Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology
FREE Shipping
Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology
- Brand: Unbranded
Description
R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu and Arthur Machen; lesser-known voices including Eleanor Scott and Margery Lawrence; and mainstream authors such as Thomas Hardy and E. In his Introduction to Damnable Tales, the novelist Benjamin Myers offers a clue: ‘They take place in worlds we recognise as once-removed from our realities. I think the concept of the 'intruder meddling' which is so key to this subset of the genre is such an interesting one, and to me this is certainly able to be paralleled with colonialism and a fear/disgust of non-dominant cultural practices by the coloniser reflected in the stories.
Illustrated by the editor's great woodcut-style drawings, Damnable Tales is a first-rate anthology of stories that fall under the wide folk horror umbrella.And yes some of the stories where indeed good, but these where all stories I had read before so this anthology was not bringing me anything new and exciting. Outside of his television work, he makes and sells his own darkly folkloric artwork, often lino cut and hand-printed. Dear reader do yourself a favour and just read the collected works of the master of Folk Horror, Arthur Machen. It has the feel of a genuine folk narrative, and shows that Le Fanu wasn't finished after 'In a Glass Darkly'.
Wonderful read for horror enthusiasts who enjoy reading tales from the beginning of the genre, and like old English. A s soon as I heard the initial musings of a book of classic folk horror short stories selected and illustrated by Richard Wells, my curiosity was piqued on several levels.
Rolt (if in the main for a compelling horror rendering of my old neck of the woods) and Bind Your Hair by Robert Aickman, a very modern clash between a young woman's aspirations, her could-be life with her fiancée, and interesting goings-on on a small town's outskirts. Throughout, the general themes are of ‘modern/town/Christian’ folk deposited in a rural setting, stumbling out of the comfortable, predictable, but perhaps somewhat unexciting worlds of the familiar into other, older, weirder goings-on that alternately attract, bamboozle, or terrify them.
- Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
- EAN: 764486781913
-
Sold by: Fruugo