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Elegies and Requiems
'Elegies and Requiems' is the first major collection by this hugely talented writer and contains eighteen stories, nine of which are unique to this volume.
Insole's work explores the mysterious world where a confluence of objects and circumstance awake atavisms which draw the protagonists of his tales into mysteries infinitely greater than themselves.
In 'The Golden Birds of Mariston', an artifact weaves its magic over the population of a once mighty but now moribund city, while in 'Ancestral Rooms' a doll given to a child begins a process of familiarial transformation for its giver.
The make-believe world of childish imagination becomes something else in 'Blackthorn Cottage', whilst in 'The Bellman' the intrusions are infinitely more malignant.
Lovers of authors such as Bruno Schulz, Georges Rodenbach, Arthur Machen and Mark Valentine will find much to admire in Insole's delicately wrought symbolist prose style, whilst lovers of the supernatural will admire the imagination and imagery of a writer who is regarded by many as one of the most interesting authors to emerge in recent years.
Insole's work explores the mysterious world where a confluence of objects and circumstance awake atavisms which draw the protagonists of his tales into mysteries infinitely greater than themselves.
In 'The Golden Birds of Mariston', an artifact weaves its magic over the population of a once mighty but now moribund city, while in 'Ancestral Rooms' a doll given to a child begins a process of familiarial transformation for its giver.
The make-believe world of childish imagination becomes something else in 'Blackthorn Cottage', whilst in 'The Bellman' the intrusions are infinitely more malignant.
Lovers of authors such as Bruno Schulz, Georges Rodenbach, Arthur Machen and Mark Valentine will find much to admire in Insole's delicately wrought symbolist prose style, whilst lovers of the supernatural will admire the imagination and imagery of a writer who is regarded by many as one of the most interesting authors to emerge in recent years.
441 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
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153 people want to read
About the author
Colin Insole
54 books50 followersColin Insole lives in Lymington, on the edge of the New Forest, in England. He has contributed to a number of anthologies, including tribute volumes to Bruno Schulz, Arthur Machen and Emil Cioran. His first collection of stories, Elegies and Requiems, was published by Side Real Press (Newcastle upon Tyne) in 2013. His second collection, Valerie and Other Stories, was published by Snuggly Books in 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 18, 2014
I've deliberately taken my time with this book, savoring each piece as if it were a fine liquor, distilled particularly for me at the exact moment that I read it, never to be tasted by myself or anybody else again. (There is some truth to this strained metaphor - some of these stories I've read before in anthologies, but upon coming back to them I could swear they've changed slightly. There are elements in them that I've forgotten, and several fondly remembered passages seem to have disappeared or transformed. I don't think that any of the stories have been changed in actuality, the change is more akin to that of a river over the course of several visits.)
Insole is rather Hermetic in his method. His stories resemble Chinese puzzle boxes, in which each piece fits perfectly with the others in a flawless economy of organization. He has a way of taking allegory and warping it significantly, looping it back in upon itself to create feedback patterns in which a rich, forgotten heritage of mystery is revealed. Perplexing and subtle mythologies arise from the interplay of prophetic dolls and official documents, talismanic machines and ancestral secrets, infernal books and necromantic brotherhoods. The author, being somewhat of an oracle, has erected for us a theater of forbidden pleasures and deceits in which history and literature as we know it are made to reveal to us a secret codex. A treasure indeed.
This work of wonder and mystery has my highest recommendation, along with 'Alcyone', 'Oblivion's Poppy', 'The Last Gold of Decayed Stars', and anything else you can possibly get your hands on by this author.
Insole is rather Hermetic in his method. His stories resemble Chinese puzzle boxes, in which each piece fits perfectly with the others in a flawless economy of organization. He has a way of taking allegory and warping it significantly, looping it back in upon itself to create feedback patterns in which a rich, forgotten heritage of mystery is revealed. Perplexing and subtle mythologies arise from the interplay of prophetic dolls and official documents, talismanic machines and ancestral secrets, infernal books and necromantic brotherhoods. The author, being somewhat of an oracle, has erected for us a theater of forbidden pleasures and deceits in which history and literature as we know it are made to reveal to us a secret codex. A treasure indeed.
This work of wonder and mystery has my highest recommendation, along with 'Alcyone', 'Oblivion's Poppy', 'The Last Gold of Decayed Stars', and anything else you can possibly get your hands on by this author.
June 16, 2020
“The paths are deceptive and illusory. I have tried to retrace my steps on many occasions, but they meander and drift and I lose myself in thickets of bramble and blackthorn, emerging to discover new wonders, which in turn are lost in future expeditions.”
