Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural
Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural (1944)
edited by Herbert A. Wise & Phyllis Cerf Wagner
1034 pages - The Modern Library
This large anthology is split into two sections; the first quarter of the book contains "Tales of Terror" while the remaining three-quarters is classified under "Tales of the Supernatural". The constraints of the selection seem to be that all of the authors are born in the 19th century (give or take a couple of years) and all but a couple of the authors originally wrote their tales in English.
I haven't seen anything but praise for this collection, many considering it the anthology of older horror stories. Which made the reading of it somewhat disappointing, because overall I thought it was just mediocre. Perhaps that's because I've read some of these stories before; but as I went on to the next story I felt like it was as likely to bore me as engage me. I don't like how a lot of people criticize older things out of hand as being too slow or too boring, so I was surprised to come to the conclusion that I think one of the main problems with this book is its stodginess. For a lot of the stories to be effective, you would have to find horrific the thought of things such as paganism, primitive humanity, or miscegenation. A lot of these stories are rooted in the fear of the displacement of a sort of insular world of white, anglo-saxon, protestants; a fear that is far less effective in the 21st century as much of that world has indeed changed so much to become something else entirely.
There were still some good stories here; I especially enjoyed the ones by Saki, and am planning to read more of his work. Other impressive stories were "La Grande Breteche" by Balzac, "A Terribly Strange Bed" by Wilkie Collins, "The Boarded Window" by Ambrose Bierce, "Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "What Was It?" by Fitz O'Brien, "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" by Robert Hichens, "The Celestial Omnibus" by E.M. Forster, "The Ghost Ship" by Richard Middleton, "The Sailor-Boy's Tale" by Isak Dinesen, and several others. But overall I had high hopes coming into this collection, and while I know what it feels like getting my socks knocked off, this wasn't it.
edited by Herbert A. Wise & Phyllis Cerf Wagner
1034 pages - The Modern Library
This large anthology is split into two sections; the first quarter of the book contains "Tales of Terror" while the remaining three-quarters is classified under "Tales of the Supernatural". The constraints of the selection seem to be that all of the authors are born in the 19th century (give or take a couple of years) and all but a couple of the authors originally wrote their tales in English.
I haven't seen anything but praise for this collection, many considering it the anthology of older horror stories. Which made the reading of it somewhat disappointing, because overall I thought it was just mediocre. Perhaps that's because I've read some of these stories before; but as I went on to the next story I felt like it was as likely to bore me as engage me. I don't like how a lot of people criticize older things out of hand as being too slow or too boring, so I was surprised to come to the conclusion that I think one of the main problems with this book is its stodginess. For a lot of the stories to be effective, you would have to find horrific the thought of things such as paganism, primitive humanity, or miscegenation. A lot of these stories are rooted in the fear of the displacement of a sort of insular world of white, anglo-saxon, protestants; a fear that is far less effective in the 21st century as much of that world has indeed changed so much to become something else entirely.
There were still some good stories here; I especially enjoyed the ones by Saki, and am planning to read more of his work. Other impressive stories were "La Grande Breteche" by Balzac, "A Terribly Strange Bed" by Wilkie Collins, "The Boarded Window" by Ambrose Bierce, "Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "What Was It?" by Fitz O'Brien, "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" by Robert Hichens, "The Celestial Omnibus" by E.M. Forster, "The Ghost Ship" by Richard Middleton, "The Sailor-Boy's Tale" by Isak Dinesen, and several others. But overall I had high hopes coming into this collection, and while I know what it feels like getting my socks knocked off, this wasn't it.