Tracy mentioned reading THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE and I read this collection in 2020.
I happened upon an article in "Ploughshares" discussing the ghost stories of Muriel Spark and I happened to have this collection (above) which had a number of the mentioned stories in it. I found them oddly appealing although more as pieces of writing than satisfying ghost stories.
"The Leafsweeper" has the odd premise of being about a man whose obsession was putting an end to the celebration of Christmas. When enough people were bored and tired with his ranting about it, he was put in an asylum where he rakes leaves In the house where he formerly ranted, another ghostly figure takes his place at Christmas time although he does not rant and rave about Christmas. The story ends with the two figures becoming one. One has to wonder what the man does when there are no leaves to rake.
"The House of the Famous Poet" was even stranger. A woman living in the house of a famous poet is on a train ride when a soldier sells her "an abstract funeral" to cover the costs of his fare. The story ends with a bombing where people in the house of the famous poet die thus requiring a real funeral.
And finally "The Executor." A woman's uncle dies and leaves her his house and estate. She turns over his literary work to a foundation, holding back a novel about a witch with a chapter left for completion. As she works to complete it, little notes turn up each day, chastising her for not finishing the work and making disturbing accusations. The Foundation notifies her that they were in receipt of the final chapter and wanted the rest of it.
None of these were satisfying to me as ghost stories but as I said, I enjoyed them anyway. Sometimes the conceit is more interesting than a satisfying conclusion. I always like Spark's writing and these were stories from a quirky mind. The best kind, I think. I have also enjoyed a number of her novels.
7 comments:
I read this collection several years ago, and I even remember that very strange train story.
This week I've been reading the Fredric Brown collection - there are 60 stories and I'm getting closer to the end - as well as the collection of stories from AHMM.
In the latter was "Historical Errors," a story by William Brittain I'd never read. Seems a man is driving through Connecticut with his wife and mother in law, when he gets stopped for drunk driving. When he wakes up the next morning in jail, he discovers that for one month a year, this town lives and acts like they're living in Colonial times. He pleads guilty to driving drunk and is sentenced to the stocks, but then things take a more sinister turn. Good one.
Also read a long Matt Scudder story by Lawrence Block.
Muriel Spark drew a lot of attention with her fine work.
What a strange idea.
I am glad you included these short stories by Muriel Spark today. I want to find some of her short stories to read; I think I will wait and check the book sale, which usually has many short story books. And also later in the year I will check ABEBOOKS to see what I can find. Plus I have a couple of Christmas stories in anthologies, including "The Leafsweeper" in one of them.
I read her THE GO-AWAY BIRD collection when I was 13 or so, but I forget what put me onro it. Probably Judith Merril's BOTY annual from '65 which read just before. I haven't read another collection since, but not because I didn't enjoy the book.
Strange small towns were a staple of AHMM stories in the '60s.
That's me, jumping on Alice's computer.
Post a Comment