2008-08-25 Good stories that chill frequently

Any collection of tales is a mixed bag, for each will have a handful of excellent stories as well as a somewhat larger amount of unmemorable ones, at least such is the general rule, and the best way to judge any such collection, strange as it may sound, is to assess the quality of the lesser tales, for if these are worth reading in spite of their flaws then you have a splendid collection.

The Ghost Stories Of Edith Wharton is not exemption from the above mentioned axiom. There are the famed chillers 'Afterwards' and 'The Triumph Of Night', but even the weaker tales have their merits. Wharton is almost as far from the M.R. James school as you can get. I would not say her work is as explicitly psychological as Vernon Lee or Henry James, but her stories are completely devoid of antiquarians, being concerned instead with inter-personal relationships and the way the supernatural impinges on them. The deconstruction of the husband-wife relationship in 'Pomegranate Seed' is a good example of this, in its examination of the wife's fear of the-other-woman.

Wharton's prose is surprisingly accessible. You don't need a humanities degree to enjoy her stories, so if you're new to ghost stories I think you'll find her work more easy going then some of the other aforementioned writers. There's a nice balance of description and dialogue and the issues she addresses, for these are stories about people first and ghosts second, are universal. She doesn't have command of the chilling structure of Le Fanu, but her endings are always enjoyable and give you a good sense of the "ah, so that's it", which any good short must do. This is a thoroughly enjoyable book. Great for a rainy Saturday afternoon and I'd say it's an obligatory purchase for anyone who likes a good ghost story.