Walter de la Mare Strangers and Pilgrims

I first encountered such an oblique style with Ramsey Campbell's Demons by Daylight collection and Thomas Ligotti's core canon, before becoming obsessed with the works of the high master of supernatural fiction, Robert Aickman. When I finally checked out Walter de la Mare, I was very much used to 'elliptical supernatural horror', and it had become my preferred method.

All the reasons he gives for de la Mare putting off readers were why he attracted me. There is nothing that spoils a good tale more than a 'reveal' scene that reduces everything. I have lost count of the amount of potentially great weird tales that build to a solid climax before deciding to end the story with a neat, tidy explanation of all that had happened, before fizzling out. My favourite movie of all time (Hitchcock's Vertigo) would perhaps be improved by removing exposition that solves the central mystery.

On my Machen reread I encountered The Shining Pyramid earlier, and it built to a quite eerie climax of dread, before then ending with pages of exposition. I want the unknown and unknowable to remain that way by the end of the story, as that is how it works in real life. We have far more unanswered questions than answered ones. I was delighted when I first read Seaton's Aunt, The Listeners or All Hallows and they didn't throw their eeriness under the bus at the end with a pigeon holed, finite explanation. A story can be enchanting or haunting without revealing everything, or even much at all, about itself. Reticence is key.

[Al de Baran]

P.S. regarding the phrase "Child of the World".

Only de la Mare (and perhaps scholars with access to his papers) knows for sure, but my semi-educated guess is that de la Mare may be quoting Pope Pius XI's 1923 characterization of St. Therese of Lisieux as "the cherished child of the world".

Can anybody recommend other writers who produce work similar to de la Mare's supernatural fiction, aside from the obvious Aickman? I heard Simon Strantzas was good.

I just reread Crewe and A Recluse on a whim. de la Mare's restrained use of the supernatural is so perfect. Even when nothing appears to be happening, everything is happening. Crewe in particular is a masterpiece marriage of the spectral and emotional.

[qcrisp]

Quote Originally Posted by James Sucellus

Can anybody recommend other writers who produce work similar to de la Mare's supernatural fiction, aside from the obvious Aickman? I heard Simon Strantzas was good. I just reread Crewe and A Recluse on a whim. de la Mare's restrained use of the supernatural is so perfect. Even when nothing appears to be happening, everything is happening. Crewe in particular is a masterpiece marriage of the spectral and emotional.

Among our contemporaries, I would suggest Reggie Oliver.

Linking by name, I imagine you've read Oliver Onions, but if you haven't, he's worth reading. I think you would also find something of interest in Vernon Lee.

I haven't encountered Oliver before. Will look him up.

Onions is somebody I need to explore more. The Beckoning Fair One was outstanding, and a clear influence on Aickman's Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen. I hope it isn't an anomaly in his fiction.

[Sand]

Regarding other writers in the de la Mare tradition, I certainly agree with Quentin about Oliver Onions (and of course Reggie Oliver). Others to suggest would be Elizabeth Bowen, whose stories are equally finely shaded and enigmatic, and Mary Butts, though her stories are also inflected with modernism, which I like, but not everyone does.

She herself recommended the work of John Metcalfe, particularly in the collection The Smoking Leg (though the title story is not itself a good example), and especially the story "The Bad Lands".

Forrest Reid was a good friend of de la Mare and his supernatural novels, such as Uncle Stephen and Brian Westby, certainly have de la Mare-ish qualities: he also wrote a handful of shorter pieces.

I'd also say that sometimes A E Coppard works in de la Mare-ish terrain. True, his stories are more overtly rustic and often bluffer in tone, but they often touch the same interest in eccentrics, recluses, folk stories and peculiar places.

Hurray, some names I've never heard of. Always good.

I find it odd the BBC chose The Almond Tree for their series of ghost story readings, as whilst it is most assuredly a brilliant and haunting story, I'm sure it will have mystified listeners after the more overtly uncanny selections of Seaton's Aunt, All Hallows, Crewe and A Recluse. It's a deep story of suggestion that works better as prose on a page than a (no doubt abridged) reading. Such complex stories should be read at their own pace.

[nomis]

Quote Originally Posted by James Sucellus

Can anybody recommend other writers who produce work similar to de la Mare's supernatural fiction, aside from the obvious Aickman? I heard Simon Strantzas was good.

If you do try one of mine, I'd start with Cold to the Touch (originally published by Tartarus). It's most inline with what you're talking about.

Otherwise, I'd point you to Reggie (of course) Terry Lamsley, and definitely Lynda Rucker. She's fantastic.

[Robin Davies]

Quote Originally Posted by James Sucellus

I first encountered such an oblique style with Ramsey Campbell's Demons by Daylight collection and Thomas Ligotti's core canon, before becoming obsessed with the works of the high master of supernatural fiction, Robert Aickman. When I finally checked out Walter de la Mare, I was very much used to 'elliptical supernatural horror', and it had become my preferred method. A story can be enchanting or haunting without revealing everything, or even much at all, about itself. Reticence is key.

Have you tried M. John Harrison? Though his work is very distinctive in its own right ("Harrisonian?") a lot of it (particularly stories like Gifco, Anima and Empty) has an elusive Aickmanesque quality, and as a prose stylist I think he's in a league of his own. I strongly recommend the short story collection Things That Never Happen and the novel The Course of the Heart. The latter also has echoes of Machen and grew from a short story called The Great God Pan...

[Al de Baran]

Addendum regarding de la Mareian obliqueness:

I realize that opinions are often fiercely divided over the value of annotation, but in my view de la Mare's tales positively shriek out for it. To those who agree, I hope you were able to snatch Professor Voller's excellent PDF versions of "Seaton's Aunt" and "Out of the Deep" with fly-by annotations before his Litgothic site went belly-up.