Colin Insole’s prose feels deep, almost elusive at times, like skirting the edge of an unknown town draped in mist, close yet so distant. There are echoes of Schultz and Kafka that lingers over his sentences, dancing between the words, recalling strange and bleak European cities. Many of the tales are set around the first world war and the supernatural unfolds both from the past and the traumatic events that linger on the horizon from the looming catastrophe in Europe.
The characters often feel lost within small towns, haunted by the memories of war, familial secrets, and cruelty. Certain tales reminded me of Sarban’s tales, The Doll Maker in particular, with dolls playing a sinister part in some of the stories. Insole also uses landscape to great effect in his stories, whether it is the British countryside or some unnamed European city both feel desolate and filled with strange memories. Elegies & Requiems is a wonderful collection of tales, well worth seeking out if you can find it.
“Held in sunlight, it appeared on the edge of song, a music that would sing the stones awake.”
Colin Insole’s prose feels deep, almost elusive at times, like skirting the edge of an unknown town draped in mist, close yet so distant. There are echoes of Schultz and Kafka that lingers over his sentences, dancing between the words, recalling strange and bleak European cities. Many of the tales are set around the first world war and the supernatural unfolds both from the past and the traumatic events that linger on the horizon from the looming catastrophe in Europe.
The characters often feel lost within small towns, haunted by the memories of war, familial secrets, and cruelty. Certain tales reminded me of Sarban’s tales, The Doll Maker in particular, with dolls playing a sinister part in some of the stories. Insole also uses landscape to great effect in his stories, whether it is the British countryside or some unnamed European city both feel desolate and filled with strange memories. Elegies & Requiems is a wonderful collection of tales, well worth seeking out if you can find it.
“Held in sunlight, it appeared on the edge of song, a music that would sing the stones awake.”
January 16, 2020
This isn't just the best short story collection I read all year, it's the best I've read in several years. Some of the stories are conventional, yet impressive ghost tales, but many of the others in their best moments approach the supernatural from very original angles. In the best stories Insole gets at something nebulous, entirely unique, like a haunting emotion, easier felt than described.
These are often very emotional stories, several of them are very affecting. "We fear the dog that scratches in the graveyard - not for the decaying mass of green corruption and bone he may unearth. But the terrible sweetness of the memories that may emerge." They feel personal and nostalgic, yet they're so relatable and unearth wistful memories in your own mind as you read them. A common theme running throughout almost all of them is a deeply and genuinely felt melancholy from watching the old world replaced by a modern, sterile, mechanistic one. Most of them are connected with real historical events, although a few are in the modern day, and they're almost always a bit dream-like.
I was impressed by the consistent quality and I'd certainly re-read these.
The Golden Birds of Mariston
Wow, this is an excellent story, it's a bit easier to digest than several others. This is written in a very poetic, magical realism style, it's also quite emotional. There's a yearning for things past, and how the modern world wishes to forget all of that, and move on into a sterile new future. A young man growing up in an isolated, decaying town tries to investigate a magical past event everyone seemingly wishes to forget.
The Apoplexy of Beelzebub
God what a great story this is. It's told in such a poetic fashion and full of evocative imagery. It's an incredibly cruel story, essentially about a town that wishes to impose as much misery on it's inhabitants as possible, and stamp out all happiness and goodwill through a constant cycle of malice and revenge. A researcher who wishes to leave the horrible place uncovers it's secret, but it might be too late for her.
The Premonition
A grim tale of tragic ironies. This story might be a bit more "conventional" compared to many others here, the tone even reminds me a bit of classic British novels. A clairvoyant and talented puppeteer arrives in a small English village and breaks up a romance.
A Calendar of Cherries
This is easily one of the most surreal stories in the collection, and it reminded me of Bruno Schulz a lot. Then I found out that this story is actually included in a Bruno Schulz tribute anthology titled "This Hermetic Legislature - A Homage To Bruno Schulz"! The main theme is an irretrievable, colorful past that is lost, and a gray consumerist future replacing it. This story is packed with imaginative ideas and is a challenge, but skimming through it a second time I was struck by how marvelous it is. A group of men return to their hometown from the Great War and finding it much changed, retreat to the attics of their homes, and seemingly take the towns' history with them.
Ancestral Rooms
This is another great story, with a cyclic rebirth theme that is handled quite originally. I could see where the end was headed, but it took nothing away from the story. A family prepares to pass down a doll to a young girl, an ancient family tradition with a cruel, dark side.
