Le Visage Vert issue no. 21

My apologies for the late notice, but I do want to spread the news that issue number 21 of Le Visage Vert came out late last year. As always, it's a beautiful production. Writers represented range from the older John Bedoit (1829-1870), Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), Marcel Schwob (1867-1905), Richard Marsh (1857-1915), and Bodo Wildberg (1862-1942), to the contemporary Nicholas Royle (b. 1963). The Hearn story is from Kwaidan. The Schwob story is from The King in the Golden Mask.  Richard Marsh's tale, "The Mask", includes illustrations from its appearance in The Gentleman's Magazine, December 1892 (the story was later collected in Marvels and Mysteries). Nicholas Royle's story, "The Lure", is translated from it's appearance in The End of the Line: An Anthology of Underground Horror (2010), edited by Jonathan Oliver. Michel Meurger contributes a long essay "Le Secret du masque", setting up the major theme for the issue. To order, visit this website and scroll down to find the issues of Le Visage Vert. Recommended. 

Rex Ryan addendum

Further to the post below, Rex Ryan's granddaughter, Elspeth Caton, discovered the following fascinating newspaper article, probably from the Fleetwood Chronicle.  The date is uncertain, but judging from the evidence of other articles in the clipping, it appears to date to about May 1926.

The relevant section of the article reads: "Next week the company [The Fleetwood Palace Stock Co.] will present "David Garrick." The rare comedy of this famous play should endear it to every patron of "Our home of drama." The production will witness the return to Fleetwood of Rex Ryan, who will be remembered as a member of last year's dramatic company. Mr Ryan will be the David Garrick, as well as the producer of the play. He has had a unique experience in repertory of every kind, including all Shakespeare's plays. He is himself an author, not only of many successful plays, but of two or three novels of which the best known is "The Tyranny of Virtue," a best-seller in Australia and by no means unknown in this country."

So it appears there are still a couple of Rex Ryan novels to be found.  Kudos to the first person to discover these books!

A note of caution, though - I'm not sure that The Tyranny of Virtue was a bestseller in Australia - there are only two references to it in the NLA's digitised Australian newspapers - for the copies sent to The Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Argus. And no copy exists at any library in the UK, which might suggest it is unknown in this country!

Rex Ryan/ R.R. Ryan

A useful resource I wasn't aware of until today is The Stage Archive, with searchable digitised images of the long running theatrical advertiser, The Stage Directory.  Unfortunately it's not free to use, and the search engine isn't necessarily accurate in picking up names, however there is a wealth of material including some references to Rex Ryan, better known as the cult 1930s thriller writer, R.R. Ryan.  Using the Stage Archive it is possible to trace  the activities of Ryan and his wife, Anne, who used the stage name Pauline Duke.

The first reference I could track was an advertisement dated 29 October 1925: "Wanted to let, unproduced farce, small cast, simple scenery. One big scream. Suit St. Char. Com. - Ryan, 78, Clarendon Rd, C.-on-M., Manchester."

Next is an advertisement from 5 November 1925, which confirms their address in Manchester:

Unexpectedly disengaged and looking for work. Perhaps to save a few pennies they refer to themselves as R.R. and P.D. A similar advertisement with the same address appears in the next issue, dated 12 November 1925.

The next reference is dated 8 July 1926 and refers to a play of Mary Roberts Rinehart's, The Bat, put on by Stephen C. Venner's Venner Repertory Co. at the Rotherham Repertory. According to the reviewer "The audience liked, too, the acting of Mr Rex Ryan as Dr Wells." On 2 December 1926 at the same venue, the Venner Repertory Co opened with "If Winter Comes" and Rex Ryan was one of the principals.

