The Tales of Mystery & Imagination by Edgar Allen Poe
Poe is a master of gothic fiction and the first notable American to write in the genre. This collection of short fiction is dominated by its sensationalist style of writing and the general fears of passive and active violence, from being strangled to being stranded. A few personal favourites of mine are ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’, a moral tale of inevitable submission, and ‘Shadow – A Parable’, a fantastic example of Poe’s talent at writing voice and creating atmosphere.
Ghost Stories and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Netflix’s newest horror show, The Haunting of Bly Manor is inspired by a number of Henry James’ long and short fictions. The Turn of the Screw is a ghost story about a governess and the struggle she undertakes to protect the two children in her care. The novel is pure horror that pulls no punches; it is thin and sharp. Expect a very sad, depressing end – Henry James is not known for happy endings.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson’s novel has found a recent resurgence due to its Netflix adaptation, although the novel’s fame never totally faded since its release. Like much of Jackson’s horror, the novel is a delicately written ghost story and at heart a psychological horror novel, following the experience of four strangers invited to the hidden Hill House in order to study and record the supernatural happenings rumoured to take place in the halls and grounds of the house. The foursome develop relationships as they experience various paranormal events such as whispers from the walls, hidden written messages and psychological disturbances. The narration is beautifully written, although terrifically unreliable.
The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
This gothic tale has the least outright frights, instead, the horror is kept to a low and consistent bubbling. The narrative is like the best haunted houses: creepy enough to make you uncomfortable, but not threatening enough to make you leave. The scary house in Levin’s novel is surrounded by a white picket fence and fronted with a For Sale sign. Set in Stepford, New England, the novel follows the difficulties a married mother faces as she tries to integrate her home life into her family’s new suburban community. The novel is a wicked blend of Fahrenheit 451, Carrie and Big Little Lies.
Reality and Other Stories by John Lancaster
How scary could a disembodied voice really be if we talk daily to our phones that lay like corpses on our nightstand? Taking inspiration from The Turn of the Screw and other classic and visceral ghost stories, Lancaster breaks open traditional ghost stories for their marrow and redresses them for modern eyes. Isn’t the fear of modern technology and artificial intelligence a reanimation of age-old horror tropes? Man’s sophisticated, monstrous invention turning on its creator. Phones, dead though listening and talking like poltergeists. Doesn’t that sound like a good ghost story?
‘Goblin Market’ by Christina Rossetti
This is Rossetti’s longest and most famous poem. Famously interpreted as a piece of queer allegory, the poem is at heart a thrilling narrative that derives its horror from the vulnerability of young women to men and the virtue of female community in the face of corrosive male influence. It follows the fall of a woman to the tricks and treats of local goblins and the love of her sister that saves her. There is a superb theatrical reading of the poem published and read by David Conlon on YouTube.
