The Maharajah and Other Stories

by T.H. White

White presents a collection of unusual fantasy tales--ranging in time from the fourteenth century to the present--about magic and sorcerers, werewolves, cannibal trolls, mythical creatures, and more

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Anthologies, Horror, Literature

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Born in Bombay to English parents, Terence Hanbury White was educated at Cambridge and taught for some time at Stowe before deciding to write full-time. White moved to Ireland in 1939 as a conscientious objector to WWII, and lived out his years there. White is best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

the completist in me is pretty glad I read this. the White fan in me is meh.

[Shelley Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very grim tales. A few were more gothic, rather than fantasy. All were darkpsychological treatments. Mr. White did not like women, me thinks, nor people in general.

[Michael McGrath · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read this book on/off over the years, and I think this is the first time I made it all the way through this collection, which is a mixed bag for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the "Once and Future King" and perhaps I should have continued with "The Goshawk" or "Mistress Masham's Repose" (and before the year is up, I will).

But, let's do a quick run through, of the stories:

1. "The Maharajah": the story taps into a sinister romance set in India, and while it does create an uncertain atmosphere, the story has always dragged a bit for me.
2. "A Sharp Attack of Something or Other" moves along quicker, is dialogue driven, and concerns the trickery of an affair. Better story that does not overstay its welcome.
3. "The Spaniel Earl" concerns the canine courtship between an Earl and a Countess. It's an unusual story, and has its moments.
4. "Success or Failure" is a memorable story of a seemingly normal family life with a heartbreaking finale.
5. "Nostradamus" is about a hopeless romantic who does not fulfill the frustrated wants of a young girl. The story is a bit twisted, and not very flattering.
6. "No Gratuities" a Gothic story concerning the author of Vathek; had this book contained more stories like this one, I would have enjoyed this collection more.
7. "The Troll" I enjoyed this one in my youth, and I still enjoy it now. It is a horror story and I always remember being taken back by the crudity of it all. There is no creepy set up; just the strangeness of encountering such a creature in such a mundane setting.
8. "The Man": T.H. White must have loved his hunting. The sport shows up in several of the stories and here it is utterly forgettable. I have even forgotten what this was all about.
9. "The Black Rabbit" This was a slog for me, even though it does touch upon the paradoxes of animal suffering juxtaposed against the sport of the hunt.
10. "Kin to Love" Here the hunt is explored again, from a murderous angle. I don't really know what to make of this one.
11. "Soft Voice of Passenbaum" Though I love the story and the imagery of possessed music, White is beginning to wear on me with every story being narrated by a character in retrospect. Had the story unfolded in a showing rather than telling, this would have been a classic.
12. "The Point of Thirty Miles" : a great werewolf story, with the repeated motif of the hunt.
13. "A Rosy Future, Anonymous" another favorite in this collection about what could have been.
14. "Not Until Tomorrow" It helps to have read the Shakespeare play Richard III before taking this one on. Beautiful descriptions of a medieval forest and and a future wicked king. This story almost tempts me to rate this collection higher.
15. "The Philistine Cursed David by His Gods" a long winded story that does reward in the end with a duel. Very good.
16. "A Link with Petulengro" about a young Queen Victoria. Feels more fragmentary than an actual story.

I think if you come to this collection after "The Once and Future King" you will be rewarded by a few memorable stories, but you are going to have to wade through some dismissable, but well written aimless vignettes to get there.

[Avedon Arcadio · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly decent collection of stories. Definitely the good outweigh the so so. And even then those that seem forgettable. Oddly enough I found some stories very Hemingway like. Overall a good book to bring on trips or cafe. I miss books like that.

[Ryan Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of short stories. White is an incredible writer, but like most collections some stories are greater than other. This collection starts much better than it ends.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky stories, including The Troll.

[Corinna Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

love tgese

[Ellice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't remember till after I started this book that the last book I read by T.H. White was The Elephant and the Kangaroo, and that I found that novel to be an awful, awful book. Still, my faith was somewhat restored by these stories. There were some really fabulous, wicked stories, like the title tale, in the tradition of Saki or Roald Dahl. Though most were slightly earlier, there were some strong similarities in theme to the last book of short stories I read, May We Borrow Your Husband & Other Comedies of the Sexual Life by Graham Greene--notably relationships, sex, and class. A number of the stories were set up as frame stories, which grew slightly wearying after a while, and others clearly assumed the reader had a solid grounding in English history, which I do not. In that way, I found them a bit uneven--many of my favorites seemed to fall in the first half of the collection. The stories that are great here, though, are truly great.

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like Roald Dahl's short stories you will like these.

[Elie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love TH White, but he's trying to write like John Collier, and it doesn't suit his talents at all.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very odd, pretty creepy. Nice collection of varied stories, great for a stormy night.

[Marlene · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of short stories which all end in a strange, twisted, and gruesome twist. Though the stories were well written and many of them plausible; those horrible endings gave me nightmares.

[Forked Radish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Proto-trolling.