{"product_id":"victorian-ghost-stories-an-oxford-anthology-oxford-paperbacks","title":"Victorian Ghost Stories: An Oxford Anthology (Oxford Paperbacks)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"I think it must have been two oclock at least when I thought I heard a sound in that--that odious dark recess at the far end of the bedroom....Without at first a suspicion of anything supernatural  on a sudden I saw an old man  rather stout and square  in a sort of roan-red dressing-gown  and with a black cap on his head  moving stiffly and slowly in a diagonal direction  from the recess  across the floor of the bedroom  passing my bed at the foot  and entering the lumber-closet at the left. He had something under his arm; his head hung a little at one side; and  merciful God! when I saw his face....\" Theres nothing like a good ghost story. And in Victorian Ghost Stories  Michael Cox and R.A. Gilbert bring together thirty-five well wrought tales of haunted houses  vengeful spirits  spectral warnings  invisible antagonists  and motiveless malignity from beyond the grave. The Victorians excelled at the ghost story  it was as much a part of their literary culture as the realistic novel  and it was practiced by almost all the great writers of the age. Cox and Gilbert here provide samples from Charles Dickens  Robert Louis Stevenson  Rudyard Kipling  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle  Henry James  and Wilkie Collins  as well as such classic ghost-story specialists as M.R. James and J.S. Le Fanu (whose \"Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street \" considered one of the best haunted-house story ever written  is excerpted above)  plus one or two genuine rarities for the supernatural fiction enthusiast to savor. The editors also reveal the key role played by women in the growth of the genre  including stories by Elizabeth Gaskell  Mrs. Craik  Mrs. Henry Wood  Amelia B. Edwards  Charlotte Riddell  and many others. Finally  they offer an informative introduction  detailed source notes  and an extensive survey of ghost-story collections from 1850 to 1910. Traditional in its forms  but energetically inventive and infused with a relish of the supernatural  these classic ghost stories still retain their original power to unsettle and surprise. Every one is guaranteed to satisfy what Virginia Woolf called \"that strange human craving for the pleasure of feeling afraid.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44964159520821,"sku":"ByrdShop_0192829998","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780192829993.jpg?v=1770451392","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/victorian-ghost-stories-an-oxford-anthology-oxford-paperbacks","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}