Sir Edmund Orne by Henry James (1891)
Tuesday’s Ghost Story for Halloween October 27, 2020
Reading a ghost story during Halloween week is always a good idea. Sometimes it’s fascinating to go back to the classic authors who are so different from, and I dare say refreshing, our modern ghost writers. And who better to read than author Henry James. He’s known for his psychological realism and emotionally powerful ghost stories. Reading his novels and short stories is often an experience as in the famous Turn of the Screw. In 1903, James gave advice on how to read his work. He suggested you read a few pages a day and not break the thread “The thread is really stretched quite scientifically tight. Keep along with it step by step — & the full charm will come out.”
There is literary magic in his stories. Reading his work slowly so the imagination can peak and run is a worthwhile effort.
In Sir Edmund Orne, we have a lovely coquette named Charlotte Marden and her mysterious mother Mrs. Marden who has “intuitions.” The story opens on a quiet sunny Sunday in Brighton, is full of romance, intrigue, and of course a ghost on a mission. The story is more quiet mystery than horror but unsettling and holds the suspense all the way through.
From our determined and charming narrator …
“I felt beneath my feet the threshold of the strange door, in my life, which had suddenly been thrown open and out of which unspeakable vibrations played up through me like a fountain. I had heard all my days of apparitions, but it was a different thing to have seen one and to know that I should in all probability see it familiarly, as it were, again.”
Read the story at East of the Web:
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/EdmuOrme.shtml
Listen to audio at Librivox Recordings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43FaG7G5Rj0
Henry James was an American novelist and critic. He wrote 20 novels, 112 tales, and 12 plays and volumes of travel writing and criticism. He is best remembered for his The Portrait of a Lady (1881) and the novella The Turn of the Screw (1898).
The Haunting of Bly Manor, a Netflix anthology series is a twist on Turn of the Screw.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
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Other Reading Web Sites to Visit
Kirkus Mystery & Thrillers Reviews
Books & Such Bibliophilica NewYorkerFictionOnline
Lovecraft Ezine HorrorNews.net Fangoria.com
Slattery’s Art of Horror Magazine
Horror Novel Reviews HorrorSociety.com
Monster Librarian The Story Reading Ape Blog
For Authors/Writers: The Writer Unboxed
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