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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Penetrans Ad Interior Mortis", July 26, 2003
The ghost stories of M.R. James (MRJ) are widely considered to be the best supernatural literature ever written. "More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" was his second collection of short stories to be published (1911) and includes seven tales of the supernatural. However, you might want to spend a bit more money and buy the "The Penguin Complete Ghost Stories of M.R. James." If you completely succumb to the refined but potent horror of this author's writings, only "A Pleasing Terror" (Ash Tree Press 2001) will then do. The latter book contains all of MRJ's supernatural literature, including story fragments that were never completed, biographies, bibliographies, commentary, and his fantasy novelette, "The Five Jars." "More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" consists of the following stories, plus a brief preface by the author: "A School Story"--MRJ was a dean at King's College, Cambridge and he supposedly wrote this story to entertain the King's College Choir. I believe it is one of his shortest complete stories and it contains several ideas for further tales of the supernatural which were never followed up by MRJ himself. In this tale two middle-aged men are reminiscing about ghosts at boys' schools, and one relates a story of a schoolboy's revenge on a murderous master. "The Rose Garden"--Features one of MRJ's less sympathetic female characters. The overbearing Mrs. Anstruther gets her supernatural comeuppance when she insists upon the removal of an old oak post in the rose garden. "The Tractate Middoth"--The young Mr. Garrett is asked to find a copy of the "Tractate Middoth" in a "certain famous library" and stumbles upon a cobwebby mystery. Find yourself a quiet, unpopulated corner in the stacks of an old library and see if you can read this story without looking behind you. This is MRJ at his antiquarian best. "Casting the Runes"--One of MRJ's most collected stories along with "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad." The villain of tale is sometimes assumed to be based on the self-styled 'Great Beast,' occultist Aleister Crowley. He and MRJ might have crossed paths at Cambridge University although there seems to be no proof that the scholarly Dean ever met the so-called 'wickedest man in the world.' At any rate, this is a tale of a man who unwittingly angers a sorcerer. "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral"--This story begins with the obituary of the Venerable John Benwell Haynes, Archdeacon of Sowerbridge and Rector of Pickhill and Candley. He succeeded to his position upon the rather mysterious demise of Archdeacon Pulteney in 1810, but does not find much enjoyment in his new job. In fact, the archideacon's stall with its carvings of a cat, the King of Hell, and Death becomes a particularly haunting spot for the new prelate. "Martin's Close"--The bit of land referred to in the story's title is "one of the smallest enclosures you are likely to see." It consists of a pond that is hedged all around with no gate or entrance. The tale of its haunting is told primarily through a court record from the time of Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys, he of the infamous 'Bloody Assize' that followed the Monmouth Rebellion. In spite of this rather awkward structure, it is a very frightening tale of supernatural revenge. "Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance"--Once installed as the new master of his deceased uncle's estate, Mr. Humphreys discovers the plan to an overgrown maze on his property. He decides to investigate the old landscaping feature, which was erected by one of his most notorious ancestors. Mr. Humphreys also discovers a set of stone blocks that were once part of the maze. He reconstructs the inscription on them to read: "Penetrans Ad Interior Mortis."
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More Foreboding Tales by One of the Best, September 3, 2001
This review is from: More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (Paperback)
It's really too bad that this Dover book has gone out of print; while the best introduction to the stories of M.R. James undoubtedly remains the first volume, "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary", this sequel nevertheless contains several characteristically disquieting tales. The "ghost" designation is a bit misleading, as these stories seldom if ever involve ghosts in the conventional sense. The plots often proceed according to a rough pattern: an ancient entity - usually evil, and always real, never imagined - is invoked, whether deliberately or inadvertently. The entity then stalks a particular person for some time, causing increasing trepidation on the part of the victim as he gradually realizes that he is in deadly peril. It is in the description of this stalking that James is at his most harrowing, and he is very good at it indeed. Despite this pattern, James is enough of a master at storytelling that one doesn't have the feeling he is simply writing the same story over and over. His scholarship and command of the language are evident throughout the book, and they lend a variety to the telling which would be absent in a lesser writer. The stories in this volume (with some of my comments in parentheses) are: - A School Story ("If you don't come to me, I'll come to you.") - The Rose Garden - The Tractate Middoth - Casting the Runes (this was the basis of a quite good 1957 British film, "Curse of the Demon") - The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral - Martin's Close - Mr. Humphries and His Inheritance (the inheritance being the home - complete with maze garden and temple - of an uncle he had never met. But what was the meaning of the elaborately engraved copper globe at the center of the maze, and why had his uncle kept the garden gate padlocked all those years? Mr. Humphries is curious to find out, and so he does...) In short, not to be missed by fans of the first volume, nor by anyone who likes a good scary tale well told.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
