- Tarnhelm
- The Best Supernatural Stories of Hugh
Walpole
- With an Introduction by
George Gorniak
-
- ‘If
subtlety, originality and ambiguity are hallmarks of the
best supernatural tales, then Walpole’s stand with the
very best.’—So writes George Gorniak in his
Introduction to this definitive collection of the most
admired of Hugh Walpole’s supernatural and macabre
shorter works, along with two previously uncollected
early masterpieces, ‘The Clocks’ and ‘The Twisted Inn’.
Perhaps best known for The Herries
Chronicle (1930-34), four historical Lakeland
novels which remain in print to this day, Walpole was
widely recognised in his own lifetime as a consummate
literary craftsman with a fine narrative style and an
admirable ability to portray character, humour and
dialogue. In classic tales such as ‘The Silver Mask’,
‘Tarnhelm’ and ‘The Snow’, he also demonstrates beyond
question that he understood the experience of sheer,
stark terror.
-
- Walpole
had a deep and abiding interest in the supernatural and
consistently incorporated macabre, mystical and
supernatural elements in his work. He also exhibits a
markedly modern understanding of the psychological, and
it is this combination which allows his more traditional
ghost stories, such as ‘The Little Ghost’ and ‘Mrs Lunt’,
to retain their power today.
-
- This
collection of twenty-five stories should help renew the
recognition enjoyed by Walpole in his own lifetime. As he
said himself ‘. . . the creator who relies more upon the
inference behind the fact than upon the fact itself, more
upon the dream than the actual business, more upon the
intangible world of poetry than upon the actual world of
concrete evidence, this kind of creator will come into
his kingdom again.’
-
- Tarnhelm, The Best Supernatural Stories
of Hugh Walpole is a sewn hardback book of 363+xiv
pages.
-
- Limited
to 500 copies. ISBN 9781872621746.
-
- Price
£35.00/$60 inc. p&p.
-
-
-
- Reviews:
-
- "There are twent-five stories
in this generous volume: still generous if
you discount one or two which could have been
omitted with advantage. Reading them in bulk
one becomes aware of Walpole's limitations,
but also of his great strengths. He is a
master of narrative: even his lesser stories
are very readable. He rarely commits an
awkward sentence to paper, and there are
plenty of felicitous turns of phrase."
Reggie Oliver
- All Hallows
-
- "A tantalizing offering of
fine frights, this assemblage of terror
stories, most of them out-of-print,
highlights the forgotten achievements of a
macabre master whose understanding of the
night side of human experience makes him
indispensable fire-side reading. "
- William Simmons,
Flesh and Blood
Magazine
-
- "Literature would be a poor
art without fantasy and Hugh Walpole can
stake a claim to be a part of our literary
fantasy heritage." - Jeff
Gardiner,
Prism
- "Tarnhelm ...
is a smart edition of walpole's 'spook
stories' (to borrow E.F. Benson's phrase),
and should introduce his work to a new
generation of readers." - Peter
Burton, Gay Times
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Page updated
5th September 2009
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