The following year, Rex Ryan and Pauline Duke started their own company, the Imperial Players.  They were advertising for small-part actors and a stage carpenter in July 1927. (Interestingly,  in October 1930, The Stage describes the court case of a stage carpenter named William Lawrence Thompson. Amongst his other offences is the following: "For a short time in 1928 Thompson was employed as a stage carpenter by a Miss Pauline Duke, of Kidderminster. In August, 1928, he was given instructions by Miss Duke to take care of scenery, and was handed sums of money to pay for haulage and the company's railway fares to Rugby. He adsconded with both amounts, and also stole gramophone records valued at 7 pounds, the property of Miss Duke.")

On 8 December 1927 the Imperial Players presented "Lady Windermere's Fan" at the Royal at Castleford (which was managed by Ryan's former colleague at Venner's Repertory Co, Rex R. Stewart), with Rex Ryan playing Lord Windermere.  The review says that "The Mad Doctor" will be presented tonight."  One week later the Imperial Players presented "Ashes of Virtue" at the Royal.  The reviewer notes that "Rex Ryan gave an excellent characterisation of the Jew," and goes on to say that "Pauline Duke was charming as Peace Meredith." The review goes on to say that "The Black Triangle" will be presented during the week.  On 22 December, also at the Royal, the Imperial Players put on "The Mystery of Mrs Drew," with Pauline Duke in the title role.

Early in 1928 the Imperial Players are at the Royal in Worthing, near Brighton, where Ryan seems to have been manager.  He advertises for players in April, with rehearsals on 24 April. The address for prospective players is Manager, 28 Grafton Rd, Worthing.

On 12 July 1928 the Imperial Players presented "The Volga Boatman" at the Royal and Empire in Peterborough, with Rex Ryan as the Boatman and Pauline Duke as Princess Paula.  On 19 July they played at the Alexandra in Pontefract, with Ryan giving "an excellent representation of Carol, the boatman," and Pauline Duke playing Princess Paula "with dignity." On 9 August they were at the Kidderminster Opera House and on 30 August at the Royal at Bilston.

On 4 October 1928 they are advertising for players again, this time the contact is DUKE, 3 Willow Cottages, West St, Brighton. This was the address of Zoe Elsworthy (ie Mrs Adderley Howard), the mother of Pauline Duke (ie Anne Ryan), who passed away at that address on 18 March 1936.

However, on 2 May 1929 the follow advertisement appeared: "Wanted to sell.  All the successes of the recently disbanded Imperial Players. 'The Volga Boatman.' Refer Barnsley, Worthing, Percy B. Broadhead, Bognor, Peterborough, Lincoln, Doncaster, Rugby, Lidderminster, W.H. Glaze, Scunthorpe, S.C. Venner etc etc. An entire repertoire of real money-makers for a song: 'The Black Triangle,' 'A Cry in the Night,' 'The Demon,' 'Ashes of Virtue,' 'Mystery of Two-Gun Jules,' 'The Trap,' 'The Capital Change." Anyone interested is asked to write to the AUTHOR, 96 Victoria St., Fleetwood, Lancashire.

On 8 August 1929, Rex Ryan's own play, "The Mandarin Wong Koo" (licensed as "Yellow Vengeance") was presented at the Palace in Trent Bridge and reviewed in The Stage:

 The review goes on to say that "Mr Atholl-Douglas gave a fine impersonation of the Mandarin Wong Koo, observing throughout an impressive restraint. Mr J. Templar Ellis supplied a contrast with a telling embodiment of the frenzied Pearson, whose distraught state was graphically portrayed. Miss Maureen O'Mara sounded the emotional note with skill and judgment as Miriam, and Mr Noel Mackintosh supplied acceptable comic relief to the tension by his good-humoured rendering of the role of Dr James. Mr R. Clifford Holmes convincingly indicated the subtlety of Yen Ling with whom Miss Lesley Deane as Grace Lewis played her scene admirably. Miss Lily Adeson was a capital San Ming Lee, and Mr Harold Baker did well as the porter. The piece is crude, but its sensational theme and exciting situations invest it with appeal as an attraction for popular audiences. It had an unmistakably hearty reception."

