Victorian Ghost Stories

The anthology is recommendable reading for any fan of gothic or supernatural fiction. I read it because I am interested in writing some supernatural fiction of my own, and I wanted some pointers. I was not disappointed. I like that this anthology collects the excellent work of women writers who have been nearly forgotten, and whose work deserves attention. The most impressive of these writers has to be Lanoe Falconer, whose novella Cecilia de Noel offers some fodder for ideological discussion on the nature of the supernatural, God, and life after death. Lanoe Falconer's story is clever in that she brings together people of many different ideological persuasions, and has them meet a ghost at a haunted English manor. The characters then expound on the significance of their encounters in light of their different ideologies. The final encounter is that of Cecilia de Noel, who is one of the "blessed", with the ghost, who is one of the damned. I will not give away the ending by revealing the consequences of this clever and innovative encounter. Suffice it to say that there are greater and even more fascinating things in life than the supernatural. Supernatural fiction all too often loses sight of that fact, and so I found it refreshing that this particular story does not. Lanoe Falconer's life was cut short by illness, and she is mostly forgotten today, which is a pity. I would like to read more of her work. The women writers collected are mostly English, with about three Americans thrown in at the end. I was surprised by the ommission of Edith Wharton, as in American letters there is really no more "eminent" woman writer than Wharton, particularly for the victorian age. There is a shocking story by Willa Cather, "The Affair at Grover Station," shocking because it reveals Cather to have harbored an active and racist hatred for orientals. I think that these ghost stories would hardly frighten readers today, as today we have accepted living with even greater horrors than ghosts (i.e., thermo-nuclear and biological weapons, nearly legalized government torture, etc.). However, they are still very engrossing reading and of particular interest I think to aspiring writers who may want to add a touch of the old fashioned to their stories. In our increasingly horrifying times, readers seek to escape to literary worlds that are simpler and happier, full of the very things they lack in their individual realities. I think this is what has led to the greatly renewed interest in ghosts and the supernatural as evidenced by all the new ghost hunting shows on television, as well as the ever persistent market for supernatural fiction. The lesser horrors of the supernatural are themselves an escape from what it means to be alive today.

This is a fabulous collection of short stories by Victorian women, most of whom are long out of print. The mores and manners of their time are apparent in all of the stories--as is the sometimes contradictory belief in both established religion and the supernatural. These are not horror stories, nor are they all "ghost stories" in the truest sense of the phrase. They are, rather, a slice of Victorian life, told through the female voice with a strength that is sometimes surprising. I enjoyed them all immensely (with the exception of the dull bit of poetry) and recommend them to any fan of Victorian lit.