Bill Barnett (May 4, 1998)[Oliver Onions]rbadac and Robert Suggs wrote: [in Barry Pain thread]
>>Hmmm, remarkable similarity, I must admit. What drugs was Chambers on?
>
>Not exactly sure, but something to deal with his chief symptom.
>Yellow sinus, of course.We now have a bona fide subculture--we're making jokes that won't make sense to anyone else. All riiiiiight!
I hope someone's ready to discuss "The Beckoning Fair One". I've been reading the rest of WIDDERSHINS, finally, and have saved a reread of BFO for last. I was going to finish it tonight, but watched L.A. Confidential instead. Yowza! I may have to take a break from ghost fiction and read some James Ellroy...
Bill B.
oOo
rbadac (May 4, 1998)
I know. Isn't it pathetic? Yellow sinus, indeed. We'll be needing Repairers of our Reputations next, and our detractors are probably already Makers of Moons on the subject.> I hope someone's ready to discuss "The Beckoning Fair One". I've been
> reading the rest of WIDDERSHINS, finally, and have saved a reread of
> BFO for last. I was going to finish it tonight, but watched L.A.
> Confidential instead. Yowza! I may have to take a break from ghost
> fiction and read some James Ellroy...
>
> Bill B.I heard that was GREAT.
Some of us may have discussed 'Widdershins' in the past, but I don't think it's been done over here. I know a lot of us consider it the best ghost story ever, at least I do.
rbadac
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Robert Suggs (May 5, 1998)
rbadac wrote:
>I know a lot of us consider it the best ghost story
>ever, at least I do.Count me among those who consider it the best ever. I join Algernon Blackwood, who called ["The Beckoning Fair One"] "the most horrible and beautiful ever written on those lines." Robert Aickman considered it one of possibly six great masterpieces in the field, and Bleiler seems to put it at the very top as well. Some will be disappointed with it if they like their ghosts tangible and clearly described as in James. But those who like atmosphere--carefully cultivated, expertly orchestrated page by page--will find this one to their liking. It's emotionally wrenching on a sheer narrative level, and it works on several other levels as well (as a parable of the artist or of sexuality, for example). I like Onions' other stories, but I've seen nothing to approach this one--by Onions or anyone else.
Rob
oOo
deathbird44 (May 5, 1998)
"Widdershins" by this Onions chap, eh? Is there any feasibly findable occurrence of this story 'cuz my interest is indeedily-doodily piqued.
cheerio,
johnoOo
Randy Money (May 5, 1998)
John,I don't know if it's still in print, but Dover republished the book several years ago. If you haunt (cough) your used bookstores, you might find a copy. Of course, if all else fails, try Amazon.com.
Randy
oOo
rbadac (May 5, 1998)
> "Widdershins" by this Onions chap, eh? Is there any feasibly findable
> occurrence of this story 'cuz my interest is indeedily-doodily piqued.
> cheerio,
> johnYo, Flanders! The Dover reprint of WIDDERSHINS (I think Dover calls it THE FIRST BOOK OF GHOST STORIES: WIDDERSHINS by Oliver Onions, though besides their other reprint of THE COLLECTED GHOST STORIES OF.. , I'm unaware of a 'second' book) is reasonably available in the used bookstores, and I'm sure 'The Beckoning Fair One' is all over the place (Wise and Fraser's GREAT TALES OF.. for instance, undoubtedly several other places).
Beyond that, I heard not long ago that L.W. Currey had 'the only known copy in dust jacket' for $1200.00. Wonder if he sold it already? I offered him $4.95, but haven't heard back from him ...
rbadac
oOo
William Allison (May 8, 1998)
>Beyond that, I heard not long ago that L.W. Currey had 'the only known copy
>in dust jacket' for $ 1200.00. Wonder if he sold it already? I offered him $
>4.95, but haven't heard back from him ...
>
>rbadacGo easy on Lloyd now rbadac, he's been "hooking me up" lately. For example:
W.F. Harvey's THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (US edition- UK= MIDNIGHT TALES) a fine in vg DJ copy for $15... :-)Bill
PS- Speaking of used copies of Onions, Bill B's looking for a Dover COLLECTED GHOST STORIES if you spot one...
oOo
rbadac (May 8, 1998)
GOOD PRICE on that, Bill! Better than I'm accustomed to seeing from Lloyd, frankly. That's what I paid for mine! Cool jacket isn't it?My Dover COLLECTED... cost me $10 from Other Worlds in Providence, R.I. when I was up there stomping all over Lovecraft's old haunts. If I see another, I'll be sure to nab it for Bill B.
rbadac
oOo
John Pelan (May 6, 1998)
[Widdershins]Seems that in our listings of places to find "The Beckoning Fair One", we've overlooked the obvious... WIDDERSHINS is one of the classics that's been reprinted by the folks at Ayer Company Publishers. Since the alternatives are a flimsy trade paperback or a very expensive hardcover, the serviceable library edition from Ayer is a happy medium...