On 31 October 1929 Rex Ryan is advertising the play, spruiking its obvious virtues:

Again, the contact address is Zoe Elsworthy's.  He must have had some success because The Burnley Times of 24 June 1931 advertises The Mandarin Wong Koo "by Rex Ryan", which is being staged at the Victoria Theatre by the Julian and Ward Players.

In 1930 Rex Ryan and Pauline Duke were in Ireland.  On 12 June the Empire Players present "Heart of a Thief" at the  Empire in Belfast with Rex Ryan and Pauline Duke acting in it. On 17 July the Empire Stock Company presents "Ignorance" at the same venue.  According to the reviewer, "Rex Ryan as the Rev. Frank Hastings is natural in all he does," and "Pauline Duke is a restrained and finished Mary Martin."  In 19 June the pair were performing in "Under Two Flags," the popular Harry Collingwood novel; on 31 July, "Beggers on Horseback," on 14 August, "A Sinner in Paradise," and on 4 September, "When the Man is Away."

By 13 November 1930 they are in Liverpool advertising for once again for work: "Pauline Duke and Rex Ryan. Dis. Leads. General Manmgt. 165, Islington, Liverpool."

From this point I haven't found Rex Ryan mentioned in The Stage, though there may well be references I've missed. Presumably Rex and Anne settled in Brighton and Rex started writing novels.

It's also worth noting a reference on 20 September 1928 to a play called "Stone the Woman!"  The reviewer calls it "a strong, outspoken play based on the novel, "Tyranny of Virtue" by Noel Despard. A good house on Monday greeted the play with enthusiasm."  Rex Ryan is known to have written "Tyranny of Virtue" under the name Noel Despard.

The British Newspaper Archive has a couple of references to "Stone the Woman!" - the Derby Daily Telegraph of 11 August 1926 says "Mr Alfred Denville has secured the rights to "Stone the Woman!" by Noel Despard from Mr Leonard Harrison who produced and toured the piece. Mr Harrison, I believe is part author of the play in addition."  It is worth noting that Harrison ran a repertory company with Stephen C. Venner from 1924 to January 1925 - as we have seen, in 1926 Rex Ryan was one of the principals in Venner's repertory company.

There is also an advertisement for the play, showing at the Grand Theatre, Plymouth, in The Western Morning and Mercury dated 14 April 1927, "by Noel Despard, author of the daring novel The Tyranny of Virtue."

R.I.P. - Roger Dobson, author and bookman

I am sorry to report the very sad news that Roger Alan Dobson, author, journalist and bookman of Oxford, has died. He was the co-editor, with me, of several booklets about Arthur Machen, of Aklo, the journal of the fantastic, and The Lost Club Journal (devoted to neglected writers). He also wrote radio plays, including a successful BBC Radio 4 production about the Kingdom of Redonda, the Caribbean literary realm associated with M.P. Shiel and John Gawsworth, which fascinated him: in recognition of his work here, Spanish novelist Javier Marias ennobled him in his Redondan court as the Duke of Bridaespuela .

Roger was proud of his Manchester upbringing, and wrote a study of Ann Lee, the Manchester Messiah, about a local prophetess. He was a regular contributor to the Antiquarian Book Monthly Review (ABMR) on recondite literary subjects, including one article which made out the case that Sherlock Holmes must have gone to a Manchester college. This exhibited the sense of mischief Roger often brought to bookish matters: he was also implicated, with his friend the bookseller Rupert Cook, in the letters and writings of the hoax poet (who showed signs of coming alive), C.W. Blubberhouse. He also contributed lively and learned material to Colin Langeveld's Doppelganger Broadsheet, sometimes as the querulous 'Professor Herbert Trufflehunter'.

