The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales

Description

Brimming with tales of terror, suspense, and the uncanny, this work offers a collection devoted to the best of the Gothic genre. Each story contains the common elements of the gothic tale - a warped sense of time, a claustrophobic setting, a link to archaic modes of thought, and the impression of a descent into disintegration. Yet taken together, they reveal the progression of the genre from stories of feudal villains amid crumbling ruins to a greater level of sophistication in which writers brought the gothic tale out of its medieval setting, and placed it in the contemporary world. Bringing together the work of such writers as Eudora Welty, Thomas Hardy, Edgar Allan Poe, William Faulkner, Arthur Conan Doyle, Joyce Carol Oates, and Jorge Luis Borges, THE OXFORD BOOK OF GOTHIC TALES presents a wide array of the sinister and unsettling for all lovers of ghost stories, fantasy, and horror. Introduction xi I. BEGINNINGS SIR BERTRAND: A FRAGMENT (1773) 3 Anna Laetitia Aikin THE POISONER OF MONTREMOS (1791) 7 Richard Cumberland THE FRIAR'S TALE (1792) 12 Anonymous RAYMOND: A FRAGMENT (1799) 23 Juvenis’ THE PARRICIDE PUNISHED (1799) 27 Anonymous THE RUINS OF THE ABBEY OF FITZ-MARTIN (1801) 31 Anonymous THE VINDICTIVE MONK OR THE FATAL RING (1802) 51 Isaac Croolcenden II. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY THE ASTROLOGER'S PREDICTION OR THE MANIAC'SFATE (1826) 63 Anonymous ANDREAS VESALIUS THE ANATOMIST (1833) 70 Petrus Borel LADY ELTRINGHAM OR THE CASTLE OF RATCLIFFE CROSS (1836) 82 J. Wadham THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (1839) 85 Edgar Allan Poe A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF A TYRONE FAMILY (1839) 102 Sheridan Le Fanu RAPPACCINI S DAUGHTER (1844) 133 Nathaniel Hawthorne SELINA SEDILIA (1865) 158 Bret Harte JEAN-AH POQUELIN (1875) 165 George Washington Cable OLALLA (1885) 183 Robert Louis Stevenson BARBARA OF THE HOUSE OF GREBE (1891) 218 Thomas Hardy BLOODY BLANCHE (1892) 245 Marcel Schwob THE YELLOW WALL-PAPER (1892) 249 Charlotte Perkins Stetson THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND (1892) 264 Arthur Conan Doyle HURST OF HURSTCOTE (1893) 286 E. Nesbit III . THE TWENTIETH CENTURY A VINE ON A HOUSE (1905) 299 Ambrose Bierce JORDAN S END (1923) 302 Ellen Glasgow THE OUTSIDER (1926) 316 H. P. Lovecraft A ROSE FOR EMILY (1930) 322 William Faulkner A RENDEZVOUS IN AVEROIGNE (1931) 331 Clark Ashton Smith THE MONKEY (1934) 344 Isak Dinesen Miss DE MANNERING OF ASHAM (1935) 386 F. M. Mayor THE VAMPIRE OF KALDENSTEIN (1938) 407 Frederick Cowles CLYTIE (1941) 424 Eudora Welty SARDONICUS (1961) 435 Ray Russell THE BLOODY COUNTESS (1968) 466 Alejandra Pizamik THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK (1970) 478 Jorge Luis Borges THE LADY OF THE HOUSE OF LOVE (1979) 483 Angela Carter SECRET OBSERVATIONS ON THE GOAT-GIRL (1988) 498 Joyce Carol Oates BLOOD DISEASE (1988) 502 Patrick McGrath IF YOU TOUCHED MY HEART (1991) 519 Isabel Allende Notes 527