BTW: If anyone should happen to call on Ayer, be sure to request MIDNIGHT TALES by William Fryer Harvey, only 47 more requests and they'll reprint it!
JP
oOo
salamon (July 12, 1998)
The Dover reprint left out one story from the original Widdershins.Jake...
oOo
William Allison (July 13, 1998)
Is this true of both Dover's- WIDDERSHINS and COLLECTED GHOST STORIES? And does anyone know the story behind this? Did Dover leave it out or was it missing from other hardcover editions? I wonder if O.O. had it pulled for some reason... Sounds like this would make a good Necronomicon Press/Hobgoblin Press-style chapbook...Mr Weas er, Bill A.
oOo
rbadac (July 13, 1998)
> The Dover reprint left out one story from the original Widdershins.
>
> Jake...
>Yes ! And this second printing won't have it either !
'The Rocker' only appears in the first, as far as I know. Has anyone seen this story reprinted anywhere?
rbadac
oOo
salamon (July 13, 1998)
The story in Widdershins that was omitted from both Dover Onions collections is titled "The Rocker", (about a child ghost). It was reprinted only once in "The 13th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories" [edited by Chetwynd-Hayes].Jake...
oOo
William Allison (July 14, 1998)
Thanks Jake, it figures that's one of the Fontana's I'm missing...Bill A.
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rbadac (July 14, 1998)
I don't have it either. Hmmmm. '13th', eh? With a story that isn't in any obtainable edition of- WAIT A MINUTE.I don't like the sound of this, guys.
rbadac, who will pay five bucks to whomever types this entire text of 'The Rocker' somewhere where we can read it on-line.
And lives.
oOo
Randy Money (July 14, 1998)
"Jake smiled and sat back, setting his rocker in motion. For the same reason that most buildings lack a thirteenth floor, there was no thirteenth edition of the Fontana series."Except for the one Jake owned.
"The bait had been laid."
Randy
(ooohhhh! an alternate-n.g. story!
unless it's not an alternate-n.g.)oOo
Bill Barnett (May 5, 1998)
> "Widdershins" by this Onions chap, eh? Is there any feasibly findable
> occurrence of this story 'cuz my interest is indeedily-doodily piqued.
> cheerio,
> johnWIDDERSHINS is the name of the collection, "The Beckoning Fair One" is the standout story therein. The story can be found in Hartwell's THE DARK DESCENT, Leithauser's NORTON BOOK OF GHOST STORIES, Bennett Cerf's FAMOUS GHOST STORIES, and in several other anthologies. I have also located the text on the web at http://dept.english.upenn.edu/~nauerbac/onions.html
I meant to finish it last night but watched L.A. Confidential again instead.
But stay tuned, my brilliant analysis should be ready tonight. :-)Bill B.
oOo
Robert Suggs (May 5, 1998)
[BB Confidential]>I meant to finish it last night but watched L.A. Confidential again instead.
>But stay tuned, my brilliant analysis should be ready tonight. :-)
>Bill B.Bill, Bill, you're beginning to resemble the plot to the story you can't get around to reading! You need to put aside this L.A. Confidential video, okay? If you hear the sound of Kim Basinger brushing her hair in your domicile, just throw the thing out. If you actually SEE Kim Basinger in your domicile, forget all reading AND television plans and proceed to Plan B . . .
RoboOo
Bill Barnett (May 6, 1998)
Hmmm, Plan B... Get her out of the house before my wife sees her and kicks my ass!oOo
Bill Barnett (May 6, 1998)
[The Beckoning Fair One]I'll start with a few generalizations about Oliver Onions and his ghost stories. He certainly doesn't go in for the physical aspects of what I think of as ghost stories: none of MRJ's animated corpses and wraiths, or Fred Benson's creepy-crawlies, or Machen's tentacles and morphing human forms, or the revenants of just about every ghost story writer. His concerns are more psychological than ghostly, and I get the feeling he meant his fiction to be more serious than entertaining. The stories are not really "read-aloud-by-candlelight" material.
