Wieland, or, The Transformation, An American Tale

[joysilence]

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY dfordoom)

Wieland, or, The Transformation, An American Tale is a remarkable book for a number of reasons. ( more behind cut )

Vernon Lee's Hauntings

[joysilence]

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY dfordoom)

Vernon Lee’s 1890 collection Hauntings brought together four novella-length short stories about ghosts. The problem with many ghostly tales is that ghosts (compared to other creatures of nightmare) don’t really do all that much, so some ghost stories (even by much-admired practitioners of the form like M. R. James) end up being a little flat and uninteresting. A truly interesting and successful ghost story (in my view) has to focus on the people being haunted, on the effects that ghosts or the belief in ghosts have on the living. These four stories by Vernon Lee are perfect examples of the right way to do the ghost story. In fact they’re among the best I’ve ever read.

( more ghostliness behind cut )

x-posted to strange_tears