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The

CLASSIC HORROR BLOG

Literary Essays on Gothic Horror, Ghost Stories, & Weird Fiction

— from Mary Shelley to M. R. James —

by M. Grant Kellermeyer

GOTHIC NOVELS & NOVELLAS

MACABRE MASTERS BEST STORIES BY AUTHOR

STORY SUMMARIES & ANALYSES HORROR FICTION TROPES

FILM ADAPTATIONS NEW BOOK REVIEWS HOLIDAY STORIES

— CLICK ON A NAME TO SEE ALL ESSAYS ON THAT WRITER —

E. F. BENSON AMBROSE BIERCE ALGERNON BLACKWOOD RHODA BROUGHTON
ROBERT W. CHAMBERS F. MARION CRAWFORD GUY DE MAUPASSANT CHARLES DICKENS
LORD DUNSANY AMELIA B. EDWARDS ELIZABETH GASKELL NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON E. T. A. HOFFMANN WASHINGTON IRVING W. W. JACOBS
HENRY JAMES M. R. JAMES RUDYARD KIPLING J. SHERIDAN LE FANU GASTON LEROUX
H. P. LOVECRAFT ARTHUR MACHEN EDITH NESBIT FITZ-JAMES O'BRIEN
MARGARET OLIPHANT OLIVER ONIONS EDGAR ALLAN POE
MARY SHELLEY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON BRAM STOKER
H. G. WELLS EDITH WHARTON OSCAR WILDE

Aug 15, 2019
8 min

Bram Stoker's The Burial of the Rats: A Two-Minute Summary and a Literary Analysis

Part “Three Skeleton Key,” part “The Most Dangerous Game,” “The Burial of the Rats” has the distinctive flavor of an Edwardian...

Aug 8, 2019
39 min

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Inspirations, Interpretations, and a Literary Analysis

I was six years old when I walked into a bookstore in Holland, Michigan with my family and met Dr. Jekyll for the first time. We had...

Jul 28, 2019
13 min

Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado: A Two-Minute Summary and Literary Analysis

Unlike “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Imp of the Perverse,” and “The Black Cat,” Poe’s final two murder tales – “The Cask of Amontillado”...

Jul 23, 2019
8 min

Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart: A Two-Minute Summary and Literary Analysis

Arguably the most famous of Poe’s murder tales (and comfortably short for casual readers of literary fiction) “The Tell-Tale Heart” has...

Jul 18, 2019
11 min

Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher: A Two-Minute Summary and Literary Analysis

Magnum opus to Poe’s canon, “The Fall of the House of Usher” single-handedly could have ensured his reputation. While others may contend...

Jul 9, 2019
5 min

Edgar Allan Poe's Ligeia: A Two-Minute Summary and Literary Analysis

Many of Poe’s tales can be seen as re-workings of previous works: “MS.” becomes “Maelström,” “Metzengerstein” becomes “Hop-Frog,”...

Jul 8, 2019
14 min

The Nightmarish, Deeply Personal Horror Stories of Edgar Allan Poe

You have read Poe before. I say that with the authority of someone who was brought up in the American public education system. You have...

Jul 3, 2019
9 min

Fitz-James O'Brien's The Diamond Lens: A Two-Minute Summary and Literary Analysis

O’Brien has not been called the “Celtic Poe” without cause. Among the most famous of his works (after “What Was It?”), “The Diamond Lens”...

Jun 26, 2019
30 min

The Shadow by E. Nesbit (with footnote annotations)

This is not an artistically rounded-off ghost story[1], and nothing is explained in it[2], and there seems to be no reason why any of it...

Jun 25, 2019
12 min

E. Nesbit's The Shadow: A Two-Minute Summary and Analysis

“The Shadow” is Nesbit’s worthiest bid for the literary ghost story – that rare genre of powerful, elegant supernaturalism that thunders...

Jun 15, 2019
6 min

Arthur Machen's The Bowmen: A Two-Minute Summary and a Literary Analysis

More than “The Great God Pan,” more than “The White People,” more than anything written in “The Three Imposters,” Machen is best known...

Jun 9, 2019
28 min

The Phantom of the Opera: Inspirations, Interpretations, and a Literary Analysis

“The Opera Ghost really existed…” Such are the opening lines of Gaston Leroux’s Edwardian homage to the Belle Epoque. Pregnant with...

