David Stuart Davies - Classic Tales of the Macabre - CRW/Collector`s Library - 2011

 

David Stuart Davies - Classic Tales of the Macabre - CRW/Collector`s Library - 2011 

This is one I`ve read fairly recently, but it`s not 100% fresh in my mind, so my comments will be fairly general.

Despite the title, not all of the stories in this collection are actually macabre and at least one is actually rather sweet. Nevertheless, there is quite a bit here to satisfy the most ardent aficionado of the grim, gruesome and grotesque.

There are a few here that are already familiar to me, which is probably inevitable given my long-standing enthusiasm for such things, but still there are quite a few that I`ve not encountered before.

I would also mention that Perceval Landon`s Thurnley Abbey, which I had previously encountered in a clumsily abridged form in another collection, is reproduced here in what I assume is it`s full length and is much more effective for that. 

An interesting choice is Kipling`s The Mark of the Beast. Many would dismiss this as a rather objectional story written by a man often represented as an Imperialist and much else. This may be a mis-reading. Whatever other qualities Kipling may have had, he was proud to belong to a Masonic Lodge which included "Brethren of at least four creeds" , commenting that his membership etc was sponsored/supported by a Hindu, a Muslim and an Indian Jew. If the character of Fleete in the story appears to be an objectionable drunk, it may well be that`s how  Kipling intends us to view him, and the view expressed by the essentially decent  Strickland and the narrator that they "had disgraced ourselves" is probably, in Kipling`s eyes, the result of Fleete`s behaviour. I have no particular axe to grind for or against Kipling, I just mention it out of interest

Anyway, that`s as much as I have time for. If you`re looking for a collection that provides a relentless dip into the realms of the macabre this may be a little disappointing to you. If your taste runs to the ghastly and the ghoulish but you also like a bit of variety, this will probably appeal.