Full Description
The modern horror story grew and developed across the nineteenth century, embracing categories as diverse as ghost stories, the supernatural and psychological horror, medical and scientific horror, colonial horror, and tales of the uncanny and precognition. This anthology brings together twenty-nine of the greatest horror stories of the period, from 1816 to 1912, from the British, Irish, American, and European traditions. It ranges widely across the sub-genres to encompass authors whose terror-inducing powers remain unsurpassed.
The book includes stories by some of the best writers of the century -- Hoffmann, Poe, Balzac, Dickens, Hawthorne, Melville, and Zola -- as well as established genre classics from M. R. James, Arthur Machen, Bram Stoker, Algernon Blackwood, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and others. It includes rare and little-known pieces by writers such as William Maginn, Francis Marion Crawford, W. F. Harvey, and William Hope Hodgson, and shows the important role played by periodicals in popularizing the horror story. Wherever possible, stories are reprinted in their first published form, with background information about their authors and helpful, contextualizing annotation. Darryl Jones's lively introduction discusses horror's literary evolution and its articulation of cultural preoccupations and anxieties. These are stories guaranteed to freeze the blood, revolt the senses, and keep you awake at night: prepare to be terrified!
Contents
Introduction Note on the Text Select Bibliography Chronology E.T.A. HOFFMANN, The Sandman WILLIAM MAGINN, The Man in the Bell JAMES HOGG, George Dobson's Expedition to Hell HONORÉ DE BALZAC, La Grande Bretêche EDGAR ALLAN POE, Berenice SHERIDAN LE FANU, Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, The Birth-Mark HERMAN MELVILLE, The Tartarus of Maids FITZ-JAMES O'BRIEN, What Was It? CHARLES DICKENS, No. 1 Branch Line: The Signal-Man ÉMILE ZOLA, The Death of Olivier Bécaille RONALD ROSS, The Vivisector Vivisected ROBERT-LOUIS STEVENSON, The Body-Snatcher RUDYARD KIPLING, The Mark of the Beast AMBROSE BIERCE, Chickamauga CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN,The Yellow Wall Paper ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, The Case of Lady Sannox BRAM STOKER, The Squaw ROBERT W. CHAMBERS, The Repairer of Reputations ARTHUR MACHEN, Novel of the White Powder RICHARD MARSH, The Adventure of Lady Wishaw's Hand W. W. JACOBS, The Monkey's Paw MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN, Luella Miller M. R. JAMES, Count Magnus FRANCIS MARION CRAWFORD, For the Blood is the Life ALGERNON BLACKWOOD, The Wendigo W. F. HARVEY, August Heat E. F. BENSON, The Room in the Tower WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON, The Derelict Explanatory Notes
