the ghost stories of M. R. James
Nov. 12th, 2006 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joysilence posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
darkling_talesLJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY dfordoom)
Among aficionados of the ghost story M. R. James has a very high reputation but I’m afraid I’ve always found his stories just a little on the disappointing side. There are exceptions. Casting the Runes is a superb story. On the other hand his much-praised and much-anthologised Oh Whistle, And I'll Come to You, My Lad leaves me cold. I’ve read a few of his stories recently and they’ve changed my opinion slightly – I’m a bit more impressed by his writing than I was although I’m still not entirely convinced his reputation is deserved. Martin’s Close seems to me to be a very routine ghost story. On the other hand Lost Hearts is genuinely creepy and the idea is very good. It was perhaps just a touch too predictable though. The Ash-Tree wasn’t bad – the sense of ancestral evil, of the inescapable clutches of the past, was done quite well.
Does anyone else have any opinions on James’s stories?
dfordoom)Among aficionados of the ghost story M. R. James has a very high reputation but I’m afraid I’ve always found his stories just a little on the disappointing side. There are exceptions. Casting the Runes is a superb story. On the other hand his much-praised and much-anthologised Oh Whistle, And I'll Come to You, My Lad leaves me cold. I’ve read a few of his stories recently and they’ve changed my opinion slightly – I’m a bit more impressed by his writing than I was although I’m still not entirely convinced his reputation is deserved. Martin’s Close seems to me to be a very routine ghost story. On the other hand Lost Hearts is genuinely creepy and the idea is very good. It was perhaps just a touch too predictable though. The Ash-Tree wasn’t bad – the sense of ancestral evil, of the inescapable clutches of the past, was done quite well.
Does anyone else have any opinions on James’s stories?
