BOOK REVIEWS

      I have dispensed with my 'Books of the Year' postings  which covered the years 2009 and 2010, and now attempt to review a selection of books that I have read both good and bad, in editions old and new. Much of what I buy is often based on suggestions by others, or some train of thought that makes me think "maybe I should try..." so they are not necessarily all strange/supernatural fiction.
       With many small press books costing around £35-£40 each, and some seemingly worthy tomes changing hands on the second hand market for many times that, these reviews may also give the potential purchaser some indication of what they might receive for their money. Needless to say, my opinions should not be given any great value as I bring my own foibles to every review and these may change at any time.

Robert Benson


'The light Invisible'

Isbister 1903 (reprints available)
pp250

    It is hard to imagine that anyone will be unaware of the ghost stories of the Benson Brothers, Arthur, Robert and Edward. Many put their best works on a par with M.R. James (they attended his Christmas story readings at Eton). All wrote some ghost stories though Robert and Arthur are overshadowed by Edward  whose  ghost tales are amongst the most anthologized and with good reason. 

    All were also somewhat 'odd', possibly due to the cruelty inflicted by their father (who was Archbishop of Canterbury), their mother who came out after their fathers death, and a criminally insane sister. Critics expend a lot of ink seeking meanings in their many texts.

    Robert (1871-1914) was ordained by his father as a C. of E. priest but later 'batted for the opposition' and joined the Catholic Church (he was also very friendly with Frederick Rolfe). There are two books of ghost stories, many of which suffused with the Catholic sensibility, of which 'The Light Invisible'(1903) is the first. I had previously read some of the tales in anthologies and they seemed to me to be what I term 'ghost-lite'. By this I mean that whilst nicely written and pleasant to read they are really a bit dull in the old spooky department, in a similar way to the (in my opinion vastly over-rated) 'genial' ghost stories of E.G. Swain. Still, a nice, and cheap, copy via ebay made it seem rude not to pick it up and read the rest.

    I am glad I did, because in the context of the book as a whole everything makes a lot more sense. The framing device is that of a visitor meeting an old priest in the twilight of his years who tells him tales of his life. They are largely what might be classed as 'omens and portents', in which Gods hand is manifest through the various narratives. For example; in one, our narrator visits a convent and thinks of the 'wasted' lives of the nuns there- especially those in the closed section. That is until he goes to the chapel and feels the power between a nun at prayer and the altar before which she kneels. In another he goes to visit a sinner who asks for repentance, which the priest gives even though he sees that the person is already irredeemably dammed. Perhaps the oddest is where he sees a ghostly and beatific figure push a child in front of a carriage with the result that...

    Benson writes these tales as if they are everyday occurrences, (after all God is everywhere at all times) and it is this very mundanity that makes the volume work as a sum of its parts and places the tales which I had previously read in a better context. Benson is not really trying to produce chills and once that is realised you cease to feel cheated by their absence and enjoy them for what they are. 

    Coachwhip Publications have republished 'Light...' together with his 'Mirror of Shallot', which has more supernatural content 'proper' as 'The Supernatural Stories of Monsignor Robert H. Benson:
The Light Invisible / A Mirror of Shalott' though for those seeking stronger stuff then E.F. Benson is your man