"If You Don't Come to Me, I'll Come to You...", November 30, 2009
Despite the word "ghost" in the title, M. R. James's short stories are based on supernatural occurrences that are more demonic in nature than ghostly. Ghosts and demons are clearly not the same thing, and may make a difference in the average reader's enjoyment of these seven tales, for with a couple of exceptions, these are not stories of the departed who have return to haunt the living, but rather demonic forces that attack mortals for their own dark purposes. Each story is told by an anonymous narrator, recounting various stories in a casual, matter-of-fact, chatty tone that adds to the realism of the stories, and (in an odd way) their inherent creepiness. Often he recounts his stories as anecdotes told by his companions, or through edited diary and journal entries, or in one case, the minutes of a court-case. These methods of telling the story add greatly to the effectiveness of the tale considering that the key to any truly scary story is subtlety, and by presenting them in such mundane terms, James captures the steady encroachment of the unknown on ordinary life with chilling effect. In many horror stories (such as those of Algernon Blackwood) it is randomness that is terrifying, where odd happenings occur outside the "rules" of nature and logic. In comparison, James is slightly more forthcoming about the reasons behind his hauntings, providing some detail on why they happen and what's behind them. The fact that there is a pattern and a reason behind frightening events means that the protagonist (and by proxy, the reader) is slightly more empowered about what's going on, and can take steps to understand and stop the terrifying events. Of course, they don't always succeed. "A School Story" concerns two men reminiscing about school ghost stories. One mentions his old Latin master, and how he reacted strangely to a particular boy's Latin translations that seem to contain some hidden meaning for him. This is an interesting tale as it is told from the point of view of witnesses to a haunting, not participants, and the teller of the story knows nothing about the background circumstances of the man's troubled past - though there are plenty of clues for the perceptive reader. Very short, but very intriguing, "More Ghost Stories" starts off with my favorite story. In "The Rose Garden," Mary Anstruther unwisely orders the clearing of a plot of land for her rose garden, including a post fixed firmly into the ground. The gardeners are reluctant to touch the place, and residents of the area have their own tales from when they were children - nightmares that are soon shared by Mrs Anstruther's husband as to a trial that took place long ago. "The Tractate Middoth" is something of a treasure hunt, in which a librarian is unknowingly swept up in a search for a deceased man's legacy when he is asked to retrieve a book that mysteriously disappears and reappears from the shelves, and which a terrifying specter seems to hold a particular interest in. A plan formed by an eccentric old man leads a nephew and niece on a search for his will - if only they can find the right book in time. "Casting the Runes" is a story that reads a little bit like a dark old fairytale, in which an innocent man wrongs a figure of evil and as such has to outwit him before his time runs out. After refusing to allow Mr Karswell the chance to lecture on the subject of alchemy, Edward Dunning finds himself the subject of a supernatural attack. Getting into contact with the brother of a previous victim of Karswell, the two men plot to turn the tables on Karswell. Suspenseful and spooky, this is a clear-cut case of good versus evil. It is an obituary that opens "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral," concerning the death of Archdeacon John Hayes, after which the narrator works backwards toward the ultimate cause of death: an oak tree. In between these two extremes are the suspicious circumstances in regards to how Hayes came to acquire the position of Archdeacon, a series of his diary entries and letters which become ever-more desperate and filled with the motto of "I must be firm," and a trio of carved wooden statues whose origins like in the satisfying conclusion to the story. This is another one of my favorites; a dark and delicious story of piecing together a supernatural mystery with a spine-tingling revelation at its conclusion. "Martin's Close" is the aforementioned story that relies on the documented evidence of a court-case to reveal the tale of a "simple-minded" girl's death at the hands of a young lord. Though the telling of it is through the minutes of the court-case, along with dialogue of the witnesses, it still manages to keep a heightened sense of dread and suspense as the facts of the murder become clear. "Mr Humphreys and his Inheritance" refers to the titular character inheriting his uncle's estate and learning more about it from the locals - particularly in regards to the yew maze that has been locked up for years, and which contains a strange copper globe at its centre. Though not especially frightening, this final tale is an intriguing and thought-provoking story that makes good use of both the charm and menace that mazes can offer an explorer. Since the author himself lived from 1862 to 1936, the time period in which these stories are set have an authentic ring to them, and though James never strays far from his formula (rather, each story's uniqueness comes from the *way* in which it is told), as patterns go, he has latched onto a satisfying one. Every tale involves a series of spooky occurrences upon which light is eventually shed, but it is in the slow build up of the main character's persecution from demonic forces that James really cranks up the tension and delivers on his ability to scare the reader. Keep in mind though that this particular compilation of stories may not be the best buy for a collector: I'm sure that there are other anthologies of James's work that contain all of his stories, the purchase of which will avoid doubling-up on certain tales. Browse before you buy.
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