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adam_mcphee 's review for:
Night Fears: Weird Tales in Translation
by Eric Williams
Three Low Masses by Alphonse Daudet. The first story of the book and already we have something instantly becoming one of my all time favourite stories. The Devil himself infiltrates a church in an effort to get the oafish priest to sin. The central image of had me in stitches. And yet the familiarity/solemnity of midnight mass at Christmas combined with the strangeness of the castle chapel on a mountain setting, somehow these elements allow the story to take a serious, haunting turn.
The Tall Woman by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón. Liked how it used framing devices to complicate, "Yo, I saw a ghost once." But yeah, pretty straightforward ghost story.
On the River by Maupassant. Another nice, neat ghost story. The river doesn't come off as all that creepy or even atmospheric though, and I don't take him seriously when he says it's scarier than the ocean in its way.
Lazarus by Leonid Andreyev. I remember bugging out as a kid hearing some ghost story on the radio about a dead mother (father?) who woke up during her wake/funeral and resuming life as normal, except she stopped smiling and refused to talk about her experience. Lazarus brilliantly evokes the same terror.
The White Dog by Fyodor Sologub: awwwoooouuu (wolf howl) <-- me when i get a werewolf story
On a Train With a Madman by Pan-Appan. For such a hokey premise it was actually one of the most compelling stories so far. I think it works by interrupting the narrative with exposition, giving your brain time to mull the situation over?
Poems by Baudelaire and Schiller. Feel like there's not a whole lot I can say about poetry, though I guess they are atmospheric. And short.
A Masterpiece of Crime by Jean Richepin. Sort of a reverse Edgar Allan Poe, who is even mentioned in the story, where a criminal goes crazy because no one will believe his confessions to a series of heinous crimes.
The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin. My favourite story yet. Paints a vivid picture of gambling culture in Russia, as Herman the German, an officer in the engineers of the Russian army, hears a rumour about a friend's grandmother who might know three cards secretly guaranteed a win.
The Severed Hand by Wilhelm Hauff. Really loved the pan-Mediterranean setting of this, as the guy is just constantly hopping from one place to another.
The Mystery of the Four Husbands by Gaston LeRoux. The initial premise and framing story are really interesting, as is the murder method, but the reveal of the murderer and the method both left me wanting a little more. The method really comes out of left field, whereas the true murderer's reveal is fitting, but doesn't quite feel earned, somehow? I dunno, didn't really care for this one.
The Long Arm. A guy returns to his hometown in Germany after years away and meets a friend who who confesses to using black magic to off his his father, his first wife, and their former schoolmaster. The guy hearing the story doesn't quite believe it until he realizes he's next.
A Passion in the Desert by Honoré de Balzac. These sort of Beau Geste stories are so out of fashion that I kept imagining it in my head with the one pop culture analogue I have: those old cartoons where Yosemite Sam is chasing Bugs Bunny through the desert. It works because the main story is a really straightforward one about a muttering man and an animal (it wasn't quite clear to me if it was a lion or a panther, although the part where he talks about the rings on its tail made me wonder if it was a actually a cheetah) becoming friends in the desert but also still ready to kill each other at a moment's notice. There's some really beautiful descriptions of the desert, and the otherworldly element is revealed in retrospect when the narrator describes the desert as 'God without mankind.'
Siesta by Alexander L. Kielland. A dinner party of madness.
A Ghost by Guy de Maupassant. The better of the two Maupassant stories, and the one that feels more like a traditional ghost story.
Spoiler
a rushed midnight mass, the priest stumbling over his words and the congregation confused as to whether they should sit, stand, or kneel, but no one bothered because they all want to throw themselves on the post-mass feastThe Tall Woman by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón. Liked how it used framing devices to complicate, "Yo, I saw a ghost once." But yeah, pretty straightforward ghost story.
On the River by Maupassant. Another nice, neat ghost story. The river doesn't come off as all that creepy or even atmospheric though, and I don't take him seriously when he says it's scarier than the ocean in its way.
Lazarus by Leonid Andreyev. I remember bugging out as a kid hearing some ghost story on the radio about a dead mother (father?) who woke up during her wake/funeral and resuming life as normal, except she stopped smiling and refused to talk about her experience. Lazarus brilliantly evokes the same terror.
The White Dog by Fyodor Sologub: awwwoooouuu (wolf howl) <-- me when i get a werewolf story
On a Train With a Madman by Pan-Appan. For such a hokey premise it was actually one of the most compelling stories so far. I think it works by interrupting the narrative with exposition, giving your brain time to mull the situation over?
Poems by Baudelaire and Schiller. Feel like there's not a whole lot I can say about poetry, though I guess they are atmospheric. And short.
A Masterpiece of Crime by Jean Richepin. Sort of a reverse Edgar Allan Poe, who is even mentioned in the story, where a criminal goes crazy because no one will believe his confessions to a series of heinous crimes.
The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin. My favourite story yet. Paints a vivid picture of gambling culture in Russia, as Herman the German, an officer in the engineers of the Russian army, hears a rumour about a friend's grandmother who might know three cards secretly guaranteed a win.
The Severed Hand by Wilhelm Hauff. Really loved the pan-Mediterranean setting of this, as the guy is just constantly hopping from one place to another.
The Mystery of the Four Husbands by Gaston LeRoux. The initial premise and framing story are really interesting, as is the murder method, but the reveal of the murderer and the method both left me wanting a little more. The method really comes out of left field, whereas the true murderer's reveal is fitting, but doesn't quite feel earned, somehow? I dunno, didn't really care for this one.
The Long Arm. A guy returns to his hometown in Germany after years away and meets a friend who who confesses to using black magic to off his his father, his first wife, and their former schoolmaster. The guy hearing the story doesn't quite believe it until he realizes he's next.
A Passion in the Desert by Honoré de Balzac. These sort of Beau Geste stories are so out of fashion that I kept imagining it in my head with the one pop culture analogue I have: those old cartoons where Yosemite Sam is chasing Bugs Bunny through the desert. It works because the main story is a really straightforward one about a muttering man and an animal (it wasn't quite clear to me if it was a lion or a panther, although the part where he talks about the rings on its tail made me wonder if it was a actually a cheetah) becoming friends in the desert but also still ready to kill each other at a moment's notice. There's some really beautiful descriptions of the desert, and the otherworldly element is revealed in retrospect when the narrator describes the desert as 'God without mankind.'
Siesta by Alexander L. Kielland. A dinner party of madness.
A Ghost by Guy de Maupassant. The better of the two Maupassant stories, and the one that feels more like a traditional ghost story.