Thanks for the review. I have a copy of the 1948 edition of Tales of Horror and the Supernatural. I had not heard of E.F. Benson and am now interested in checking him out, based on your recommendation.
I have a copy of Joshi’s two-volume Unutterable Horror: A History of Supernatural Fiction. Your review prompted me to take that off the shelf and check out Joshi’s write-ups of Machen and Benson. Joshi, a leftist and militant atheist, trashes Machen over his worldview. He doesn’t like Machen’s Christian beliefs, his mysticism, or his Victorian attitudes towards illicit sex.
Joshi is actually quite complementary towards Benson. He rates Benson second only to M.R. James as the greatest ghost story writer of the early Twentieth Century. He rates “The Man Who Went Too Far” as Benson’s best story. Like his jabs at Machen, Joshi also takes a few potshots at Benson over his spiritual beliefs.
If Wordsworth has a newsletter or something like that, I'm looking into it. I'm a fan of Machen and Blackwood (as well as Lovecraft, James and Bierce) at least in part due to what Joshi has written about them.
The fact that Joshi has written extensively also about atheism, agnosticism and human rights has made me clear about why he might resent overt religion in other authors' works.
A good "Joshi-free" collection is the "The Great God Pan and Other Stories", published by Oxford University Press in 2018.
Thanks for the review. I have a copy of the 1948 edition of Tales of Horror and the Supernatural. I had not heard of E.F. Benson and am now interested in checking him out, based on your recommendation.
I have a copy of Joshi’s two-volume Unutterable Horror: A History of Supernatural Fiction. Your review prompted me to take that off the shelf and check out Joshi’s write-ups of Machen and Benson. Joshi, a leftist and militant atheist, trashes Machen over his worldview. He doesn’t like Machen’s Christian beliefs, his mysticism, or his Victorian attitudes towards illicit sex.
Joshi is actually quite complementary towards Benson. He rates Benson second only to M.R. James as the greatest ghost story writer of the early Twentieth Century. He rates “The Man Who Went Too Far” as Benson’s best story. Like his jabs at Machen, Joshi also takes a few potshots at Benson over his spiritual beliefs.
If Wordsworth has a newsletter or something like that, I'm looking into it. I'm a fan of Machen and Blackwood (as well as Lovecraft, James and Bierce) at least in part due to what Joshi has written about them.
The fact that Joshi has written extensively also about atheism, agnosticism and human rights has made me clear about why he might resent overt religion in other authors' works.
A good "Joshi-free" collection is the "The Great God Pan and Other Stories", published by Oxford University Press in 2018.