Onions' desire to subvert the ghost story tradition shows through in a telling passage in "The Beckoning Fair One," in a conversation between the increasingly haunted Paul Oleron and his friend Elsie Bengough, as she attempts to warn him of the harmful consequences of continuing to reside in the house with the insurance marks in the bricks:
"Shall I tell you what I know?"
"No," he said in a voice slightly raised.
"No?" she asked, her round eyes earnestly on him.
"No."And that is the end of the matter. This is the point at which the seasoned ghost-story reader expects the history of the house to be laid out, the sad existence and the tragic end of the long-haired harpist to be narrated in detail. But Onions affords us no such comfort of the familiar, and why should he? We know the gist already. (Reader: "Will you tell us the origin of the haunting?" Onions: "No." R: "No?" O: "No.")
What I didn't remember about this story that I discovered upon rereading is how Onions uses visual effects quite strikingly to set the mood of the house. The earliest image is of the "hatchetlike" to-let signs hanging over the fence. I still can't picture how signboards can look like hatchets, but it's an image Onions returns to time after time. And immediately after Oleron moves into the house, there's this wonderfully descriptive passage:
"...and passers through the small triangular square late at night, looking up over the little serried row of wooden "To Let" hatchets, could see the light within Oleron's red blinds, or else the sudden darkening of one blind and the illumination of another, as Oleron, candlestick in hand, passed from room to room..."
How much more sinister can a house be than glowing blood-red from its windows at night?! (And how often do you get to see the term "triangular square"?!)
The "ghost" makes her presence known through such subtle actions: the dripping of a faucet, the sound of hair being brushed; even her acts of outright aggression toward Elsie could be written off to chance (up until the final one, that is).
But the best part of BFO is the charting of a man's transit from objective reality to a different one, his gradual shedding of worldly concerns for those of a fantastic obsession, and his attempts at justification at every step. I confess that I found some of the passages dealing with Oleron's thoughts slow going, but perhaps they're supposed to be; great works of music have variations in tempo and dynamics, after all, so why shouldn't works of fiction. And the fate of Elsie Bengough, which Onions dances around at the end (he only gives us glimpses), registers more powerfully for the careful (no, I didn't say plodding) path by which he leads us to it.
I think I will agree that "The Beckoning Fair One" is unsurpassed in the field. I look forward to reading some interpretations from you smart guys, as I've always been slow on matters of symbolism and allegory. Rob? Robert? John? John P? Rbadac? Bill? Christopher? Woolrich?
I also want to talk about the other stories in WIDDERSHINS, but I think I'll watch L.A. Confidential again first. (Just kidding! We returned the tape today.) Most pressingly, and forgive me for being dense, but who *is* that "other" that haunts "Rooum"?!
Bill B.
oOo
Robert Suggs (May 6, 1998)
>Most pressingly, and forgive me for being
>dense, but who *is* that "other" that haunts "Rooum"?!
>Bill B.In the limited time I have at present, I only want to echo your question on "Rooum." This may be his second most famous story, possibly, but I didn't find it exactly crystal clear (as you've seen, this can be the way with Onions). I had a great deal of trouble visualizing that whole set piece at the end, and exactly what happened, physically, at the end. I got that it was a ghost passing in and out of his body, taking a bit more each time.
Also I agree with pretty much all your observations about TBFO, though I hope he did intend it for entertainment primarily (things sort of rise to "literature" status on their own, I think; attempts at such come across as no more than that). It does get a bit dense at the end. But to me it had the effect of an orchestra playing a chaotic 20th century composer at full blast. Oleron is basically unstrung.
When I come back maybe we can dissect some of the various levels in the story . . .
RoboOo
Jay Merrill (May 7, 1998)
Can somebody very briefly explain what is supposed to have taken place in The Beckoning Fair One? I never did GET it, even 40 years after reading it. Here're my guesses as to what it was about:1.Some sort of succubus/demon possessed him and "turned him into jelly".
2.He was under some kinda self-delusion that made him stop eating and die of anorexia/heart failure.