The Princess of Phoenicia
This one leans away from the utterly weird and more toward mysticism and mythology. Most of all this story chronicles the horrors and changes of Russia in the 20th century, often putting pins in many important events of the century. Also this is one of the most emotional stories in the book. A man chronicles the events of his life, and how they are connected with the mysterious theft of a holy icon from his village.
Blackthorn Cottage
This is easily one of the best stories in the book, if not _the_ best. It's a bit of a brain-teaser at first, but it all comes together into a very creatively-spun unsettling horror. Like in "Ancestral Rooms" we have the idea of event recurrence here, but this story takes the idea much further. Definitely worth a re-read. A woman recalls how she and her friends made up seemingly innocent stories, only to discover their implications much later.
The Choice Child
This story is a bit like "The Premonition," in that it is a bit more conventional -- a tragic romance/ghost tale. Although I admit that I thought I knew where this was headed, it surprised me. A young man prepares to propose to a young "white witch" who saved his father's life, but is called off to war before he can do so.
The Houses Among the Trees
It's odd to be in awe of something when you feel you only got a whiff of it's ultimate meaning. This is a muted story, with themes of loneliness, loss of identity and the transient nature of life. A man discovers that various people who seem to drop out of existence are found living out lives of quiet solitude in obscure places.
The Candles of Wildondorf
This is one of the shorter tales, but with so much in it, it's very effective. It's about dead memories, bittersweet and painful nostalgia that tugs at us, which we often wish would fade away despite our connection to it. "We fear the dog that scratches in the graveyard - not for the decaying mass of green corruption and bone he may unearth. But the terrible sweetness of the memories that may emerge." A woman recalls her time living in Soviet-occupied Austria, the faded memories of living in a post office there which haunt her still.
The Madness of a Chalk Giant
I was confused by this story at first, but the big theme seems to be the use by humans of symbolism for defining and thus controlling their ancient fears, and the tacky, temporality of modernity and the lack of meaning it offers. But the modern humans in this story seem to be infected with a fascination for the ancient chalk giant, something bigger than themselves. I went back and almost re-read the whole thing, it's quite good but really needs to be read in-depth. A psychiatrist investigates a man who seems to have gone mad after moving into the town beside a chalk giant.
The Weimar Spider
This was a really impressive story, incorporating the decadent and surreal, and bringing Schulz and Meyrink to mind. The theme of loss is strong here, lost eras and places and chances. A young man inherits the property of his aunt, mostly old books and papers, but he soon realizes has something someone else wants badly.
The Rose-White Water
On the surface this is a somewhat more traditional story of a "haunted wood," but it's also a lament for the man's depressing destruction and sterilization of the natural world. This brings to mind Arthur Machen's best work and the end is quite well done. An ambitious young woman moves into a country house beside a wood that is seemingly haunted.
The Very Thought of You
This one wasn't one of my favorites, I thought when the supernatural appears it is a bit too overt, although there are subtler nods to it at times. However, the rest of the story is unmistakably great. A young man uncovers secrets of his father's military past which haunt his whole family.
Flower of the Sun
This was a fun story, although it stretches credulity a bit more than on the average here. This story has a little humor, and is told with a bit of a wink. A woman discovers the diary of her husband, confined to an insane asylum ever since participating in a secret project during the Second World War.
Waving at the Train
This is another story that's a more or less conventional ghost story, and yet it has some eerie touches at the end which put it above the average. A man who recently suffered the loss of both his wife and child goes on a vacation in the country, but finds the houses he's rented to be haunted by their own tragedies.
The Appassionata Variations
This is one of the most decadent tales here, full of horrific implications. After a few stories that weren't among my favorites, this is another great one. "These variations hold a mirror up to the town and through them, you will see its secret squalors and depravities laid bare. They are back alleys that ramble and divert, past the façades and gates of twisted wrought iron, to lead you to the hidden rooms."In the midst of the Second World War a hotel pianist in London discovers music which unmasks the disgusting lechery of those around him.
The Dear Dead Days
This is a shorter story, without supernatural elements, but playing on the theme of dark family secrets with a Gothic feel. A blind piano tuner with a tragic past is asked to play nostalgic songs for an elderly woman, with whom he has a strange connection.
Apple Blossom Time
This is another ghost story, a bit like "Waving at the Train" but with a bit more menace and horror. A young couple buy an old farm house which is haunted by a dark past.
The Bellman
A great story to end on, one of the best and most intricate, although there were some others I liked more. Like many stories here, this one is about the intrusion of the haunted past into our world, but with so many other creepy details and touches. A man with a museum devoted to London's past, uncovers a strange ritualistic frolic that presages disaster.
