A.E. Coppard was a master of the short story,
whose work is rarely overtly supernatural: but there is often
nevertheless a strangeness and folkloric or wonder tale quality
that is close to the borderland of that realm. Often regarded as
one of the finest English short-story writers of the last century,
he won high praise from eminent fellow authors. Walter de la Mare
commented, "I think he has written some of the very best short
stories in the English language": L.P. Hartley, Elizabeth Bowen,
Rebecca West and Ford Madox Ford, amongst others, also praised him
highly. He saw the short story form as "an ancient art originating
in the folk tale, which was a thing of joy even before writing,
not to mention printing, was invented." His own tales often do
have a timeless, primeval quality.
Coppard’s father died when he was aged nine and
after that Coppard left school altogether to take up a series of
low-paying jobs to help his mother eke out the family income:
there were two sisters to support as well as himself. His
autobiography, It’s Me, O Lord! (1957) gives a sturdy and
unsentimental account of the hardships he endured. But amongst the
drudgery and often some privation, Coppard fortified himself with
wide reading and gradually began to get his own work accepted.
He
wrote: "I embarked upon a literary life on the first of April
1919. I took a cottage in the country, lived sparely, and hawked
my first collection of tales, Adam and Eve and Pinch
Me,
around the publishers." The book was eventually accepted as the
first title for the fledgling Golden Cockerel Press.
The twelve full-flavoured, curious and highly
individual stories in Adam and Eve and Pinch Me
quickly achieved acclaim for Coppard and the
Press, and several of them, including the title story, "Dusky
Ruth", "Arabesque - The Mouse" and "Marching to Zion" have become
anthology favourites. Coppard’s very full and active life had
given him a clear-eyed insight into the mingling of comedy and
tragedy in the world. He does not shrink from portraying cruelty
and the hard blows of fate, but he celebrates also the richness
and quirkiness of existence. His stories usually have rural
settings and characters, and draw on the Oxfordshire and Berkshire
countryside where he lived. Many further collections of similar
enduring quality followed.
Fearful Pleasures is a collection of his "weird
stories" which was first published by Arkham House in 1946: the
first British edition followed from by Peter Nevill in 1951. In
his foreword, Coppard noted that while rationally he had an
absolute unbelief in the supernatural, nevertheless that had not
stopped him experiencing instinctive fears when in dark and lonely
corners of the countryside: and he instanced some curious
encounters of his own.
Mark Valentine
Short Stories
Adam and
Eve and Pinch Me, Golden Cockerel Press, 1921
(Includes Adam and Eve and Pinch
Me:
A fine story in which the narrator finds himself watching his as
yet unborn playing. Arabesque - The Mouse: Macabre rather than
supernatural, a man inflicts on a mouse the same terrible wounds
that his mother died from. King of the
World: A young assyrian captain enters a temple of the
god Namu-Sarkkon and finds the worhippers turned to stone. While
he is there a woman comes to life and explains that she is waiting
for the King of the World - presumably death. Marching to
Zion: A strange story full of Christian symbolism.
Piffincap: A shaving mug stops the
growth of hair and threatens to put a barber out of business, but
it's baleful influence goes further still.)
ditto, Cape, 1921
ditto, Knopf (U.S.), 1922
Clorinda
Walks in Heaven, Golden Cockerel Press, 1922
(Includes: Clorinda Walks in
Heaven: In heaven Clorinda meets the many men she had
been married to in all her previous incarnations. The Elixir of
Youth: The story of a fairy bestows upon a man all that
he wants but he finds that it disappears to nothing when he
becomes dissatisfied with it. Another man hears the tale and when
he meets the fairy he asks for the elixir of youth. When too much
of it is greedily taken by another man he sees him grow younger
until he finally disappears.)
The Black
Dog and Other Stories, Cape, 1923
ditto, Knopf (U.S.), 1924
(Includes: Simple Simon: A man finds that
heaven is an idealised version of his previous life. A scholar had
given him a coat in which there were sins hidden in a wallet, but
in heaven the scholar finds that they are no longer there.
The
Old Man from Kilsheenan: very borderline - two silly
old lunatics escaping from an assylum mixed up in murder.)
Fishmonger's Fiddle, Cape, 1925
ditto, Knopf (U.S.), 1925
(Includes: Old Martin: Old Martin is
upset to hear that the last person buried in the local graveyard,
his niece, is meant to serve the ghosts of others, including the
lascivicious Stinch.)
