Ghosts: Edith Wharton's Gothic Tales cover art

Ghosts: Edith Wharton's Gothic Tales

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About this listen

Beneath the brilliance that was behind The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome was a dark side. A dark side which produced magnificent tales of the unseen influences in our lives, such as "Mr. Jones", "The Eyes", "Kerfol", "The Ladie's Maid's Bell", and "The Looking Glass".

©2011 Public Domain/ The Mount Press (P)2011 Bma Studios, The Mount Press Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Classics Fiction Horror Scary Short Story
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I like two stories out of the collection most, but all the stories were worth a listen.

Good Halloween Read

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I will readily admit that Wharton is my favourite writer of fiction. And to discover stories I have not already read may always cause me to be more than positive; but i do think these Ghost stories, though very different in style and tone from her usual work, are of the same high standard in all regards.
Before the 20c and the preponderance of psychological and psychoanalytical theories, when writers wanted to explore the edges of common experience, they looked to religion and other supernatural phenomena, and these stories therefore often work on two or three different levels. As intriguing vignettes, mini thrillers etc, as explorations of the supernatural and/or the reach of faith, and finally as a sort of substitute for what therapy and its associated language allows us to explore today in terms of the psyche.
In Whartons hands they are carefully crafted and effective. Goosebumps and surprising twists are there to find, but her milieu remains her Anglo-European class-ridden transatlantic elite. Though she can easily assume the mantle of an Irish maid as a first person narrator.
Unlike modern ghost stories, they aren’t about shlock or horror, they unfold almost as if in response to our questions.
Heartily recommended

Wharton excels in an unusual genre for her

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