Here is the reading of a poem by Edith Wharton, set on Halloween night. Not to be confused with a short story of the same writer, with the same name. which I have blogged about here. Nevertheless, the poem is also a sort of ghost story (a ghost poem?) and it is quite eerie in its own right, if not a tad scary. Tell me if you shiver listening to it.
Today’s countdown to Halloween reading suggestion: The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton. Wharton was an American novelist who wrote in the
tradition of English ghost stories (one of the reasons why she is often
found in anthologies of classic ghost stories). If my previous recommendation was all modern blood and gore in (mostly) modern settings, this one is all about
subtlety: the ghosts are but shadows and faint presence at the corner of
the eye. It can be nevertheless very scary in an eerie way. Many of the
stories being set during autumn, they
are all the more fitting for an Halloween read. But the relevance does
not stop there: you will find All Souls (which I recommended back in 2016), a story that is actually set on Halloween,
although the day is not named. It’s about a witch gathering which we do
not see, but which deprives a wealthy woman of her staff and leaves her
alone in her secluded house. It might be purely coincidental, but I
think you can find echoes of Wharton‘s All Souls in modern stories such
as The Haunting of Hill House and The Shining. But they are all worth reading.
For today's countdown to Halloween post, I thought I would plug a particularly fitting ghost story for you to read and re-read in the coming weeks. I blogged before about the ghost stories of Edith Wharton, which I enjoy for many reasons, among them the autumnal settings of many of these stories. Well, I finally finished reading this book and I discovered one particular story that is not only fitting autumn, but fitting Halloween itself. It is aptly named All Souls' and is mainly set on Halloween. Not to be confused with her poem of the same title. Unfortunately I have been unable to find it online so far, so you might have to purchase the book. Without giving too much away, All Souls' is about the dangerous and supernatural essence Halloween is meant to have, even though the holiday is never named. There are souls all right, and a good deal of witchcraft, maybe a haunted house, but interestingly enough it is the absence that creates the unease and finally the terror. There is very little, if any, blatant supernatural manifestations in All Souls'. This is typical with Edith Wharton, who wrote very subtle horror, with no gory effect or screaming monsters jumping at you. But the stillness and isolation of the setting in this time of year is enough to create one of the most efficient scary stories I read in a long while. So you must absolutely read it this month. You won't regret it.
