Walter de la Mare Strangers and Pilgrims

Quote Originally Posted by Knygathin

When, in afterthought, assessing the authors I have read, I think there are several I could have done without. For example, E. F. Benson (I hope he will not haunt me now, for saying this!) and Oliver Onions.

It's an interesting thought. I adore those two when at their best (The Beckoning Fair One and The Room in the Tower), so I don't regret reading them. I think H. Russell Wakefield would be my choice for the classic ghostly author I feel I could have missed entirely and not have lost anything vital. Why he is often held in the same regard as Sheridan Le Fanu, Vernon Lee or Walter de la Mare is more mysterious than The Riddle for me. Even the super scrupulous Aickman liked his work more than I do.

[Druidic]

Wakefield's "Death of a Bumblebee" is very much a precursor to Aickman's work. I'm not surprised he liked Wakefield.

I found much of his work to be readable enough, but I found more merit in the works of de la Mare or Onions.

[Druidic]

It depends on which Wakefield stories you read. Lovecraft admired "The Red Lodge." "Don't Look Up," as well as Wakefield's clever reworking of James' "Casting the Runes." A small number of Wakefield's later stories anticipate Aickman nicely and to a surprising degree.

I barely remember those stories, and I have read The Red Lodge thrice due to how often it pops up in old anthologies. Was the Casting the Runes pastiche They Return at Evening? He Cometh and He Passeth By? I didn't care for it. None of his stories stand out to me as unforgettable classics in the way de la Mare's Seaton's Aunt and All Hallows or Aickman's The Inner Room and The Trains or M. R. James' Count Magnus and A Warning to the Curious do.

Wakefield's work feels lustreless in comparison. Passable imitation at his best (the golf one set on the Norfolk coast was alright?). Walter de la Mare's work is genius, even when he's attempting a Jamesian story in Crewe.

[Druidic]

Yes, that was the tale. I enjoyed "He Cometh.."and appreciated Aleister Crowley in the staring role of the Black Magician. A thinly disguised Crowley appears in at least two of H. R.'s stories.

[Knygathin]

I have never read Wakefield. I have his "The Red Lodge" in one of the "Fontana's Great Ghost Stories", but I have not got around to those volumes yet.

I enjoyed "The Beckoning Fair One". Very impressive, ... but really, I think, mostly on a high-skilled technical level. Because it did not leave a lasting emotional impression on me. Other stories I have read by Onions, were stuffy with typical late Victorian atmosphere. I hate that inhibited era.

I enjoyed Benson's "The Man Who Went to Far". And he wrote some other neat stories. But many seem to be written after a formula, they sound the same, and there is a vicious and cynical tone to his voice, that I find unpleasant.

I didn't mention Le Fanu in my post above. He was Irish, and so unique a talent, a world unto himself, ... and difficult to compare to the others.

[Druidic]

I understand your feelings about Onions, Kyngathin. I enjoy his stories for their leisurely and unhurried style more than anything else.
I find Wakefield--like John Metcalfe--to be an undeservedly forgotten practitioner of the spectral. But if you think Benson is cynical you haven't yet made Wakefield's acquaintance.
I'm rather fond of Benson. "Negotium Perambulans" appears to have been a significant influence on Lovecraft ("The Haunter of the Dark"; also the description of Dunwich in the early pages of "The Dunwich Horror"). I also like the fact that Benson wasn't as fastidious a writer as de la Mare. M. R. James objected to his visceral horrors but I don't.
De la Mare's early tale A:B:O (a wonderful Poesque piece!) doesn't suffer from an overly fastidious sensibility so I suspect Henry James influence was very much a mixed blessing. Still, de la Mare's artistry was great enough to overcome the artistic reticence that I sometimes lament...
"Out of the Deep" is probably the finest ghostly tale I've ever read. "The Tree," "All Hallows" and "Mr. Kempe" are also first-rate. It's a damn shame that "The Tree," "The Three Friends," "Bad Company," "Missing"and "The Wharf" weren't included in Strangers and Pilgrims.

Here is something interesting:

Google Groups

[Knygathin]

Druidic, yes I think Benson wrote some good and original ones, and the inspiration on Lovecraft is gratifying and amusing to see. It was one of many good influences for Lovecraft.
Then there is the cynical tone. If a writer successfully describes something grim within his story, then it can be said to be good art. But if it sounds as if the writer himself is vicious, well, then it can become a little overbearing. Or if there is a bitter tone, without artistic separation and ability to stand aside from it in objective observation.
Maybe I am wrong about Benson, and it's only my personal sensation.

It is ironic, how de la Mare's early experiment, "A:B:O", ever seems to remain my favorite of his, in spite of reading one beautifully written piece after another! The full version of "The Connoisseur" almost restored the balance. Almost! The latest story I read by de la Mare was "The Green Room". What a subtle masterpiece! And I love his humour, and observational sharpness, in describing the declined relationship between the bookdealer and his hardened old wife. It is priceless!
But "A:B:O" is so feverish and relentless. It impressed me immensely. Completely delicious.

There is a similar thing with L. P. Hartley. The first one I read, his very original and bizarre, "The Travelling Grave", is ever remaining my favorite. We'll see, I have several more to go.

Personally I am not bothered by the particular selection in Strangers and Pilgrims. I also have The Collected Tales of Walter de la Mare and Eight Tales, and these three books very nicely complement each other (with some slight overlap).

[Druidic]

America produced two--some would say three--giants of weird fiction: Poe, Lovecraft, maybe Bierce (though I wouldn't agree on the last). But, aside from those Titans and in general, the British writers were markedly superior. My favorite Hartley stories are "Podolo" "The Thought" and that perambulating grave.