I came to know Roger in the early Nineteen Eighties when I was told he was an enthusiast of Arthur Machen, whose work I discovered at the age of seventeen. This proved to be a considerable under-statement. Roger knew more about Machen than anyone else I ever met, and between us we started a modest campaign to revive interest in him, which was at a low ebb in the early Eighties. We met or corresponded with many who had known Machen, including his son Hilary and daughter Janet, and close friends such as Colin Summerford and Oliver Stonor: in time, we found others who were intent on celebrating him, leading to the Machen societies, journals and other publications since. Roger wrote the Machen entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, after rightly arguing for his inclusion: edited John Gawsworth's biography of Machen; co-edited Machen's Selected Letters (with Godfrey Brangham and R.A. Gilbert, 1988); and contributed to Faunus, the journal of the Friends of Arthur Machen, with illuminating essays on Machen mysteries. A checklist of his writings is in preparation.

But Machen was far from Roger’s only literary interest: he was immensely well-read, and talked charmingly and with infectious enthusiasm about many other, especially semi-forgotten, figures. For some years he and I would meet in Oxford, where Roger had a bedsit at 50, St John Street, a former home of Tolkien, and have long talks about books and authors who ought to be revived. Roger’s special passion after Machen was George Gissing, whom I then did not quite get (I suppose because he was insufficiently ‘like’ Machen): but he insisted on the wonder of The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft, and I have recently come to see why: how I wish I could tell him.

Roger had been a journalist in Manchester and Bristol, and still occasionally did freelance work, but (like Machen) he came to dislike this, and preferred to write on literary themes. However, he never lost the journalistic knack of knocking on doors to elicit information, when he wanted to pursue a writer’s homes and haunts, which included Machen’s house in the Chilterns (then owned, to Roger’s delight, by a gentleman with the Welsh kingly name of Cadwallader); and the grave of the alchemist Thomas Vaughan in an obscure Oxford village (“the graveyard plan is on the back of a cornflakes packet”, the sexton told us).

Roger was a very private man: though I was among his closest friends in those Machenstruck days, I never learnt very much about him, except his bookish enthusiasms. He was devoted to literature and, as with Machen and Gissing, it seldom rewarded him materially: but it gave him rarer things; the joys of scholarship, shared discoveries, and the stubborn integrity of a proud spirit.


Mark Valentine



Below: Roger Dobson (right), with other Machen friends, striding off down the old lane from Llanddewi Fach to Llanfrechfa, a favourite walk of Machen's (photographs: Iain Smith).

Rain Instruments

“Quaint, but strangely beautiful…”
(Rosemary Pardoe, editor of Ghosts & Scholars, on Rain Instruments)

Rain Instruments is a book of found poems created by Mark Valentine from an Edwardian weather survey (British Rainfall 1910), recalling a lost time of country house amateurs in whimsical pursuit of a typically British preoccupation: rain measurement. Here is a selection of poignant, stoical, strange and surprising phrases selected and arranged to form a new work that readers have found “poetic,“intriguing”,“fascinating” and even “exciting”.

Jo Valentine’s design for this palm-of-the-hand volume features a mosaic of images taken from the original rainfall book, and it is made using a traditional long stitch binding. Each copy, in a limited hand-made edition of 25, comes with a bookmark showing an individual rain gauge reading from the survey: it might be from Miss Usborne at The House, Writtle; from Mrs Story Maskelyne at Basset Down House; from the gauge of Captain Ching, R.N. of Launceston; or from another of the keen individuals and institutions that sent in their records.

Note - Rain Instruments has previously been published in a limited electronic edition only. This is the first book publication, slightly revised.

Update - all copies have now been taken. A new title will be announced when ready.

