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darkling_talesLJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY dfordoom)
I’ve now progressed to the second section of The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, on the 19th century. The anonymous The Astrologer's Prediction or The Maniac's Fate is wonderfully overwrought and overheated. A young man meets an astrologer who foretells his doom. A very enjoyable tale. Petrus Borel’s Andreas Vesalius the Anatomist is rather more explicit in its detailing of horrors than the average British gothic story – Vesalius does after all cut up dead bodies for a living. Another fine story. J. Wadham’s Lady Eltringham or The Castle of Ratcliffe is so completely forgettable that I’ve already forgotten it. Sheridan le Fanu’s A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family makes a strong contrast with Borel’s story, since it relies heavily on suggestion. In fact until the end you don’t really know if there is anything more to it than just suggestion. The heroine suffers under the same uncertainties. Like most of le Fanu’s work it’s about internal rather than external horrors. An excellent story.
cross-posted to my personal journal
dfordoom)I’ve now progressed to the second section of The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, on the 19th century. The anonymous The Astrologer's Prediction or The Maniac's Fate is wonderfully overwrought and overheated. A young man meets an astrologer who foretells his doom. A very enjoyable tale. Petrus Borel’s Andreas Vesalius the Anatomist is rather more explicit in its detailing of horrors than the average British gothic story – Vesalius does after all cut up dead bodies for a living. Another fine story. J. Wadham’s Lady Eltringham or The Castle of Ratcliffe is so completely forgettable that I’ve already forgotten it. Sheridan le Fanu’s A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family makes a strong contrast with Borel’s story, since it relies heavily on suggestion. In fact until the end you don’t really know if there is anything more to it than just suggestion. The heroine suffers under the same uncertainties. Like most of le Fanu’s work it’s about internal rather than external horrors. An excellent story.
cross-posted to my personal journal
