The “Pushkin Collection” by Pushkin Press is growing into a veritable library of attractive volumes of great literature. It is particularly strong on world fiction, featuring several Continental and Eastern authors in new translations. In this respect, American Midnight: Tales of the Dark, one of the latest publications to join its fold, is somewhat atypical – an anthology of classic horror stories by US authors, selected and introduced by Laird Hunt (himself a purveyor of contemporary speculative fiction of the “literary” sort).

Although this book will certainly appeal to lovers of horror, it seems to be directed at a more “mainstream” readership. The nine featured stories, in fact, include some very well-known works, alongside others which were new to me. Except for the somewhat surprising omission of Ambrose Bierce and H.P. Lovecraft, the usual suspects all make an appearance. The anthology starts with Edgar Allan Poe, the great American master of the macabre, specifically his The Masque of the Red Death, which feels particularly chilling when read at a time of a deadly pandemic. Robert Chambers’ cult short story collection “The King in Yellow” is represented by The Mask, the second story of the cycle. There’s the widely anthologized, yet always welcome, The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s classic feminist tale of psychological horror. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne manages to be both profoundly Gothic and quintessentially American in its exploration of the themes of sin and collective guilt in the context of Puritan New England.

Other stories are less familiar. Mark Twain provides an example of comic Gothic in A Ghost Story, inspired by the “Cardiff Giant”, one of the most famous hoaxes in American history. The “petrified giant” was created by atheist George Hull in a dig at fundamentalist Christians and their literal interpretation of Genesis (and its reference to “giants” roaming the Earth). The hoax gave rise to a famous lawsuit, after P.T.Barnum made a copy of the giant and branded the original giant as fake. Twain imagines a late-night meeting with the ghost of the “Cardiff Giant” who, duped by Barnum’s ‘copy’, ends up haunting the “fake” fake.

First published in “The New Negro” in 1925, Spunk was the third short story written by Zora Neale Hurston. In its portrayal of a love triangle in a community of the Deep South, it combines an earthy “realist” approach with supernatural elements. I was less impressed by An Itinerant House, by poet Emma Frances Dawson. Ambrose Bierce, himself a master of horror fiction, was a keen supporter of Dawson’s work and particularly her atmospheric descriptions of San Francisco: “a city of wraiths and things forbidden to the senses”. Her story is based on the most original premise in the volume –a “cursed” house which seems to travel from place to place, plaguing the protagonists of the tale. Unfortunately, this striking concept, with its interesting combination of the supernatural and early sci-fi, is buried in pages of intellectual discourse and cultural references which rob it of its immediacy.

Laird Hunt’s choices underline the vital contribution made by female writers to the classic horror genre. Indeed, my two favourite stories in the volume are written by women. Edith Wharton’s The Eyes falls within tradition of the classic ‘English’ ghost story, including its “tale-by-the-fireside” framing device. The narrator is invited to a dinner given by a friend of his, one Andrew Culwin, an aged “confirmed bachelor”. As is wont to happen, the talk turns to ghosts, and at the insistence of his latest protégé, Culwin gives an account of a mysterious apparition of a pair of eyes which plagued him in his youth. This apparently ‘trivial’ story reveals much about the psychological make-up of Culwin. Enigmatic and charged with sexual tension, this story gives no easy ‘solutions’ to the enigma of the eyes, leaving it up to readers to reach their own conclusions.

As in Wharton’s case, there’s more than a nod to the classic ghost story in Shirley Jackson’s Home. But just as Jackson reclaims for herself the haunted house genre in The Haunting of Hill House, here she gives her own spin to the tale of a naïve city dweller who moves to a country house with ghosts attached. Scary and dark, but with a wicked humour which is Jackson’s own, this is the perfect example of how classic horror can be reinvented to great effect.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/04/american-midnight-tales-of-dark-laird... ( )

The “Pushkin Collection” by Pushkin Press is growing into a veritable library of attractive volumes of great literature. It is particularly strong on world fiction, featuring several Continental and Eastern authors in new translations. In this respect, American Midnight: Tales of the Dark, one of the latest publications to join its fold, is somewhat atypical – an anthology of classic horror stories by US authors, selected and introduced by Laird Hunt (himself a purveyor of contemporary speculative fiction of the “literary” sort).

Although this book will certainly appeal to lovers of horror, it seems to be directed at a more “mainstream” readership. The nine featured stories, in fact, include some very well-known works, alongside others which were new to me. Except for the somewhat surprising omission of Ambrose Bierce and H.P. Lovecraft, the usual suspects all make an appearance. The anthology starts with Edgar Allan Poe, the great American master of the macabre, specifically his The Masque of the Red Death, which feels particularly chilling when read at a time of a deadly pandemic. Robert Chambers’ cult short story collection “The King in Yellow” is represented by The Mask, the second story of the cycle. There’s the widely anthologized, yet always welcome, The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s classic feminist tale of psychological horror. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne manages to be both profoundly Gothic and quintessentially American in its exploration of the themes of sin and collective guilt in the context of Puritan New England.

Other stories are less familiar. Mark Twain provides an example of comic Gothic in A Ghost Story, inspired by the “Cardiff Giant”, one of the most famous hoaxes in American history. The “petrified giant” was created by atheist George Hull in a dig at fundamentalist Christians and their literal interpretation of Genesis (and its reference to “giants” roaming the Earth). The hoax gave rise to a famous lawsuit, after P.T.Barnum made a copy of the giant and branded the original giant as fake. Twain imagines a late-night meeting with the ghost of the “Cardiff Giant” who, duped by Barnum’s ‘copy’, ends up haunting the “fake” fake.