The Field of Mustard, Cape, 1926
ditto, Knopf (U.S.), 1927
(Includes: The Bogey Man: Sheila steals a
little box which turns out to be the home of an evil imp,
Shiloh.)
The Silver Circus, Cape, 1928
(Includes: The Almanac
Man:. The Martyrdom of Solomon:. Polly Morgan: A splendid ghost
story about missed oportunity and fate. Aunt Agatha is in love
with a ghost, but her relationship is pointlessly ruined by her
niece, who in turn loses her own, corporeal, lover.)
The Gollan, privately printed,
1929
(Including: The Gollan: The Gollan
receives from a leprechaun the gift of being imperceptible except
when asleep, but this has greater disadvantages than advantages.
He tries exchanging senses with animals but this is worse and he
returns to his former state.)
Fares Please! An Omnibus, Jonathan Cape, 1931
(Includes: Simple Simon: A man finds that
heaven is an idealised version of his previous life. A scholar had
given him a coat in which there were sins hidden in a wallet, but
in heaven the scholar finds that they are no longer there.
The
Old Man from Kilsheenan: very borderline - two silly
old lunatics escaping from an assylum mixed up in murder.
The
Bogey Man: Sheila steals a little box which turns out to be
the home of an evil imp, Shiloh. The Almanac
Man:. The Martyrdom of Solomon:. Polly Morgan: A splendid ghost
story about missed oportunity and fate. Aunt Agatha is in love
with a ghost, but her relationship is pointlessly ruined by her
niece, who in turn loses her own, corporeal, lover.)
Nixey's Harlequin, Cape, 1931
ditto, Knopf (U.S.), 1932
(Includes: The Gollan. The Post Office and
the Serpent: In a lake dwells a serpent which is bound there
until judgement day. When a traveller passes it asks the
date.)
Crotty Shinkwin, The Beauty Spot, Golden Cockerel
Press, 1932
(Includes: Crotty
Shinkwin: A fantasy in which Crotty and P.J. get their
anchor caught on an island and when they try and pull it free they
tip the island over. After odd adventures there they turn it the
right way up and return home.)
Dunky Fitlow, Cape, 1933
(Includes: "Ahoy, Sailor
Boy!: An entertaining and bawdy ghost story.
Crotty Shinkwin.)
Polly Oliver, Cape, 1935
(Includes: Gone Away: An Aickmanesque
story of tourists on holiday in France. After some disturbing
episodes they start to disappear.)
The Ninepenny Flute, Macmillan, 1937
(Includes: Jack the
Giantkiller. Jove's Nectar. Speaking
Likeness.)
You Never Know, Do You? and Other
Tales, Methuen, 1939
(Includes: Ale Celestial?: Barnaby Barnes
learns the recipe for a wonderful ale, but then tries to
adulterate it with cheaper ingredients. It tastes just as good to
him, but foul to others. Rocky and the
Bailiff: Rocky shows the bailiff the magic cure for
cattle plague, and the Bailiff receives all the credit.)
Ugly Anna and Other Tales, Methuen,
1944
(Including: Cheese: Errick has stolen
a recipe for cheese from a gypsy. Through magic other gypsies
treat him like a mouse in a cage, and when he is finally released
he is back in the time of George IV and is placed in an assylum.
The
Drum: Kinsella leaves his uncle to seek his fortune
and stays with a giant who is keeping a Princess captive. he tries
to release her but her beating of a drum causes her to be disliked
and she returns to the giant, and Kinsella is unceremoniously
booted home by the giant. Father Raven: At the gates of
Heaven Father Raven promises that his congregation are all sinless
and they are allowed to pass. In saying so, Father Raven has lied,
though, and is not admitted.)
Fearful Pleasures, Arkham House (U.S.),
1946
(Includes: Adam and Eve and Pinch Me, Clorinda
Walks in Heaven, The Elixir of Youth, Simple Simon, Old Martin,
The Bogie Man, Polly Morgan, The Gollan, The Post Office and the
Serpent, Crotty Shinkwin, Ahoy, Sailor Boy!, Gone Away, Rocky and
the Bailiff, Ale Celestial?, The Fair Young Willowy Tree, Father
Raven, The Drum, Cheese, The Homeless One, The Kisstruck Bogie,
The Tiger, The Gruesome Fit.)
ditto, Peter Nevill, 1951
Dark-Eyed Lady: Fourteen Tales, Methuen,
1947
(Includes: The Kisstruck
Bogey: Kisstruck tells of a haunting by a ghost that is
invisible and nude. The Homeless One: An old man in an assylum who
had previously tried to commit suicide believes that he may be
Judas.)