Rare Sidney Sime frontispiece to T.E. Ellis's CHILDREN OF DON (1912)

Just a quick post to share the rare Sidney Sime frontispiece to T. E. Ellis's Children of Don (London: Edward Arnold, 1912), a book which I have reviewed in my "Late Reviews" column in Wormwood no. 20 (Spring 2013), just published. Not all copies of this volume contain the photogravure frontispiece, a characteristic Sime illustration, here depicting a scene from the prologue, where Gwydion seizes the cauldron of Caridwen (click on the illustration to make it larger):

I am alone with the old gods; there breathes
About me menace of dire things to come.
Great beings watch, and a low distant drum
Thunders for change.
                               [Gwydion takes up the cauldron.
                                   I make this mine.
What flood I loose of powers obscure, divine,
What nest I rouse of venomed ills that bask,
Be to my charge. For here I hold
The fortune and the torment of my race.
Here I set destiny, a deathless rite
Upon the working of my kind: a geis
Upon these isles for ever. Mark!
Mark it, ye ancient ones, whom the great cold
And barren regions bind and mask.
I, Gwydion, take on me the stark
And dangerous deed, all that you ask,
Bare breast to lancing lights and bold
Acceptance of the darkness that you rule. 

The collaboration between the artist S. H. Sime, the poet/librettist T. E. Ellis (Lord Howard de Walden), and the composer Joseph Holbrooke, is fascinating, and I am continuing to delve further into their association.

Dreams, Ghosts and Fairies

A nice article on the ghost story with views expressed by some contemporary exponents, from The Bookman, December 1923.

DREAMS, GHOSTS AND FAIRIES

We are such stuff as dreams are made of, and it seems likely that ghosts and fairies are even more so. Peter Pan may be right in suggesting that fairies only exist so long as we believe in them, or it may be that, like ghosts, they have an existence whether anybody believes in them or not. With our inherited instincts, traditions, knowledge, it should be possible for us to dream of things that have never actually come within the range of our personal experience; but could primitive man invent or dream of things he had never seen or been told about? It looks anyhow as if these unsubstantial creatures being come into our consciousness, the fairies can never be permanently banished from the world nor all ghosts laid for ever. One age grows sceptical and denies them utterly, but the next repents and they are taken back into belief again. Not many years ago they were so out of favour that the very Christmas Annuals, where ghosts had for so long been at home, would have no more of them; people were said to be weary of them and their incredible appearances. More recently editors and publishers, here and there, laid it down that nobody wanted fairy stories — the children of the new days were past them and wanted something more sensible.

The books of this season do not justify those opinions. They are not only rich in new fairy tales, but many of the old ones are among them, reissued in as delectable form as ever. Here for instance, to mention no others, are three volumes of Hans Andersen's inimitable fairy tales with illustrations by Dugald Stewart Walker; another collection of them in a handsome book illustrated by Heath Robinson; and a fascinating selection in eight volumes of the choicest of that multitude of fairy stories that are in Andrew Lang's long series of many coloured volumes. As for ghost stories, in the last few months there have seen Miss May Sinclair's "Uncanny Tales," R. Ellis Roberts's "The Other End," E. F. Benson's "Visible and Invisible," and Mr. Bohun Lynch has been preparing a full anthology of ghost stories by modern writers that Messrs. Cecil Palmer are about to publish. Nor are the older writers in this kind neglected. Here is a new and handsome edition of Poe's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination," cleverly illustrated by Harry Clarke; and, more significant, there is a revival of interest in that half-forgotten Victorian, Sheridan Le Fanu, whose eerie series of stories, "In a Glass Darkly," is just republished; and Dr. M. R. James, himself one of the most grimly imaginative of ghost-story writers, has been selecting and editing a collection of Le Fanu's haunting tales under the title of "Madam Crowl's Ghost," just published by Messrs. Bell & Sons. Whether these and many other such-like doings are to be taken as signs of the times or as having no particular significance has been submitted to the judgment of the authors who have kindly sent us the following opinions:

MISS MAY SINCLAIR :

(1) My "attitude" towards ghost stories is one of enthralling interest and admiration if they are well told. I regard the ghost story as a perfectly legitimate form of art and at the same time as the most difficult. Ghosts have their own atmosphere and their own reality; they have also their setting in the everyday reality we know; the story-teller is handling two realities at the same time; he is working on two planes, in two atmospheres, and must fail if he lets one do violence to the other.

