The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction [Paperback]

Dorothy Scarborough (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2001 | ISBN-10: 1590210018 | ISBN-13: 978-1590210017

The supernatural is a traditional element in literature. Since the epic of Beowulf, there has been a continuing presence of the unearthly and weird in poetry, drama, and fiction. The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction, first published in 1917 during a period of renewed social and literary interest in the occult and spiritualism, offers readers an overview of some of the greatest known, as well as some forgotten yet eerily important, works of English literature. From the precursor of supernaturalism, the Gothic novel with its gloomy castles and cloisters, to the ghosts and madness and horrors written in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, this volume is a guide to a grotesquerie of tales. With chapters like The Devil and His Allies, The Supernatural in Folk-Tales, and Supernatural Science, the unearthly and the bizarre are met inside these pages in all their myriad guises. This is a book that will appeal to aficionados of fantastic and horror literature, offering new insight into the history of so many grand and delightfully macabre stories.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An excellent pioneering overview with notable coverage of shorter works & uncollected pre-pulp era magazine stories --Jessica Amanda Salmonson. -- A Bibliography of the Most Useful Reference Books for Researching Antiquarian Supernatural Literatures

About the Author

Dorothy Scarborough (1878-1935) is known for her roles as a teacher, folklorist, and writer. Though born and raised in Texas, Scarborough moved to New York City to earn her Ph.D. in literature at Columbia, where she later taught writing. She was an early member of the Texas Folklore Society (founded in 1910) and served a year as its president. An interest in ghosts led to two books on the subject, Famous Modern Ghost Stories (1921) and Humorous Ghost Stories (1921). She also wrote the acclaimed novel, The Wind (1925), in which a gentle heroine is driven insane by the incessant wind and drought-plagued frontier environment.

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Lethe Press (June 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590210018
• ISBN-13: 978-1590210017
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,130,702 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 May be one of the best overviews of classic horror & fantasy, May 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction (Paperback)

Found this title by chance -- I'm one of those souls that endlessly searches for new books online -- but I'm glad I did. This is a book filled with brief mentions of some of the best horror and weird stories ever written, from Gothic literature down to the end of the nineteenth century. I'm brining my copy to used bookstores as I've hi-lited all the stories I don't own but want to read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The supernatural in literature, July 23, 2002

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction (Paperback)

First of all the potential reader should know that this book was published in 1917, so the 'Modern' in the title refers to the latter part of the nineteenth century, and the earliest part of the twentieth century.

Secondly, the author omits mention of most of the ghost story authors from that period who are still popular today, e.g. J. S. Le Fanu (first ghostly tale published in 1838) and M. R. James (first collection of stories published in 1904). She also leaves out most of Victorian ladies whose ghost stories are still in print today, e.g. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, E. Nesbit, and Mrs. Riddell.

I would classify this book as an overview of the literature of supernatural fantasy and horror (including a Byronic poem about a vampire). The ghost story as defined and brought to its peak by Victorian and Edwardian authors, receives only brief mention in the chapter, "Modern Ghosts."

Scarborough begins with the Gothic Romance, of which she says: "The mysterious twilights of medievalism invited eyes tired of the noonday glare of Augustan formalism. The natural had become familiar to monotony, hence men craved the supernatural. And so the Gothic novel came into being."

'Gothic' is used to designate the eighteenth-century, pseudo-medieval novel of horror. The author begins with Horace Walpole's, "The Castle of Otranto"--if you are at all fond of Regency romances, you are bound to run across a heroine who is reading Walpole's tale of mad monks and haunted castles, or Mrs. Radcliffe's horrific "Mysteries of Udolpho." These novels depicting "decaying castles with treacherous stairways leading to mysterious rooms, halls of black marble, and vaults whose great rusty keys groan in the locks"--plus a heroine who wanders through spider-webbed corridors at midnight--did not have much staying power. According to Scarborough, Jane Austin finally gave this genre the kiss of death when she satirized their gloomy, overwrought style in "Northanger Abbey," which remained unpublished until after her death in 1818. "The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction" describes many gothic romance peculiarities in detail, while having a certain amount of gentle fun with them.

A chapter on European supernatural literature is followed by the aforementioned chapter on "Modern Ghosts." The author makes much of the effect Poe, Balzac, Hoffmann and other Romantic supernaturalists had on the nineteenth century English and American ghost story. Balzac in particular exerted a strong influence over Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author of "The Haunters and the Haunted," and progenitor of that infamous opening sentence, "It was a dark and stormy night..." (yes, that Bulwer-Lytton). Other stories that the author selects for discussion depend more on the Romantic tradition of insanity, gruesome decline, and horrid death to spark them along, rather than a purely supernatural mechanism. (As a matter of fact, Scarborough even published a novel in which the heroine was driven mad by the wind.)

She also expends a great deal of print on Spiritualism (which was already on the decline when this book was written), and the mystical, folkloric pantheism of such writers as W.B. Yeats ("The Celtic Twilight") and Algernon Blackwood ("Ancient Sorceries").

Scarborough draws heavily upon Romanticism, Spiritualism, and folklore for her chapters on "The Devil and His Allies," "Supernatural Life (which contains an excellent exposition on the legend of the Wandering Jew)," and "The Supernatural in Folk-tales."

"Supernatural Science" is the only really dated chapter in this book, with its discussions of hypnotism, the Fourth Dimension, uncanny chemistry, and students who exchange eyeballs. Even here, the author provides interesting commentary on A. Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, Arthur Machen (whom she despises), and Ambrose Bierce, among other authors who were popular at the beginning of the twentieth century (and still are).

"The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction" should appeal to anyone who is interested in the evolution of fantasy and horror literature. Try "Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood" by Jack Sullivan or "Night Visitors: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story" by Julia Briggs if your interest is more focused on literature that is entirely devoted to ghosts.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Cook's Tour of English Fantasy, March 24, 2002

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction (Paperback)

This is the latest in Lethe Press's series of reissues of works on the occult. 'The Supernatural In Modern English Fiction' was written in 1917 by Dorothy Scarborough. Given that the series has been uneven so far I did not have high expectations for this volume, and have only now discovered that it is a veritable treasure trove of books and literary history. It covers the period from Horace Walpole's 'Castle of Otranto' and other Gothic romances straight through to the author's own present times in the early 20th Century.

This makes for a literal cast of thousands. I was quite surprised to discover that horror and fantasy were a major part of the world's literary output from the very beginnings of popular literature. From Walpole, Maturin, and Shelley right through to Doyle, Machen, and Blackwood it was indeed a crowded stage. And Scarborough manages to present most of these efforts in a readable and well-organized fashion. Initially we are given a historical approach, but then the themes are taken up separately. Ghost stories, the demonic, the wandering Jew, rebirth, the afterlife, folk tales, and even 'scientific' monsters each get their turn in the sun.

As I've indicated Scarborough writes without any of the boring academic tone which often haunts this kind of material. This makes this volume an entertaining way to hunt down new reading material as well as a help in steering one's way through book stall accretions with a steady hand. Keep a pencil and a piece of paper handy while reading this book, you are bound to find things of interest.

My only regret is the lack of a bibliography. Scarborough is quite up front about this. In addition to the 3,000 or so titles that she drew upon for the book, there was an even larger additional number that she felt should be provided to the reader/researcher. There simply was no room at the inn. Unfortunately, to our loss, the bibliography promised as a second volume never materialized. There is, however, a good index, which will have to serve in it's stead.