Lobolover]

Hmm-"The Altar of the dead"
-I looked on it and the description is a bit off-turning-is it any good?

 

[j d worthington]

I've not read that one, I must admit, though I know a little about it by reputation. What is it you find off-putting about the description; and where did you find said description....?

 

[j d worthington]

Thats good to know. I was wondering what ghost stories he is famous for.


The name of Robert Louis Stevenson story you wondered about in the reading thread is The Body Snatcher.
A title that gives me hope about the macabre in the story

Certainly, "The Body Snatcher" is high on the list; "Markheim" (though not a personal favorite) is also considered one of his better tales of the weird; as is, of course, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. "Thrawn Janet" and "Olalla", I would say, are also quite good. "The Isle of Voices", though a good story, always leaves me a bit unsatisfied....

 

[Lobolover]

wikipedia (blushes)

it said its about a man meeting a woman and they trying to keep the memories on their dead loved ones alive.Not exactly......

 

[Lobolover]

"The Isle of Voices" ?As in.........

Reminds me of "The house of sounds"-concerning that and its earlier version,"Vaila"-I couldnt realy spy any major diference,except modernisisng Gascoine's text a tad bit and changing the name from "Vaila" to "Ryaba".

Well,if you havent read "the seven who were hanged",you should try it- nothing supernatural happened yet (chapter II),but its already quite vivid .

 

[j d worthington]

"The Isle of Voices", as in R. L. Stevenson; it's a tale involving (for all intents and purposes) voodoo....

The differences in the two versions of the Shiel tale are in the toning down of the rather purplish prose of the earlier version. The later version is (while still rather ultraviolet by today's standards) less extreme on this count....

 

[Lobolover]

I only remember he omited that one of the brothers cut of the others ears-while the puting on the eyes was unecessary,it was actualy explanatory on why none of them HAVE ears.

The altars wikipedia description is as follows:

"A fable of literally life and death significance, the story explores how the protagonist tries to keep the remembrance of his dead friends, to save them from being forgotten entirely in the rush of everyday events."

 

[j d worthington]

Again -- it isn't incidents Shiel changed in the tale; it's the actual text; the tone, word-choice, general overall flavor of the text itself.

As for the James... again, though, what is it about this you find off-putting?

 

[Lobolover]

it.......doesnt realy live up to the name is on thing.The other is,well,it doesnt sound supernatural at all.

Something ive been meaning to ask for a while:how did Machen react to his portrayl in "The Purple cloud" I wonder?

 

[j d worthington]

it.......doesnt realy live up to the name is on thing.The other is,well,it doesnt sound supernatural at all.

I take it that you're referring to "The Altar of the Dead" here. (Or are you referring to both this and the Stevenson tale? I'm a little unsure, the way your post is phrased.) If so, I have to disagree; if anything, it's a very carefully chosen title, and gets to the very heart of the attraction of the ghostly, in many ways. The intent may not be to scare, but it's nonetheless a "ghostly" tale, for all that. Poignant ghost stories are few and far between, but when done well, they are to be treasured. (Kipling's "They" is an exquisite example of the type.)

Something ive been meaning to ask for a while:how did Machen react to his portrayl in "The Purple cloud" I wonder?

I don't recall ever coming across anything on that, I'm afraid; at least, nothing that I can recall....

 

[Lobolover]

I understand he went to Shiel's wedding before,but stil,he must've been startled,for SURELY,if he didnt read it himself,SOMEONE would tell him.

And I was talking about the James book.

Also,found a good passage at the begining,of "The seven etc."

"
After the verdict, having bidden good-by to their frock-coatedlawyers, and evading each other's helplessly confused, pitying andguilty eyes, the convicted terrorists crowded in the doorway for amoment and exchanged brief words. "Never mind, Vasya. Everything will be over soon," said Werner. "I am all right, brother," Kashirin replied loudly, calmly and evensomewhat cheerfully. And indeed, his face had turned slightly rosy,[FONT=&quot]and no longer looked like that of a decomposing corpse."[/FONT]

 

[Connavar]

Certainly, "The Body Snatcher" is high on the list; "Markheim" (though not a personal favorite) is also considered one of his better tales of the weird; as is, of course, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. "Thrawn Janet" and "Olalla", I would say, are also quite good. "The Isle of Voices", though a good story, always leaves me a bit unsatisfied....

Is Dr. Jekyll and Hyde of that quality as it fame makes it look like in your opinion?

I have always been interested in that story in different versions without ever knowing who wrote it and when,where it was from.

No matter how i like or dont like The Body Snatcher i want to find out what the true Jekyll and Hyde story is like.

 

[j d worthington]

I quite like Jekyll and Hyde, myself; it's an odd story, with some peculiarities in structure and mannerism, but quite good, nonetheless....