(2) I am not a judge of "popularity," but I should say off-hand that an interest in ghost stories has always existed, and is neither a sign of morbidity nor of "increased belief in spiritual phenomena." The ghost-lover is on the look-out for his own special thrill, which is, or may be, independent of any belief in the supernatural.

(3) I think Henry James's "The Turn of the Screw" the most perfect and the most convincing ghost story I’ve ever read.

ROBERT HICHENS:

I thoroughly enjoy a good ghost story. No, I don't think their popularity is a sign that the public is becoming morbid. Nor do I think it indicates a renewed belief in spiritual phenomena. Since Lord Lytton wrote "The Haunters and the Haunted, or the House and the Brain," and no doubt long before then, the average man has, I think, always enjoyed reading a tale of the supernatural. I think the best ghost story I have ever read is contained in Henry James's volume, "The Two Magics."

MISS MARIE CORELLI

(1) My "attitude towards ghost stories" has always been one of amused incredulity, and surprise that any reasonable person with a sound brain should believe in them. "Ghosts," if seen at all, are always projected from one's own imagination. A moment's concentrated visualisation will enable me to see anyone I wish to see, whether such person be dead or living, and there is nothing terrifying in such "apparitions" which are always evoked by one's own mind.

(2) The interest in "ghost" stories does not prove that the public are "morbid," or that they have more than the usual interest in so-called "spiritual" phenomena. It is merely the natural desire of every thinking human being to escape from the humdrum surroundings of everyday living into a realm of imagination. The imagination of mankind has always projected itself into the Unseen, and from that Unseen has brought forth ideas that have changed the face and progress of civilisation. And still to the Unseen, it turns, despite all check to its advance, and tales of mystery, with suggestions that are mystic and wonderful, captivate the mind without actually influencing belief in the marvelous, simply because of the possibility of their being true. With Horatio, in "Hamlet," they say:

"O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!"

And accept the reply:

"And therefore as a stranger give it welcome!"

(3) "Hamlet," because in this instance the "Ghost" is not projected from Hamlet's own mind: it appears to others not closely concerned with the tragedy, before Hamlet himself sees it. This opens the way to some interesting speculation as to what Shakespeare thought of psychic phenomena in his day — a day which was rife with superstition and witchcraft. But like all discussions concerning t h e world's greatest poet, we are not likely to find any clue to the workings of that marvellous brain.

MR. HUGH WALPOLE:

(1) If a ghost story succeeds in making my flesh creep I like it and approve of it. It has to my mind no other raison d’être.

(2) I think there is a renewed interest rather than belief in spirit phenomena, and undoubtedly that leads to an increase in ghost stories.

(3) The most convincing ghost story I ever read is "The Turn of the Screw," by Henry James.

MR. K C. BAILEY:

If ghost stories are more popular of late, I should think the cause is to be found in the revival of interest in mystery and adventure which we see in many other forms. I don't believe that a liking for ghost stories is connected with a morbid turn of mind. So many lovers of such things have been, like Scott, most normal people. Nor do I see any connection between ghost stories and the modern dabbling in the occult. Some of the best ghost stories were written in the sixties and seventies, And the mid-Victorians were neither morbid nor credulous.

When you ask for a "convincing" story you impose a rather awkward test. I don't know that I was ever convinced even for the moment of reading. But I fancy the most eerie thrills I have ever had came from Dr. Montague James's stories—for instance "The Diary of Mr. Poynter" and "Number 13."

I take it of course that you want ghost stories in the precise sense, not such things as "Thrawn Janet" or Wandering Willie's tale in "Redgauntlet."

STACY AUMONIER

I loathe and abominate ghost stories. All those that I have read appear to me to be utterly inane and silly. The reason of their present popularity is surely pretty obvious. It is the outcome of that post-war wave of spiritualism, which was a movement organised by a bunch of charlatans, who saw the sound commercial possibilities in the exploitation of the grief of those who had lost their sons and lovers in the war. I believe in spirituality, but I do not believe in spiritualism or ghosts. If I met a ghost I should cut it.