Jun 5, 2019
15 min

Le Fanu's Schalken the Painter: A Summary and Full Analysis of the Classic Ghost Story

Godfried Schalcken (1643 - 1706) was a Dutch master painter who studied under one of Rembrandt’s greatest pupils, attached himself to the...

May 22, 2019
6 min

W. W. Jacobs' The Toll-House: A Two-Minute Summary and Literary Analysis

Second to “The Monkey’s Paw” and the similarly-themed “Jerry Bundler,” “The Toll-House” is Jacobs’ most anthologized horror story, and...

May 7, 2019
9 min

Washington Irving's The Adventure of the German Student: A Two-Minute Summary and Literary Analysis

Aside from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle,” none of Irving’s ghost stories has had the incredible popularity – both...

Apr 29, 2019
8 min

E. T. A. Hoffmann's Councillor Krespel: A Two-Minute Summary and Literary Analysis

Music has almost always been seen as a sublime expression of the unconscious: singers, players, and composers allow humanity to express...

Apr 19, 2019
10 min

Carnacki the Ghost-Finder & The Whistling Room: A Two-Minute Summary and Literary Analysis

Perhaps using a touch of M. R. James (cf. “Count Magnus,” “Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book”), Hodgson riffs off of the legend that Solomon was...

Apr 17, 2019
5 min

Arthur Conan Doyle's The Horror of the Heights: A Two-Minute Summary and a Literary Analysis

Doyle’s final great horror story is truly a worthy swan song – a tale who’s science fiction maintains a level of effective awe in spite...

Apr 15, 2019
2 min

Robert W. Chambers' Cassilda's Song: An Analysis of the King in Yellow's Poem

“Cassilda’s Song” opens The King in Yellow, setting the tone for the anthology, and giving us our most liberal taste of what the...

Apr 12, 2019
7 min

Algernon Blackwood's The Willows: A Two-Minute Summary and a Literary Analysis

Weird Fiction developed early in the Nineteenth Century with the bizarre supernatural annals of Hoffmann, Poe, and O’Brien, but the peak...

Apr 10, 2019
5 min

H. G. Wells' The Door in the Wall: A Two-Minute Summary and Literary Analysis

H. G. Wells’ last truly great piece of short speculative fiction is probably the following tale. After World War One his writing became...

Apr 2, 2019
6 min

Bram Stoker's Dracula's Guest: A Two-Minute Summary and a Literary Analysis

“Dracula’s Guest” was provocative almost as soon as it was released in 1914, and it has remained highly controversial since then –...

Mar 27, 2019
7 min

Robert Louis Stevenson's Thrawn Janet: A Two-Minute Summary and a Literary Analysis

Robert Louis Stevenson was raised in a devout Presbyterian household. His father was a devoted Tory, and his family was proud of his...

Mar 25, 2019
4 min

Edgar Allan Poe's Morella: A Two-Minute Summary and Analysis of the Classic Horror Story

The women of Poe’s tales are often polar opposites from the men who adore them. Like Berenice, the extroverted sensualist (who is...

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FEATURED POSTS

The

CLASSIC HORROR BLOG

S U B S C R I B E:

GOTHIC NOVELS & NOVELLAS

MACABRE MASTERS BEST STORIES BY AUTHOR

STORY SUMMARIES & ANALYSES HORROR FICTION TROPES

FILM ADAPTATIONS NEW BOOK REVIEWS HOLIDAY STORIES

OLDSTYLE TALES PRESS | FORT WAYNE, IND.
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FEATURED POSTS

The

CLASSIC HORROR BLOG

S U B S C R I B E:

GOTHIC NOVELS & NOVELLAS MACABRE MASTERS BEST STORIES BY AUTHOR STORY SUMMARIES & ANALYSES HORROR FICTION TROPES FILM ADAPTATIONS NEW BOOK REVIEWS HOLIDAY STORIES

GOTHIC NOVELS & NOVELLAS

MACABRE MASTERS BEST STORIES BY AUTHOR

STORY SUMMARIES & ANALYSES HORROR FICTION TROPES

FILM ADAPTATIONS NEW BOOK REVIEWS HOLIDAY STORIES