ABRACADABRA

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1931, Page 13 (Supplement)

ABRACADABRA

BOOKSHELF OF GHOULS

('By

“Stultus.”)

From the sombre mysticism of early Egyptian folk-tales to the logic of Mr. Arthur Machen's “thrillers,’ literature has not been lacking in a varied treatment of the supernatural. "The Golden Ass” of Apuleius still remains one of our best books on magic and witchcraft; the mythologies of Persia, of China, of India, indeed of all the moie ancient civilisations, arc rich in excellent stories touching on the occult; the mediaeval romancer regarded enchantments and sorcerers as his most legitimate machinery. 'But it is a significant if not very curious fact, that the ghost story proper and its more startling relative the "tale of mystery and imagination,” are 'both comparatively recent in origin. We did not desire to explore for amusement the haunts of the macabre and the uneasy —“the other side of the moon as they have been called —until we have ceased to believe iu them.

' As far as authors are concerned, of (course, this theory of disbelief has been 'vigorously questioned by an authority on the mysterious in literature, Mr. R. Ellis Roberts. “The first thing necessary for a successful ghost story,’ he 'writes, “is not that the author, should believe he can raise the ghosts, 'but that he should believe there aie ghosts, strange influences, uncomprehended. powers to be raised.” Mr. Roberts then quotes Hotspur's answer to the boast of Glendower that he can '"call spirits from the vasty deep. “Whv,” retorts Hotspur, “so can I and 'so can any man. 'But will they come when you do call for them?’

After all, for the majority of us who have little genius and who can merely waggle our ears in enthusiasm or condemnation at the productions of our wiser fellows, it matters not a whit whether Edgar Wallace (to stiel.ch the term “mystery story” to cover a still younger and less strictly supernatural offshoot) writes his more gory masterpieces in a sweat of fear and protected by reinforced walls and squadrons of bodyguards, or as au aid to quiet digestion. Personally, I prefer ,to take my mystery unadulterated by any intruding reality, but doubtless there aie hosts of admirable readers never truly happy unless, like that ideal author beloved of Mr. Roberts, _ they can feel convinced there is a grinning skeleton behind their chairs, and that the tapping of the blind cord is in reality the knocking of some excluded visitant. Beyond this matter of individual selection, the whole question is interesting only so far as it throws light on the historical development of the mystery, a progress in the choice of backgrounds and symbols the scenery and occurrences of everyday life as against ruined abbeys and clanking armour —rather than in titulary execution.

Jt has been said that Lope de Vega’s “El Peregrine en su Patria,” published in 1604, is the first true European ghost story, and although ghosts were variously handled for purposes other than amusement by writers so diverse as Beaumont, Lavator and Glanville, the progenitor of the ghost story as a literary genre, “The Castle of Otranto,” did not Appear until nearly two hundred years later. Neither de Vega’s tale uoi “Otranto” are of any especial merit. Tn “El Peregrine” the ghosts rush through deserted rooms, quarrel, squirt water, throw torches about, and in general behave more like mischevious hobgoblins than serious spectres;. while “Otranto” is horrific to the point of childishness. Then we come to Mrs. Radcliffe and Monk Lewis, and even if Lewis is usually' horrible without beintr impressive and Mrs. Radcliffe given to timid explanations, they left the ghost story sufficiently developed to attract the attention of Scott. "Wandering Willie’s Tale” and “The Tapestried Chamber” are two classical examples of the short prose ghost story. To trace the ghost or mystery story from Scott through Dickens, Sheridan le Fanu, Lytton, Wilkie Collins, Mrs. Oliphant, Marion Crawford, Poe, Bierce, and Brain Stoker, to modern masters such as 11. R. Wakefield, E. F. Benson and Algernon Blackwood, would occupy a weuerous volume, while the Continent could supply a dozen or so additional chapters. Probably these two tales of Erckmann-Chartrian, “Le Blanc et le Noir” and “L’Oeil Invisible,” are supreme in their class.

A recent development favoured by a portion of the more able mystery writers, is the introduction into their stories of an element of moiality. Iho word, one realises, is a bad one, but the thing is so much easier to point out than to describe, that one can think of no better substitute. This element may be a preoccupation with the problems of spiritualism such as is evident in the work of E. F. Benson; the robust Christianity of Arthur Machen; or the subtle analysis of abstract good and evil sometimes indulged in by H. R. Wakefield. Its application tends to dispense with the familiar paraphernalia of supernaturalism and to remove the mystery tale from the plane of the obvious story. ,The rarified <rcsult reeembles an historical novel as done by Merejkowski when compared with one of Sabatini’s productions, but although the craftsmanship displayed by Mr. Benson and his contemporaries is usuallv of a superior order, they unfortunately often fail in interest- It is possible that the vogue of the popular crime novel is a result of this failure by tho average orthodox mystery writer to give his public a story. Poe and Ambrose Bierce certainly erred in the direction of carrying their horrors and mysteries beyond the limits of ordinary comfort, but both were men of talent whoso genius shone darkly only because it reflected that “melancholia which transcends all wit.” Poor Poe! If ever an uneasy spirit hovered on tho difficult side of madness it was his, and many of the “tales” aro not so much stories of imaginative mystery as philosophical poems of a. kind that might have delighted. Hamlet.

Just for tho sake of giving someone the pleasure of contradicting, one wishes one could nominate some particular tale as "the best mystery story.” But the task is over difficult. The two stories by Erck nui nn-Chartra in mentioned above would occupy high places, and failino- these —well, Marion Crawford’s “Thc°Uppcr Berth..”

Telephones which enable train passengers while travelling to communicate with their homes and offices, etc., are being tested, by one (British railwav. 'They are already in use on the oxpco-ses of Canadian National Rail- '■ —