SIR OLIVER LODGE:

The invention of ghost stories is a comparatively easy form of fiction; and as long as there seemed to be no foundation for the reality of such things, this kind of fiction was harmless and possibly amusing. But now that unexplained phenomena are known to occur, and a serious effort is being made to investigate than and to sift out truth from falsehood, the further invention of imaginary sensational occurrences is undesirable, and may be confusing to those who are not scrupulous about evidence.

What the public is really interested in is the amount of underlying truth, and the meaning that may be involved, in supernormal experiences. To arrive at sound conclusions demands careful and continued and unbiased study; the concoction of imaginary narratives is useless to that end, and is not what the public really wants.

Nevertheless, in illustration of the information we have so far obtained, it may be legitimate for people with literary gift and adequate knowledge to expound or exhibit their present conception of the less familiar side of the universe, under the guise of an imaginative sketch, or other form of dramatic representation. The public must learn that such efforts represent nothing more serious than the present views of the artist or scribe. If he is a genius his work may be of interest, and may be helpful, even though it must be regarded as scientifically negligible. The standard example of the kind of thing I mean is Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." It has been edifying to thousands, and no one can be misled into supposing it a narrative of fact.

The time is not yet anything like ripe for a complete formulation of the facts: but when that time arrives, it will be found, I expect, as usual, that Truth is stranger than Fiction, and that Imagination falls, not perhaps superficially but deeply and seriously, below Reality.

MR. F. BRITTEN AUSTIN:

(1) My attitude towards ghost stories? Presumably this refers to the use of ghost stories, invented ad hoc or alleged to be true, in fiction. My attitude towards such is the same as towards any other raw material of fiction—if the result produces the effect intended by the writer upon the mind of the reader, evokes, i.e. a powerful emotion, its use is automatically justified. Hamlet without the ghost would lose much of its dramatic strength.

(2) I consider that their popularity is neither a sign of increasing morbidity in the public nor an indication of actual belief in the reality of spiritualistic phenomena. It is merely another aspect of the universal and primitive craving for the "Undiscovered Country" which, under various metamorphoses, from the Odyssey onwards, has been one of the main themes of Romance. The restriction of the geographical field, consequent on the explorations of the nineteenth century, has perhaps tended to emphasise—for writer and reader alike—the unexhausted potentialities of the psychical Unknown, dimly lit by a lamp of Science not yet carried beyond the threshold, and whose alleged phenomena awake atavistic echoes (which do not necessarily prove the phenomena untrue) in the minds of all of us. Since the atavistic echo is perhaps responsible for the magical though not the philosophical beauty of true poetry, it must necessarily be potent in any other form of imaginative literature. The instinct of a certain type of writer will be to employ it; the instinct of almost all readers will be to thrill to it. Also, since the latest hypotheses of Physical Science tend to break down the nineteenth century distinction between the material and the immaterial, and these things filter down into the collective consciousness of the public, both writers and readers feel themselves justified in exploring potentialities and alleged phenomena which a preceding generation, educated to a scientific Positivism, was compelled—in defence of any reputation for intelligence —to reject with scoffing incredulity. Since the ban has been somewhat lifted, both writers and readers hasten to avail themselves of their new freedom.

(3) In fiction or alleged fact? The number is so vast that I beg to be excused from definite choice. In fiction, the first that comes into my head is Kipling's "They"—but, possibly, if I set myself to a recapitulation of all that I have ever read, I might remember something more convincing though certainly not more beautiful.

MRS. BELLOC LOWNDES:

(1) Stories dealing with the supernatural always interest me—provided that they are written by believers in the future life.

(2) I think their popularity is owing to a renewal of belief in spiritual phenomena.

