MR James: Pioneer of the Modern Ghost Story

Ghost Stories For Cristmas with Christopher Lee ( a Warning To The Curious) - YouTube

[Patrick G.P]

Few authors have robbed me of a sound night’s sleep as thoroughly as M.R.James. Here are some of my favorites:
Canon Alberic’s Scrap Book
Oh, Whistle , and I’ll Come to you, My Lad
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas

[Karnos]

I see that Count Magnus is a favorite among many here. For me as well. It's got an interesting proto-Cthulhu mythos vibe, too.

The other M. R. James story I deeply enjoy is The Ash-Tree, which, if I remember correctly, was apparently James' way to deal with his own arachnophobia. The story reminds me somewhat of Horacio Quiroga's The feather pillow

[Vice]

The Feather Pillow...man what a ride

[Revenant]

I felt that M. R. James never received the widespread recognition he deserves. To me, he fills the gap as the Grand Master of the weird tale between Poe and Lovecraft. I know there are other excellent writers in this period, but for me, no one matches the consistently superb bibliography that he produced in his era.

I think until recently James was better known in Britain than Lovecraft. He managed to stay in popular culture, unlike Machen, Blackwood, etc.

For sheer consistency of excellence it's practically impossible to beat that Ghost Stories of an Antiquary collection.

[Robin Davies]

Quote Originally Posted by James

I think until recently James was better known in Britain than Lovecraft. He managed to stay in popular culture, unlike Machen, Blackwood, etc.

Very true. James is undeniably great but I don't regard him as the be-all and end-all of the ghost story as he is too often portrayed. It would be nice if the attention the media lavishes on James was spread around a bit to other writers of the golden age of weird fiction. There have been at least three TV documentaries about James. What chance of even one on Blackwood, Machen or Hodgson?

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Back in the mid00s when I was just starting to gain an interest in delving into ghost stories, there was a BBC documentary about ghost writers and Blackwood was featured for a while. There was old television footage of him reading. MR James was also featured but I don't remember who else was profiled or what writers were talking.

Other BBC documentaries I remember: a Tolkien/Mervyn Peake one. A series (or was it?) about disaster/dystopia science fiction. Muriel Gray presented a MR James and a Poe documentary. A Saki documentary.

All of these on BBC 4, which used to have lots of interesting things but sort of died several years ago and I doubt I've missed much.

BBC radio did a Machen and an Aickman documentary both in the late 00s probably.

Quote Originally Posted by Robin Davies

There have been at least three TV documentaries about James. What chance of even one on Blackwood, Machen or Hodgson?

Each of those men had amazing lives ripe for a frame documentary narrative and are as vital as James. It would be grand, but I fear that today these figures are relegated in our culture to specialist interests for fringe hobbyists. M. R. James and H. P. Lovecraft are more established authors many outside our circles are likely to have heard of.

The four specialists I see for my various mental disasters all know of James, and only one knows of Lovecraft. Supernatural fiction comes up a lot in our conversations. I feel I am teaching them.

[marioneta]

The great Fritz Leiber wrote Our Lady of Darkness, in part, as an homage to M.R. James, especially his story "A View From a Hill". James, as well as Leiber, was a master of the errie. He can lull the reader into a false sense of comfort and coziness, then immerse you in the nightmare.James also had a high regard for J.S. LeFanu.