The Perfect Anthology
I harbour very mixed feelings about anthologies. On the one hand, I despise them on principle because they represent an eclectic skim from original author collections; just as with a ‘Best Of Year Hits’ CD, the choice is invariably subjective and rarely do you get enough of what you want. On the other hand, a shrewd selection of tales, coupled with an entertaining or qualified introduction by a favoured editor, can create precisely the sort of ‘sampler’ that a discerning reader might wish to possess. Had it not been for Montague Summers’ championing of Vincent O’Sullivan in the cornerstone anthology The Supernatural Omnibus, I for one would have come to this excellent writer much later in the day. Colin de la Mare’s anthology The Ghost Book offers in addition to a pleasantly diverse selection of literate ghost tales a very worthy and illuminating essay by his father, the great Walter de la Mare. But I still maintain that the very large majority of anthologies are lazy, worthless exercises which should have been strangled at birth. The one exception is perhaps the occasional ‘Year’s Best’ anthology which seeks to draw in new offerings from very obscure sources. Provided that editors select higher-brow fare, these can be very rewarding.
Anyway, the following works are those I should like to include in any mainstream anthology:
GENERAL
Michael Arlen – The Gentleman From America
Algernon Blackwood – Ancient Sorceries
Marjorie Bowen – Julia Roseingrave
F. Marion Crawford – The Dead Smile
Arthur Conan Doyle – Lot 249
R. Murray Gilchrist – The Crimson Weaver
M.R. James – Casting The Runes
J.S. Le Fanu – Green Tea
H.B. Marriott-Watson – The Stone Chamber
Guy de Maupassant – The Horla
Amyas Northcote – Brickett Bottom
Vincent O’Sullivan – When I Was Dead
H.R. Wakefield – Blind Man’s Bluff
Hugh Walpole – Mrs Lunt
PATHOS
A.M. Burrage – Playmates
E.F. Benson – Pirates
Richard Middleton – The Brighton Road
WHIMSIES
E.G. Swain – Place Of Safety
Bernard Capes – The Ghost Leech
Oscar Wilde – The Canterville Ghost
WALTER DE LA MARE SECTION
Walter de la Mare – A Recluse
Walter de la Mare – Mr Kempe
Walter de la Mare - Seaton’s Aunt
SPOOK SLEUTHS
E. & H. Heron – The Story Of Baelbrow
William Hope Hodgson – The Gateway Of The Monster
Sax Rohmer – The Case Of The Headless Mummies
NOVELS
William Hope Hodgson – The House On The Borderland
Phyllis Paul – A Cage For The Nightingale
Bram Stoker – Dracula
SEALED SECTION
Robert Aickman – The Visiting Star
T.E.D. Klein – The Events At Poroth Farm
Arthur Machen – The White People
Michael Arlen – The Gentleman From America
Algernon Blackwood – Ancient Sorceries
Marjorie Bowen – Julia Roseingrave
F. Marion Crawford – The Dead Smile
Arthur Conan Doyle – Lot 249
R. Murray Gilchrist – The Crimson Weaver
M.R. James – Casting The Runes
J.S. Le Fanu – Green Tea
H.B. Marriott-
Guy de Maupassant – The Horla
Amyas Northcote – Brickett Bottom
Vincent O’Sullivan – When I Was Dead
H.R. Wakefield – Blind Man’s Bluff
Hugh Walpole – Mrs Lunt
PATHOS
A.M. Burrage – Playmates
E.F. Benson – Pirates
Richard Middleton – The Brighton Road
WHIMSIES
E.G. Swain – Place Of Safety
Bernard Capes – The Ghost Leech
Oscar Wilde – The Canterville Ghost
WALTER DE LA MARE SECTION
Walter de la Mare – A Recluse
Walter de la Mare – Mr Kempe
Walter de la Mare -
SPOOK SLEUTHS
E. & H. Heron – The Story Of Baelbrow
William Hope Hodgson – The Gateway Of The Monster
Sax Rohmer – The Case Of The Headless Mummies
NOVELS
William Hope Hodgson – The House On The Borderland
Phyllis Paul – A Cage For The Nightingale
Bram Stoker – Dracula
SEALED SECTION
Robert Aickman – The Visiting Star
T.E.D. Klein – The Events At Poroth Farm
Arthur Machen – The White People