Robert Aickman

Severini said:
Anyone else think of Henry James while reading Aickman?
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No. I find Aickman's work exquisitely haunting but I must confess I find Henry James virtually unreadable. I struggled my way through The Turn of the Screw but that was all of his turgid prose I could stand!
 
I enjoyed the story, no matter how slippery it was. I mentioned Henry James because I have the same "wtf" moment with him. I read The turn of the screw twice.First in portuguese but got so puzzled by the dialogue that I believed it was the translation´s fault.But no...it is that impenetrable even in english.Even more codified than Turn of the Screw is "Lesson of the Master".

Anyway I enjoyed Aickman.Next one I will read is "The same dog".
 
Severini said:
Just read "The Inner Room".

This is my first Aickman(while at work, screw it)... I have a sense that the author left out something on purpose, like strategically punching little holes throughout the narrative so we cannot see the whole picture...
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Absolutely get this feeling, he often leaves these almost symbolic clues that give the impression of having some meaning in the story but then are never mentioned again. I think I said it somewhere else but its almost like he's "locking" you out of the story somehow. (I mean this in the best way).

I also while struggling with many of Henry James' stories, do think of him in Aickmans work.
 
In addition to the more overt influences of ghost story writers such as De La Mare, I was wondering if Aickman was familiar with writers like John Fowles. Though he doesn’t write in that close to meta fiction style, I can’t help but feel he was at least aware of his work.
 
I always saw something of a kinship between Aickman and Mary Butts. Something about the absurdity of the worlds that both dabbled in, strange little corners of the mind and ego, decrepit nooks and alcoves filled with unloved ideas and people.
 
ZC_HAWK said:
I always saw something of a kinship between Aickman and Mary Butts. Something about the absurdity of the worlds that both dabbled in, strange little corners of the mind and ego, decrepit nooks and alcoves filled with unloved ideas and people.
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I have not come across Mary Butts. I will search her out, so thanks.

I have long thought Aickman is in kindred spirit with Elizabeth Bowen (who wrote THE DEMON LOVER among many other stories and novels)….
 
It was actually your write ups on Bowen that got me interested in her work, Des. I would rather like a copy of the Penguin print of THE DEMONS LOVER but might settle for BOWENS COLLECTED STORIES from Everyman, which includes the entirety of the former collection and a ton more.

I love second hand surfing for superior editions but I don't have much luck for it.
 
Is there any idea of the writers outside the ghost story world and I guess fairly confirmed names like Thomas Mann that influenced Aickman? He seemed to have a pretty wide cultural knowledge and vocabulary so just wondered if there was any idea of other influences
 
Faustus94 said:
Is there any idea of the writers outside the ghost story world and I guess fairly confirmed names like Thomas Mann that influenced Aickman? He seemed to have a pretty wide cultural knowledge and vocabulary so just wondered if there was any idea of other influences
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An interesting question. I am pretty sure he was very well read (catholic and eclectic) and had a large library. I have long seen evidence, as you say, that he was influenced by Thomas Mann in his fiction. And we actually have the hard evidence of what he chose for his eight Fontana Antholgies — my consideration of these in detail here: The Fontana Great Ghost Stories chosen by Robert Aickman — he chose what he saw as ghost stories to his own literary tastes but these writers were not all ghost story writers as such, but mainly general literary figures in his past and present.
 
Nemonymous said:
Faustus94 said:
Is there any idea of the writers outside the ghost story world and I guess fairly confirmed names like Thomas Mann that influenced Aickman? He seemed to have a pretty wide cultural knowledge and vocabulary so just wondered if there was any idea of other influences
Click to expand...

An interesting question. I am pretty sure he was very well read (catholic and eclectic) and had a large library. I have long seen evidence, as you say, that he was influenced by Thomas Mann in his fiction. And we actually have the hard evidence of what he chose for his eight Fontana Antholgies — my consideration of these in detail here: The Fontana Great Ghost Stories chosen by Robert Aickman — he chose what he saw as ghost stories to his own literary tastes but these writers were not all ghost story writers as such, but mainly general literary figures in his past and present.
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This is excellent thank you very much, I’ve followed some of your reviews previously so this is interesting to jump into :)
 
The range of settings and the breadth of historic and cultural allusions that distinguish Aickman's writing suggest to me that he was the recipient of a classical education, at a time when English public schools and universities were the world's most highly regarded centers of learning.

The hints of occult lore scattered throughout his stories seem to indicate that he had delved into more obscure areas of regional myth and mysticism at some point, which reading would have a direct but unseen influence on much of his fictional output. I suspect his friendship with a leading "psychic researcher" of the period, who was apparently in possession of an extensive library of occult and related literature (much of it no doubt the sort of material that is today largely disparaged, not unfairly, as "woo woo"), played a significant part.
 
Re; "I always saw something of a kinship between Aickman and Mary Butts."

I greatly enjoyed Mary Butts' "The Complete Stories," a unique lens on the Lost Generation of the 20s and 30s. She knew many other modernist writers of her time, was bisexual, an early environmentalist, a pacifist during a time of war, and a serious student of occultist Aleister Crowley (to the point where she was credited as a co-author of the influential "Magick: Book 4").
 
Faustus94 said:
Is there any idea of the writers outside the ghost story world and I guess fairly confirmed names like Thomas Mann that influenced Aickman? He seemed to have a pretty wide cultural knowledge and vocabulary so just wondered if there was any idea of other influences
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As you suggest, Aickman read widely, and acknowledged the influence of Mann directly. On one of the stories he also suggested the influence of Hesse.
 
tartarusrussell said:
Faustus94 said:
Is there any idea of the writers outside the ghost story world and I guess fairly confirmed names like Thomas Mann that influenced Aickman? He seemed to have a pretty wide cultural knowledge and vocabulary so just wondered if there was any idea of other influences
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As you suggest, Aickman read widely, and acknowledged the influence of Mann directly. On one of the stories he also suggested the influence of Hesse.
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I can see that actually, recalling some memory of Steppenwolf. Funnily enough I just read your rather Aickman-esque story "A revelation" from Literary Remains, I enjoyed it quite a bit. :)
 
Following comments above, I have now obtained The Complete Stories of MARY BUTTS.
Can anyone recommend any stories, especially any that may be Aickman-like?
 
tartarusrussell said:
Faustus94 said:
Funnily enough I just read your rather Aickman-esque story "A revelation" from Literary Remains, I enjoyed it quite a bit. :)
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"A Revelation" was based on an actual incident, which is often the way with the strangest stories!
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Oh wow, that's really cool but incredibly unsettling at the same time :D But you are right, I believe "The Cicerones" was based on something that Aickman said happened to him, though not sure how much of it of course...
 
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