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The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories by R. A. Gilbert (1989, Trade Paperback, Reprint)

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About this product

Product Information

With their evocative settings amid mists and shadows, in ruinous houses, on lonely roads and wild moorlands, in abandoned churches and over-grown gardens, ghost stories have long exercised a universal fascination. Responding to people's overwhelming attraction to anything frightening, this marvelous anthology of some of the very best English ghost stories combines a serious literary purpose with the simple intention of arousing a pleasurable fear of the doings of the dead. As the first volume to present the full range and vitality of the ghost fiction tradition, this selection of forty-two stories, written between 1829 and 1968, demonstrates the tradition's historical development, as well as its major themes and characteristics. Though the genre reached its peak in the nineteenth century, it enjoyed a second flowering between the two World Wars and even now still attracts dedicated practitioners and readers. The anthology includes stories by Walter Scott, M. R. James, Bram Stoker, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton, Somerset Maugham, T. H. White, and many others. According to Edith Wharton, we can judge the success of a story by what she called its "thermometrical quality; if it sends a cold shiver down the spine, it has done its job and done it well." A host of writers have taken up the challenge of succeeding at this most demanding form of literary art, including both "specialists" such as J.S. Le Fanu and Algernon Blackwood, and other writers such as Henry James and H.G. Wells, for whom ghost stories constituted only a portion of their literary output. Stressing the important contribution women writers have made to the genre, the collection also offers eight stories by women, ranging from Amelia Edward's "The Phantom Ghost" (1864) to Elizabeth Bowen's "Hand in Glove" (1952).

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Oxford University Press, Incorporated
ISBN-10
0192826662
ISBN-13
9780192826664
eBay Product ID (ePID)
68039

Product Key Features

Book Title
Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories
Author
R. A. Gilbert
Format
Trade Paperback
Language
English
Features
Reprint
Topic
Ghost, General
Publication Year
1989
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Fiction
Number of Pages
524 Pages

Dimensions

Item Length
7.7 in
Item Height
1.2 in
Item Width
5 in
Item Weight
15.9 Oz

Additional Product Features

Intended Audience
Trade
Lc Classification Number
Pr1309.G5o94 1989
Edition Description
Reprint
Reviews
'Excellent collection of famous and less known authors illustrates thevariety of this very English genre.' The Times, 'Excellent collection of famous and less known authors illustrates the variety of this very English genre.'The Times, 'excellent volume ... Readers can enjoy the cream of the 19th centuryghost story and see for themselves how the genre developed.'Sara Hudston, Dorset Evening Echo, 'excellent volume ... Readers can enjoy the cream of the 19th century ghost story and see for themselves how the genre developed.'Sara Hudston, Dorset Evening Echo, "An excellent selection, with an excellent bibliography included. the stories move smoothly through the decades--bringing in the modern and harkening back to the ancient."--Marjorie J. Burns, Portland State University "A splendid book."-- The Chicago Tribune "Those who enjoy what Wharton called 'the fun of the shudder'...should shudder over The Oxford Book of Ghost Stories ."-- The St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Superb."-- The Cincinnati Post "The forty-two stories gathered here are luminous examples of how affecting an immaculately wrought ghost story can be....A bounty of wonderful authors."-- Booklist "Cox and Gilbert deserve praise for their scholarship and selection....The volume provides an education along with reading pleasure....Only the bravest will read The Oxford Book of Ghost Stories after dark."-- Studies in Short Fiction, 'The perfect book for long winter evenings of drawn curtains and flickering firelight.' Books and Bookmen, 'The perfect book for long winter evenings of drawn curtains and flickering firelight.'Books and Bookmen, 'The perfect book for long winter evenings of drawn curtains andflickering firelight.' Books and Bookmen, "An excellent selection, with an excellent bibliography included. the stories move smoothly through the decades--bringing in the modern and harkening back to the ancient."--Marjorie J. Burns,Portland State University "A splendid book."--The Chicago Tribune "Those who enjoy what Wharton called 'the fun of the shudder'...should shudder overThe Oxford Book of Ghost Stories."--The St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Superb."--The Cincinnati Post "The forty-two stories gathered here are luminous examples of how affecting an immaculately wrought ghost story can be....A bounty of wonderful authors."--Booklist "Cox and Gilbert deserve praise for their scholarship and selection....The volume provides an education along with reading pleasure....Only the bravest will readThe Oxford Book of Ghost Storiesafter dark."--Studies in Short Fiction, "An excellent selection, with an excellent bibliography included. the stories move smoothly through the decades--bringing in the modern and harkening back to the ancient."--Marjorie J. Burns, Portland State University "A splendid book."--The Chicago Tribune "Those who enjoy what Wharton called 'the fun of the shudder'...should shudder over The Oxford Book of Ghost Stories."--The St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Superb."--The Cincinnati Post "The forty-two stories gathered here are luminous examples of how affecting an immaculately wrought ghost story can be....A bounty of wonderful authors."--Booklist "Cox and Gilbert deserve praise for their scholarship and selection....The volume provides an education along with reading pleasure....Only the bravest will read The Oxford Book of Ghost Stories after dark."--Studies in Short Fiction, 'Excellent collection of famous and less known authors illustrates the variety of this very English genre.' The Times, "An excellent selection, with an excellent bibliography included. the stories move smoothly through the decades--bringing in the modern and harkening back to the ancient."--Marjorie J. Burns, Portland State University"A splendid book."--The Chicago Tribune"Those who enjoy what Wharton called 'the fun of the shudder'...should shudder over The Oxford Book of Ghost Stories."--The St. Louis Post-Dispatch"Superb."--The Cincinnati Post"The forty-two stories gathered here are luminous examples of how affecting an immaculately wrought ghost story can be....A bounty of wonderful authors."--Booklist"Cox and Gilbert deserve praise for their scholarship and selection....The volume provides an education along with reading pleasure....Only the bravest will read The Oxford Book of Ghost Stories after dark."--Studies in Short Fiction
Copyright Date
1986
Selected by
Cox, Michael, Gilbert, R. A.
Lccn
89-009243
Dewey Decimal
823.0873308
Dewey Edition
22