Today’s Countdown to Hallowe’en is another forgotten classic, reviewed by Randy.
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
Chop – chop – chop.
L. P. Hartley was a respected novelist in his time, his best known work The Go-Between. But like other writers from Dickens to Walter de la Mare and more recently Joyce Carol Oates, Hartley leaned toward the Gothic and also wrote ghost stories. The Travelling Grave and Other Stories gathers several of his early tales of terror and ghosts and was first issued by Arkham House, known for issuing the first collections of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber and Ray Bradbury, among others.
The collection opens with, “A Visitor from Down Under,” probably Hartley’s most famous short story, in which a man recently returned to London is pursued by his past. Still one of the creepiest ghost stories I’ve ever read, beautifully written, Hartley uses a radio show for children and a bedtime story to gradually build the main character’s background and create and sustain an atmosphere of imminent danger.
“Podolo” – A picnic on the island of Podolo, a short boat ride from Venice, becomes an occasion for anxiety and loss. One of the two women picnicking goes missing while trying to catch a small kitten that has somehow gotten to the island. But if the kitten could reach the island, what or who else might also have made the island home? Another exercise in building and sustaining mood, this one feels like a story done a la Walter de la Mare or maybe a precursor to Robert Aickman’s work, a nightmare in print.
“Three, or Four, for Dinner” – Two English businessmen in Venice have arranged a dinner with an Italian businessman. On the way to the appointment they discover a body floating in the canal and report it. This story moves away from the seriousness of the first two, its tone a bit lighter and the interaction between the two Brits almost blasé and somewhat jocular as later events unfold triggered by what one of them intends as a practical joke.
“Podolo” and “Three, or Four, for Dinner” would make good companion reading for other stories set in or concerned with Venice, like Daphne du Maurier’s “Don’t Look Now” and Susan Hill’s The Man in the Picture.
“The Travelling Grave” – Not supernatural, a conte cruel, and another story infused with graveyard humor. Invitations wrangled to an eccentric man’s home lead to an introduction to the titular device. A game somewhat like hide ‘n’ seek ensues with predictable results, but for all the results are predictable, getting there is all the fun.
“Feet Foremost” – When a ghost knocks, don’t answer because it may cost your life. A man’s fiancé recognizes his danger and struggles to avert it.
“The Cotillon” – A coquette with at least one unsuccessful affair behind her meets a masked partner at a cotillon who seems to know her. Hartley is adept at laying down the hints and implications of events so the reader knows more than the character but the sense of a preordained outcome keeps you reading.
“A Change of Ownership” – October, the night cool and a man is locked out of his house. Or is he? He’s not certain, but there may be someone in the house, someone he didn’t invite or allow in. Does the intruder mean to take his home? Does the intruder mean him harm?
“The Thought” – Henry Greenstream hasn’t been in a church in years, yet this one church seems to attract him, and he wonders what would happen if he changed, if he prayed.
“Conrad and the Dragon” – Imagine my surprise when I found myself reading a fantasy/fairy tale in a ghost story collection. An evil dragon is devouring any suitor wooing the princess. Across the land first princes then commoners rise to the challenge. Conrad even loses his beloved brother to the dragon. Now it’s Conrad’s turn. The longest story in the collection.
“The Island” – A soldier comes to visit his lover, Mrs. Santander, before going to the front. But she won’t come down to see him and another man keeps appearing in the house.
“Night Fears” – A stranger plays on the fears and anxieties of a night-watchman. A short, but very dark tale.
“The Killing Bottle” – The final story returns to the dark humor of “The Travelling Grave.” There have been odd deaths in the neighborhood of Verdew Castle, two men and even a dog, all of whom had hurt animals. When the owner’s brother invites Jimmy to take a holiday there, he totes along his killing bottle to add to his butterfly collection.
Those stories told with a serious tone work because Hartley goes all in, his tale of ghost or murder presented with conviction. The underlying humor in the other stories gives them a sense of glee, as though the author is enjoying himself by lampooning some, if not all, of the characters; they remind me a little of some of M. R. James’ stories. The net result is a collection with a variety of tone and narrative approach that results in each story feeling fresh for anyone reading cover-to-cover, and that variety makes this excellent reading for late on a dark and stormy night.
THE TRAVELLING GRAVE AND OTHER STORIES by L. P. Hartley (Arkham House, 1948; Valancourt Press, 2017)
Other fine ghost story collections:
The Collected Stories of M. R. James
The Collected Stories of E. F. Benson
Ghost Stories by Walter de la Mare
Best Ghost Stories by Algernon Blackwood
