The Literary Ghost: Great Contemporary Ghost Stories [Paperback]

Larry Dark (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 1994

This is a collection of non-traditional ghost stories, mostly written since the 1990s, by such authors as Fay Weldon, Nadine Gordimer, and Paul Bowles.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"It takes a certain amount of daring for a literary writer to employ a device as powerful and obvious as a ghost, and a great deal of talent and self-assurance to pull it off. The fact that these stories are so different from one another and that no two ghosts in them are alike is a testament to the power of the individual imagination to appropriate established myths without assuming the associated clichés." So writes Larry Dark in the introduction to this anthology of expertly crafted ghost stories by such luminaries as Donald Barthelme, Paul Bowles, A. S. Byatt, Robertson Davies, M. F. K. Fisher, John Gardner, Nadine Gordimer, Graham Greene, Patrick McGrath, R. K. Narayan, Tim O'Brien, V. S. Pritchett, Anne Sexton, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Fay Weldon.

From Publishers Weekly

Twenty-eight subtle, modern tales from authors such as M.F.K. Fisher, Muriel Spark, I. B. Singer and Donald Barthelme, distinguished by global settings, some memorable ghostly narrators and the depiction of various religious beliefs about the spirit world.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (January 13, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871134837
• ISBN-13: 978-0871134837
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #847,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to the literary ghost story genre, July 19, 2002

By 

Sherry Austin "sherryaustin.com" (Southern U.S.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Literary Ghost: Great Contemporary Ghost Stories (Paperback)

By "literary" I mean stories that are original instead of anecdotal. These stories are not campfire tales--not that there's anything wrong with that!--but readers who are used to "told-for-true" stories ought to explore the literary ghost story as a complement to the other type, not because it's good for you like oatmeal, but because it takes you to a whole new level of fun. And ghost stories ought always to be--in one way or another--fun. Think of the stories of Sheridan Le Fanu and M.R. James, those of the Victorian women writers like Cynthia Asquith, Amelia Edwards. THE GHOST STORIES OF EDITH WHARTON are among my personal favorites. Novella and novel-length stories such as Henry James' THE TURN OF THE SCREW, Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, and Peter Straub's GHOST STORY, fall into the category, "literary," although nothing beats the short ghost story for a quick trip into the Twilight Zone, which may be why collections of short ghost stories are becoming collectors items. Beyond being just plain fun to read, literary ghost stories are often character driven, and contain some psychological depth. They might make powerful feminist statements, as Kay Weldon does in "Angel, All Innocence," in this collection. Literary ghost stories can explore spiritual issues as does Isaac B. Singer's "A Crown of Feathers." Other great stories in THE LITERARY GHOST are Joyce Carol Oates' "The Others," Muriel Spark's classic and often-anthologized "The Portobello Road," and Graham Greene's creepy "A Little Place Off the Edgware Road." In the introduction to THE LITERARY GHOST, editor Larry Dark concludes that this kind of story, "at its best, ...can be immensely satisfying to our mortal souls and their yearning for completion."

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read, November 17, 2008

By 

Melody C. Orr (Bakersfield, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Literary Ghost: Great Contemporary Ghost Stories (Paperback)

This book is full of old ghost legends. Some of them are really great, old interesting yarns, others are sort of flat and bland. That's the reason this didn't get a five-star rating. Otherwise, I'm happy with this anthology and I do recommend it.