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Synopsis
Why were so many ghost stories published between 1850 and 1930? Why were readers so eager to be scared, and why did such writers as Dickens, Stevenson, Kipling and Henry James find artistic satisfaction in writing them? "Night Visitors" explores these questions, looking for explanations in the underlying anxieties of the age, as well as of the individual writers. The mysterious and unknown capacities of the mind, the duality of the soul, the nineties obsession with diabolism, the dangers of science, mesmerism, and drugs, were all recurrent themes, dramatized in supernatural tales such as "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", Wilde's "Picture of Dorian Gray", and "The Turn of the Screw". Contributions were also made by writers whose reputations rest exclusively on their ghost stories, among them Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, and M.R. James. Beginning with a summary history of the ghost story up to the mid-nineteenth century, "Night Visitors" goes on to provide a more detailed account from the 1880s up to the First World War, the impact of which, coinciding with Freud's radical explorations of inner fears, helped to send the ghost story into decline. Walter de la Mare was to be its last and greatest exponent. The book ends with an epilogue on ghosts in the work of Hardy, Yeats and Eliot.
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Night Visitors: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story
Published by
Faber & Faber, 1977
ISBN 10: 0571111130
ISBN 13: 9780571111138
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Grey Matter Books, Hadley, MA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. First edition, first printing. Text is unmarked; pages are bright, though the page edges are a bit age toned. There is a gift inscription in pen on the first free end page. Binding leans a little bit. Dust jacket is lightly edge worn and there is a small price sticker on the front flap. Seller Inventory # 073131
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Night visitors: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story
Seller: Lacey Books Ltd, Cirencester, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fair. Dust Jacket Condition: Fair. 1977 Faber & Faber hardcover edition. Ex library copy with stamps and labels to spine and endpapers else good condition. From the cover 'Why were so many ghost stories published between 1850 and 1930? Why were readers so eager to be scared, and why did such writers as Dickens, Stevenson, Kipling and Henry James find artistic satisfaction in writing them? Night Visitors explores these questions, looking for explanations in the underlying anxieties of the age, as well as of the individual writers. ' Contents: Introduction 1. Ancestral Voices: the Ghost Story from Lucian to Le Fanu 2. A Scientific Spirit: Mesmerism, Drugs and Psychic Doctors 3. Diabolism and Decadence: the Mood of the Nineties 4. Far Away and Long Ago: Stevenson's Scotland and Kipling's India 5. A Sense of the Past: Henry James and Vernon Lee 6. No Mere Antiquary: M. R. James 7. Not Without but Within: the Psychological Ghost Story 8. Ghosts Troop Home: the Great War and its Aftermath 9. On the Edge: Walter de la Mare Epilogue: Ghosts and Poets Select Bibliography. Seller Inventory # CC-L10H-BSQF
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NIGHT VISITORS: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story
Published by
Faber, London, UK, 1977
ISBN 10: 0571111130
ISBN 13: 9780571111138
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: BindingDeals, Ossining, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Night Visitors is a brilliant and accessible examination of the rise and the fall of the English ghost story. It has become the go-to guide for anyone interested in just how ghost stories became so popular. This book is in near-Fine condition, with only one tiny chip at the top of the spine edge of the dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 12004
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Night Visitors: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story
Published by
Faber & Faber August 2011, 2011
ISBN 10: 0571111130
ISBN 13: 9780571111138
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Pella Books, Pella, IA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 2 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Used Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Jacket with Mylar. Seller Inventory # 252640
Seller Image
Night Visitors: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story
Published by
Faber and Faber (London), 1977
ISBN 10: 0571111130
ISBN 13: 9780571111138
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Kitazawa Bookstore, ABAJ/ILAB, Tokyo, TOKYO, Japan
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. 1st Edition. "Night Visitors: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story" by Julia Briggs. First published in 1977 by Faber and Faber (London). This copy: First Edition. Faber and Faber (London), 1977. Hardcover. 238 pages. Dust jacket: Present, with price on front flap. Size: 23.0 x 15.0 cm Language: English Condition: Jacket: Good - Light wear, minor stains and soiling. Body: Good - Some general soiling. Binding: Good - Slightly loose, inner hinge partially separated. Edges: Good - Stains and soiling present. Pages: Good - Minor foxing and age toning. Text: Very Good - Clean and readable throughout. Description: A seminal critical study of the English ghost story from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Julia Briggs traces the genre from its early literary and folkloric roots through Victorian and Edwardian literature, examining how writers such as Sheridan Le Fanu, Henry James, M. R. James, Walter de la Mare, and others shaped the psychological and cultural dimensions of the ghost story. First published in 1977, this work remains a key reference for the study of Gothic literature, supernatural fiction, and English literary history. Shipping from Tokyo, Japan. International shipping available. Please note: All sales are final, especially for higher-value items. Returns are not accepted unless the item is significantly not as described. Stock availability may change, as our listings are shared with a physical bookstore. Seller Inventory # RL176