3.The robot from Lost In Space made an unexpected appearance and zapped him to death.The whole story just...goes nowhere. I mean, yeah, it's got some pretty turns of phrase, some interesting, typically vacant stream of consciousness ramblings. But...huh?
oOo
rbadac (May 7, 1998)
Oh, dear. How DOES one explain color to the blind?Try it again, Jay. 40 years is a bit long.
rbadac
oOo
Bill Barnett (May 7, 1998)
> Can somebody very briefly explain what is supposed to have
> taken place in The Beckoning Fair One? I never did GET it,
> even 40 years after reading it. Here're my guesses as to
> what it was about:
>
> 1.Some sort of succubus/demon possessed him and "turned
> him into jelly".
> 2.He was under some kinda self-delusion that made him
> stop eating and die of anorexia/heart failure.
> 3.The robot from Lost In Space made an unexpected appearance
> and zapped him to death.This will obviously contain SPOILERS.
The short answer to your question is: some of #1, some of #2, and none of #3. The main character actually does not die, but a previous tenant, a Mr. Madley, did die of apparently self-imposed starvation. We are kept from writing the whole episode off to madness because:
1) Oleron whistles a tune he has never consciously heard before, which Mrs. Barrett identifies as "The Beckoning Fair One," a song popular 40 years before, which was sung to the accompaniment of a harp (this after discovering a harp wrapper in a nailed-up window-seat).
2) Oleron's friend Elsie, the ghost's rival, ends up murdered, wrapped in the harp cover, and shoved into a kitchen cupboard. Oleron could not leave his bedroom on the occasion of Elsie's last visit, so we must attribute her demise to other hands.
> The whole story just...goes nowhere. I mean, yeah, it's got
> some pretty turns of phrase, some interesting, typically vacant
> stream of consciousness ramblings. But...huh?We end up with a woman murdered by a ghost and the resident of the house saved from starvation only because of his arrest for the murder, I wouldn't call that "nowhere." The long passages dealing with the workings of Oleron's mind I think are indeed overlong, but not "vacant". I found the description of a mind's step-by-step justification of its own collapse to be fascinating, for the most part.
Bill B.
oOo
Robert Suggs (May 7, 1998)
Bill Barnett wrote:
>1) Oleron whistles a tune he has never consciously heard before, which Mrs.
>Barrett identifies as "The Beckoning Fair One," a song popular 40 years
>before, which was sung to the accompaniment of a harp (this after discovering
>a harp wrapper in a nailed-up window-seat).I'll only add, because it was one of the nice little touches in the story, that Oleron had picked up the little tune from the dripping of a faucet in the house, I think it was. An original haunting device. Incidentally, Onions got the idea for the story from the sound of his wife brushing her hair in the bedroom. He had the thought, what if someone heard that sound--and there WAS no one brushing their hair in the bedroom?
One other thought. I was mulling Bill's observation that we don't have any nasty, on-stage beasties here as with a James story. It's interesting that the three tales which always seem to get the votes for "greatest ghost story ever"--TBFO, "The Willows," and "Turn of the Screw"--are all novelettes and all feature very ambiguous, not-physically-present ghosts. Perhaps this is simply a prejudice toward the "literary" (though I do detest that label). Perhaps greater lengths get greater consideration by the hoity toity critics, as opposed to "The Upper Berth" and "The Monkey's Paw." Are the more ephemeral ghosts more terrifying? To me, actually, they are--but that's a very subjective opinion. Your thoughts?
RoboOo
Steve Wise (May 10, 1998)
Ah, the delights of morbid psychology. Shades of "Crime and Punishment", "Markheim", and de Maupassant ("Diary of a Madman", "A Night in Paris"). I am very impressed with any author who can convincingly, graphically evoke a morbid state without being there himself (although in de Maupassant's case he was evidently writing from first-hand experience). Is the story popular because the pressures of modern life make the idea of turning our backs on the world fascinating and appealing?I was a little surprised and put off by the ending, since it seems inconsistent with what went before it. First we read that
"...She was coming over him now; he knew by the alteration of the very air of the room when she was near him; and that soft thrill of bliss that had begun to stir in him never came unless she was beckoning, beckoning....That seems to imply either sex or death, and I felt the story could well have ended there, but a couple pages later we find that he is neither dead nor visibly transfigured by the consummation of his steadfast courtship. I wonder if Onions just wasn't able to leave well enough alone? On the other hand, the body in the bag seemed quite fitting: what better place for a meddlesome harpy? ;>
He let go the wall and fell back into bed again as--oh, unthinkable!--the other half of that kiss that a gnash had interrupted was placed (how else convey it?) on his lips, robbing him of very breath..."--Steve Wise
ooOoo