First published in “The New Negro” in 1925, Spunk was the third short story written by Zora Neale Hurston. In its portrayal of a love triangle in a community of the Deep South, it combines an earthy “realist” approach with supernatural elements. I was less impressed by An Itinerant House, by poet Emma Frances Dawson. Ambrose Bierce, himself a master of horror fiction, was a keen supporter of Dawson’s work and particularly her atmospheric descriptions of San Francisco: “a city of wraiths and things forbidden to the senses”. Her story is based on the most original premise in the volume –a “cursed” house which seems to travel from place to place, plaguing the protagonists of the tale. Unfortunately, this striking concept, with its interesting combination of the supernatural and early sci-fi, is buried in pages of intellectual discourse and cultural references which rob it of its immediacy.

Laird Hunt’s choices underline the vital contribution made by female writers to the classic horror genre. Indeed, my two favourite stories in the volume are written by women. Edith Wharton’s The Eyes falls within tradition of the classic ‘English’ ghost story, including its “tale-by-the-fireside” framing device. The narrator is invited to a dinner given by a friend of his, one Andrew Culwin, an aged “confirmed bachelor”. As is wont to happen, the talk turns to ghosts, and at the insistence of his latest protégé, Culwin gives an account of a mysterious apparition of a pair of eyes which plagued him in his youth. This apparently ‘trivial’ story reveals much about the psychological make-up of Culwin. Enigmatic and charged with sexual tension, this story gives no easy ‘solutions’ to the enigma of the eyes, leaving it up to readers to reach their own conclusions.

As in Wharton’s case, there’s more than a nod to the classic ghost story in Shirley Jackson’s Home. But just as Jackson reclaims for herself the haunted house genre in The Haunting of Hill House, here she gives her own spin to the tale of a naïve city dweller who moves to a country house with ghosts attached. Scary and dark, but with a wicked humour which is Jackson’s own, this is the perfect example of how classic horror can be reinvented to great effect.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/04/american-midnight-tales-of-dark-laird... ( )

Sunny afternoons in May might not be the most obvious time to read ghost stories, but Pushkin Press’s new collection of eerie American tales are enough to send a chill up the spine no matter what the time of year. Selected and edited by Laird Hunt, these classic stories span the 19th and 20th centuries, and their settings include barricaded castles; modest lodging houses; wooded roads; aesthetic Parisian apartments; forest glades; and supposedly comfortable country houses. The general trend is to unsettle rather than terrify, for which I was grateful, because my overactive imagination really doesn’t need any encouragement in the dark reaches of the night. Including works by Edgar Alan Poe, Edith Wharton, Mark Twain, Shirley Jackson and Nathaniel Hawthorne, this is likely to include a couple of tales you’re already familiar with, but will introduce you to at least a few new friends, ready to raise the goosebumps on your arms…

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2020/05/12/american-midnight-2019-laird-hunt/ ( )

‘’We have been put in the mood for ghosts, that evening.’’
The Eyes, Edith Wharton

As this year’s summer approaches with remarkable hesitation, a different time for ghost stories begins. Ghost stories that don’t require the comfort of a fireplace while the snow is falling softly outside. The ghost stories of the summer are told around a lively campfire in Midsummer’s Eve, they need to be narrated while we’re sitting on our porch, as the blue of the summer sky slowly darkens and the stars start their late twinking, as the wine freezes and the trees are painted purple by the early evening light.

It is the time of the American Midnight…

The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe: A prince finds refuge in his abbey as the Red Death, the horrifying plague, is destroying his land. His frenetic masquerade ball has an unexpected (or maybe not…) outcome after the arrival of a strange, uninvited guest.

Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne: An outstanding story by the master of the Gothic tale, a fable as atmospheric as it is enigmatic and frightening. Set in Salem during the 17th century, this is the story of a young man who witnesses the forbidden and his life is changed forever.

The Eyes by Edith Wharton: In a marvellous tale-within-the tale story, a man recounts his strange experience of being haunted by a pair of eyes burning in the darkness. But as it always happens with the great Edith Wharton, this is so much more than a ghost story…

The Mask by Robert W. Chambers: A story that still fascinates us with all the questions it raises, the mystery that lies within the city of Carcosa and the enigmatic figure of the King In Yellow. P.S.True Detective lovers unite.

‘’They were strangers in the house.’’

Home by Shirley Jackson: Even though Ethel is sooo irritating (yes, with three ‘’o’’’), this is a straightforward but extremely atmospheric story of two cursed souls and a tragedy.

‘’[...] thinking of bygone times; recalling old scenes, and summoning half-forgotten faces out of the mists of the past; listening, in fancy, to voices that long ago grew silent for all time, and to once familiar songs that nobody sings now.’’

A Ghost Story by Mark Twain: Narrating a strange visit from the past, this tale is written in the unique, humorous style of the great American writer.

Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston: A story about a love affair with dubious connotations. I didn’t like this one at all, and I fail to see the reason why it had to be included in this collection.
‘’There comes John, and I must put this away - he hates to have me write a word.’’

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The ultimate story of male cruelty, tyranny and madness. The haunting tale of a young woman, imprisoned by her husband, who finds herself face to face with the monstrous creations of her weakened mind, destroyed by endless oppression.

An Itinerant House by Emma Frances Dawson: A cursed house that moves may have been interesting but this story seemed to me a poor attempt to mimic Mary Shelley’s masterpiece. No.

‘’And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.’’

Many thanks to Pushkin Press, NetGalley and Edelweiss for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. ( )