Collected Tales, Knopf (U.S.), 1948
(Including: Adam and Eve and Pinch Me, Father
Raven, Clorinda Walks in Heaven, Ahoy, Sailor Boy!.)
Father Raven and Other Tales, Tartarus Press
(Carlton-in-Coverdale), 2006
(Including: Adam and Eve and Pinch
Me:
A fine story in which the narrator finds himself watching his as
yet unborn playing. Arabesque - The Mouse: Macabre rather than
supernatural, a man inflicts on a mouse the same terrible wounds
that his mother died from. King of the
World: A young assyrian captain enters a temple of the
god Namu-Sarkkon and finds the worhippers turned to stone. While
he is there a woman comes to life and explains that she is waiting
for the King of the World - presumably death. Marching to
Zion: A strange story full of Christian symbolism.
Piffincap: A shaving mug stops the
growth of hair and threatens to put a barber out of business, but
it's baleful influence goes further still. Clorinda Walks in
Heaven: In heaven Clorinda meets the many men she had
been married to in all her previous incarnations. The Elixir of
Youth: The story of a fairy bestows upon a man all that
he wants but he finds that it disappears to nothing when he
becomes dissatisfied with it. Another man hears the tale and when
he meets the fairy he asks for the elixir of youth. When too much
of it is greedily taken by another man he sees him grow younger
until he finally disappears. Simple Simon: A man finds that
heaven is an idealised version of his previous life. A scholar had
given him a coat in which there were sins hidden in a wallet, but
in heaven the scholar finds that they are no longer there.
The
Old Man from Kilsheenan: very borderline - two silly
old lunatics escaping from an assylum mixed up in murder.
Old
Martin: Old Martin is upset to hear that the last person
buried in the local graveyard, his niece, is meant to serve the
ghosts of others, including the lascivicious Stinch.
The
Bogey Man: Sheila steals a little box which turns out to be
the home of an evil imp, Shiloh.The Almanac
Man:. The Martyrdom of Solomon:. Polly Morgan: A splendid ghost
story about missed oportunity and fate. Aunt Agatha is in love
with a ghost, but her relationship is pointlessly ruined by her
niece, who in turn loses her own, corporeal, lover.
The
Gollan: The Gollan receives from a leprechaun the gift
of being imperceptible except when asleep, but this has greater
disadvantages than advantages. He tries exchanging senses with
animals but this is worse and he returns to his former state.
The
Post Office and the Serpent: In a lake dwells a serpent
which is bound there until judgement day. When a traveller passes
it asks the date. Crotty Shinkwin: A fantasy in which Crotty
and P.J. get their anchor caught on an island and when they try
and pull it free they tip the island over. After odd adventures
there they turn it the right way up and return home.
"Ahoy, Sailor Boy!: An entertaining and bawdy
ghost story. Gone Away: An Aickmanesque story of
tourists on holiday in France. After some disturbing episodes they
start to disappear. Jack the Giantkiller. Jove's Nectar. Speaking
Likeness. Ale Celestial?: Barnaby Barnes learns the
recipe for a wonderful ale, but then tries to adulterate it with
cheaper ingredients. It tastes just as good to him, but foul to
others. Rocky and the Bailiff: Rocky shows the bailiff the
magic cure for cattle plague, and the Bailiff receives all the
credit. Cheese: Errick has stolen a recipe
for cheese from a gypsy. Through magic other gypsies treat him
like a mouse in a cage, and when he is finally released he is back
in the time of George IV and is placed in an assylum.
The
Drum: Kinsella leaves his uncle to seek his fortune
and stays with a giant who is keeping a Princess captive. he tries
to release her but her beating of a drum causes her to be disliked
and she returns to the giant, and Kinsella is unceremoniously
booted home by the giant. Father Raven: At the gates of
Heaven Father Raven promises that his congregation are all sinless
and they are allowed to pass. In saying so, Father Raven has lied,
though, and is not admitted. The Kisstruck
Bogey: Kisstruck tells of a haunting by a ghost that is
invisible and nude. The Homeless One: An old man in an assylum who
had previously tried to commit suicide believes that he may be
Judas.)
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