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A review by lnewton
The Penguin Book of the Undead: Fifteen Hundred Years of Supernatural Encounters by Scott G. Bruce
2.0
The Penguin Book of the Undead is selection of works which presents many different accounts relating to abnormal and supernatural spectres that have risen from the dead. Most of these are ghosts which have risen for the dead for some purpose or another. That is what the collection is attempting to show: for what reason ghosts appear rather than how the image of the undead has developed over time.
A large issue with the texts provided is the lack of depth within the texts, usually being only around 5 or 6 pages if generous, which results in there not being a large amount of distinction between the numerous texts. The stories are separated by categories ranging from ‘The Ghosts of War’ to ‘Haunting the Wings’ which contain around 2 to 3 stories. The fact that there is such limited information within each text coupled with the abundance of works results in a sense of fatigue when reading due it seeming as though the same texts are being repeated but by differing authors.
Some of the stories certainly are both entertaining and informative on the topic of the undead, however a significant portion are merely iterative.
Stories that I recommend to read, ignoring the others, are:
Pliny Contemplates the Existence of Ghosts
A Mistress of the Graves
Speaking with the Dead in the Hebrew Scriptures
A Ghost Upon the Waters
Dreaming of the Dead
The Discernment of the Saints
Evodius’s Inquiry: Going Forth from the Body, Who Are We?
Augustine’s Rejection of Ghosts
Pope Gregory the Great: How Can the Living Help the Dead?
The Vision of Barontus
A Lesbian Ghost
Warnings to the Living
The Evil Welshman
Terror in Tonnerre
Of Ghostes and Spirites Walking by Nyght
When Night Draws Swiftly Darkling On
The Torments of Tantalus
A large issue with the texts provided is the lack of depth within the texts, usually being only around 5 or 6 pages if generous, which results in there not being a large amount of distinction between the numerous texts. The stories are separated by categories ranging from ‘The Ghosts of War’ to ‘Haunting the Wings’ which contain around 2 to 3 stories. The fact that there is such limited information within each text coupled with the abundance of works results in a sense of fatigue when reading due it seeming as though the same texts are being repeated but by differing authors.
Some of the stories certainly are both entertaining and informative on the topic of the undead, however a significant portion are merely iterative.
Stories that I recommend to read, ignoring the others, are:
Pliny Contemplates the Existence of Ghosts
A Mistress of the Graves
Speaking with the Dead in the Hebrew Scriptures
A Ghost Upon the Waters
Dreaming of the Dead
The Discernment of the Saints
Evodius’s Inquiry: Going Forth from the Body, Who Are We?
Augustine’s Rejection of Ghosts
Pope Gregory the Great: How Can the Living Help the Dead?
The Vision of Barontus
A Lesbian Ghost
Warnings to the Living
The Evil Welshman
Terror in Tonnerre
Of Ghostes and Spirites Walking by Nyght
When Night Draws Swiftly Darkling On
The Torments of Tantalus