Best Ghost Stories (Wordsworth Classics)
by Charles Dickens, Dr Keith Carabine (Series Editor)
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Interest in supernatural phenomena was high during Charles Dickens' lifetime. He had always loved a good ghost story himself, particularly at Christmas time, and was open-minded, willing to accept, and indeed put to the test, the existence of spirits. His natural inclinations toward drama and the macabre made him a brilliant teller of ghost tales, and in the twenty stories presented here, which include his celebrated A Christmas Carol, the full range of his gothic talents can be seen. show more Chilling as some of these stories are, Dickens has managed to inject characteristically grotesque comedy as he writes of revenge, insanity, pre-cognition and dream visions, he indulges also in some debunking of contemporary credulity. Stories include: The Queer Chair / A Madman's Manuscript / The Goblins who Stole a Sexton The Ghosts of the Mail / The Baron of Grogzwig / A Christmas Carol The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain / To be Read at Dusk / Four Ghost Stories The Haunted House / The Trial for Murder (to be taken with a grain of salt) / The Signalman Christmas Ghosts / The Lawyer and the Ghost / The Ghost in the Bride's Chamber A Child's Dream of a Star / Well-Authenticated Rappings / Mr Testator's Visitation The Portrait-Painter's Story / Captain Murderer and the Devil's Bargain AUTHOR Charles John Huffam Dickens FRSA (7 February 1812 - 9 June 1870), pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era and one of the most popular of all time. He created some of literature's most memorable characters. His novels and short stories have never gone out of print. A concern with what he saw as the pressing need for social reform is a theme that runs throughout his work. Much of his work first appeared in periodicals and magazines in serialised form, a favoured way of publishing fiction at the time. Dickens, unlike others who would complete entire novels before serial publication commenced, often wrote his in parts, in the order in which they were meant to appear. The practice lent his stories a particular rhythm, punctuated by one cliffhanger after another to keep the public eager for the next installment. show lessTags
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Like most collections of short stories, a bit of a maixed bag, though the positives predominate. The shorter stories (10-15 pagers) are best, esp. A Madman's Manuscript, The Ghost in the Bride's Chamber, Trial for Murder, and The Signalman, all of which are very atmospheric and quite creepy.
A Christmas Carol remains a timeless classic, and deserves to be the most famous ghost story in Western literature. The other longer ones I found disappointing:
Haunted Man and Ghost's Bargain, a long one weighing in at 77 pages, I just found tedious and gave up on quite quickly. The Haunted House also was dull and lacking in atmosphere.
A Christmas Carol remains a timeless classic, and deserves to be the most famous ghost story in Western literature. The other longer ones I found disappointing:
Haunted Man and Ghost's Bargain, a long one weighing in at 77 pages, I just found tedious and gave up on quite quickly. The Haunted House also was dull and lacking in atmosphere.
The silence was unbroken. I looked round, and the five couriers were gone: so noiselessly that the ghostly mountains might have absorbed them into its eternal snows.
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2,578+ Works 313,139 Members
Charles Dickens, perhaps the best British novelist of the Victorian era, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England on February 7, 1812. His happy early childhood was interrupted when his father was sent to debtors' prison, and young Dickens had to go to work in a factory at age twelve. Later, he took jobs as an office boy and journalist before show more publishing essays and stories in the 1830s. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, made him a famous and popular author at the age of twenty-five. Subsequent works were published serially in periodicals and cemented his reputation as a master of colorful characterization, and as a harsh critic of social evils and corrupt institutions. His many books include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, and the couple had nine children before separating in 1858 when he began a long affair with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. Despite the scandal, Dickens remained a public figure, appearing often to read his fiction. He died in 1870, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Best Ghost Stories (Wordsworth Classics) (Wordsworth Classics)
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- This collection contains 12 stories (see description for exact titles). Please do not combine with other collections unless they are the same.
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