Oxford Book of Twen Cent Ghost Stories [Paperback]

Michael Cox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997

Ghosts are resilient creatures. They thrive in an atmosphere of candle-light and decay, in antique manors, graveyards and cloisters and yet, as this anthology triumphantly demonstrates, they are equally at home under the harsh light of the electric bulb. The advent of the motor car and the invention of the telephone have merely tested their ingenuity, and exercised the talents of a host of writers. The fractures and schisms of the twentieth century are reflected in the current proliferation of literary genres, and in the marvellous variety that a single genre can embrace. Leading exponents of ghost fiction such as M. R. James and Algernon Blackwood are joined by authors such as Scott Fitzgerald, A. S. Byatt, William Trevor, and Alison Lurie; women, in particular, have embraced the form with skill and versatility. As well as the returning dead there are haunted typewriters, malevolent furniture, and urban ghosts, phantoms of smoke and soot. Occasionally with humour, but more often with obliquity and restraint, these stories both entrance and terrify. This book is intended for readers of ghost fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural, Gothic; students of popular fiction, cultural studies

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"In 1944 the critic Edmund Wilson expressed surprise that the ghost story was still alive and well in the age of the electric light. But why should he have been surprised? Ghost stories, as a literary genre ... have always maintained an adaptable relationship with the contemporary world." These 33 stories (17 by female authors) include the delicious ambiguities of Robert Aickman and Walter de la Mare; the family/relationship horrors of Ellen Glasgow, May Sinclair, Fay Weldon, and A. S. Byatt; a wicked tale with a twist ending by Graham Greene; Fritz Leiber's brilliant, postindustrial "Smoke Ghost"; and others that range from the poignant to the humorous to the terrifying. As Peter Cannon writes in Necrofile (the premiere journal of horror criticism), "Readers can expect both quality and good taste.... For those of us who prefer the old-fashioned literary virtues, The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories is the goods." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

About the Editor: Michael Cox is the compiler of numerous well-known anthologies, including the Oxford Books of English Ghost (1986), Victorian Ghost Stories (1991), Victorian Detective Stories (1991), Historical Short Stories (1994), Spy Stories (1996).
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 444 pages
• Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192880381
• ISBN-13: 978-0192880383
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,197,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Cox is the biographer of the ghost-story writer and scholar M. R. James. His first novel, The Meaning of Night, was shortlisted for the 2007 Costa First Novel Award. He lives in rural Northamptonshire, England.