(3) The two most convincing ghost stories I have ever read are the apparitions of Strafford in "John Inglesant," and the passage about the cat in Monsignor Benson's "Necromancers."

MR. R. ELLIS ROBERTS

It is odd how some people, in their distaste for the abnormal and the supernatural, will try to make out that the ghost-story is something new. Fairies, I suppose, need no defence, except from the attacks of humourless educationalists. Dreams are either out of favour or violently in fashion, according to your view of Freud and Jung. But ghosts, spirits, obsessions of places or persons—stories about these will rouse an unintelligent. anger which springs, I believe, from a frightened materialism. It is more comfortable if you believe a tree to be just a tree, a river nothing but water for washing or power, and a mountain a rather larger lump of dirt. But science does not hold that view now, religion has never held it, and common sense—well, common sense is the craft of treating and using things, not the art of understanding them.

There is, however, a new "magic" story. You can find its beginnings in Poe; it is implicit in much of Hawthorne; Le Fanu was groping after it, and Lytton wrote the first example of it. Its power lies in this: that the author assumes that life, experience, sensation, memory and fancy contain something which neither reason nor common sense can satisfactorily explain. Generally the author of the new kind of magic story treats life, or some aspect of life, as sacramental: the pioneer in our day was Mr. Arthur Machen, and he was succeeded by Dr. James, Monsignor Hugh Benson, Mr. E. F. Benson (whose "Image in the Sand" is not nearly well enough known), Miss Violet Hunt, Mr. Algernon Blackwood, and, in one inimitable volume, "The Celestial Omnibus," Mr. E. M. Forster. I do not see how an attitude towards life which appeals to these men, and has since appealed to Mr. J. D. Beresford, Miss May Sinclair and Mr. Walter de la Mare, can possibly be dismissed as nonsense. The attitude in all of there is roughly the same, but the approach varies widely. I have no doubt that the greatest of these are Mr. Machen, Mr. E. M. Forster and Mr. de la Mare.

I am a great admirer of Miss Sinclair's last book, but I find her method rather too philosophical compared with Mr. Machen's frank appeal to magic, Mr. Forster's reliance on a kind of impudent fancy, and Mr. de is Mare's accepting mysticism. Whether the art of these stories is legitimate or not seems to me a barren question: it is generally asked by those who wish a story to have some immediate purpose, and not to travel outside their experience of life. This demand would have hampered the world's greatest: the ghosts in "Macbeth" and "Hamlet" are not there deliberately to instruct or improve us. But if you must defend it on ethically utilitarian grounds, I cannot imagine creative literature having a better job than reminding an age too immersed in sensuous experience that a knock on the door may not be the postman's, and the wind in the chimney or a tapping on the wall may be other than they seem. Science has got rid of matter: why should art cling to materialism? It is just worth noticing that some of the most successful "ghost stories" of our time have been written by novelists— Mr. Henry James, Mr. Rudyard Kipling and Mr. H. G. Wells—the bulk of whose work is concerned with the everyday life of everyday people.

Wormwood 20

Wormwood 20




“the mysteries of time, mortality and desire….”
- Joel Lane on Robert Aickman’s visions of afterlife

“the Empire fell apart, dropped away into a void”
- John Howard on Robert Musil’s The Man Without Qualities

“all that was good and noble in humankind”
- Thomas Kent Miller on the hidden H. Rider Haggard

“in constant communion with all other life-forms”
- Adam Daly on the mysticism of John Cowper Powys

“she removed Death, the Tower, and the Ace and Ten of Swords”
- James Doig on the occult fiction of Helen Simpson

Also: Reggie Oliver reviews a new biography of Jerome K. Jerome, and collections by Richard Gavin and Thana Niveau; Doug Anderson explores the highly personal Rockall fantasy world of Antony Swithin, and three rare fantasies by other hands; and John Howard reviews a study of John Brunner, The Epiphanist by William Rosencrans, and other new titles.