These are often very emotional stories, several of them are very affecting. "We fear the dog that scratches in the graveyard - not for the decaying mass of green corruption and bone he may unearth. But the terrible sweetness of the memories that may emerge." They feel personal and nostalgic, yet they're so relatable and unearth wistful memories in your own mind as you read them. A common theme running throughout almost all of them is a deeply and genuinely felt melancholy from watching the old world replaced by a modern, sterile, mechanistic one. Most of them are connected with real historical events, although a few are in the modern day, and they're almost always a bit dream-like.
I was impressed by the consistent quality and I'd certainly re-read these.
The Golden Birds of Mariston
Wow, this is an excellent story, it's a bit easier to digest than several others. This is written in a very poetic, magical realism style, it's also quite emotional. There's a yearning for things past, and how the modern world wishes to forget all of that, and move on into a sterile new future. A young man growing up in an isolated, decaying town tries to investigate a magical past event everyone seemingly wishes to forget.
The Apoplexy of Beelzebub
God what a great story this is. It's told in such a poetic fashion and full of evocative imagery. It's an incredibly cruel story, essentially about a town that wishes to impose as much misery on it's inhabitants as possible, and stamp out all happiness and goodwill through a constant cycle of malice and revenge. A researcher who wishes to leave the horrible place uncovers it's secret, but it might be too late for her.
The Premonition
A grim tale of tragic ironies. This story might be a bit more "conventional" compared to many others here, the tone even reminds me a bit of classic British novels. A clairvoyant and talented puppeteer arrives in a small English village and breaks up a romance.
A Calendar of Cherries
This is easily one of the most surreal stories in the collection, and it reminded me of Bruno Schulz a lot. Then I found out that this story is actually included in a Bruno Schulz tribute anthology titled "This Hermetic Legislature - A Homage To Bruno Schulz"! The main theme is an irretrievable, colorful past that is lost, and a gray consumerist future replacing it. This story is packed with imaginative ideas and is a challenge, but skimming through it a second time I was struck by how marvelous it is. A group of men return to their hometown from the Great War and finding it much changed, retreat to the attics of their homes, and seemingly take the towns' history with them.
Ancestral Rooms
This is another great story, with a cyclic rebirth theme that is handled quite originally. I could see where the end was headed, but it took nothing away from the story. A family prepares to pass down a doll to a young girl, an ancient family tradition with a cruel, dark side.
The Princess of Phoenicia
This one leans away from the utterly weird and more toward mysticism and mythology. Most of all this story chronicles the horrors and changes of Russia in the 20th century, often putting pins in many important events of the century. Also this is one of the most emotional stories in the book. A man chronicles the events of his life, and how they are connected with the mysterious theft of a holy icon from his village.
Blackthorn Cottage
This is easily one of the best stories in the book, if not _the_ best. It's a bit of a brain-teaser at first, but it all comes together into a very creatively-spun unsettling horror. Like in "Ancestral Rooms" we have the idea of event recurrence here, but this story takes the idea much further. Definitely worth a re-read. A woman recalls how she and her friends made up seemingly innocent stories, only to discover their implications much later.
The Choice Child
This story is a bit like "The Premonition," in that it is a bit more conventional -- a tragic romance/ghost tale. Although I admit that I thought I knew where this was headed, it surprised me. A young man prepares to propose to a young "white witch" who saved his father's life, but is called off to war before he can do so.
The Houses Among the Trees
It's odd to be in awe of something when you feel you only got a whiff of it's ultimate meaning. This is a muted story, with themes of loneliness, loss of identity and the transient nature of life. A man discovers that various people who seem to drop out of existence are found living out lives of quiet solitude in obscure places.
The Candles of Wildondorf
This is one of the shorter tales, but with so much in it, it's very effective. It's about dead memories, bittersweet and painful nostalgia that tugs at us, which we often wish would fade away despite our connection to it. "We fear the dog that scratches in the graveyard - not for the decaying mass of green corruption and bone he may unearth. But the terrible sweetness of the memories that may emerge." A woman recalls her time living in Soviet-occupied Austria, the faded memories of living in a post office there which haunt her still.
The Madness of a Chalk Giant
I was confused by this story at first, but the big theme seems to be the use by humans of symbolism for defining and thus controlling their ancient fears, and the tacky, temporality of modernity and the lack of meaning it offers. But the modern humans in this story seem to be infected with a fascination for the ancient chalk giant, something bigger than themselves. I went back and almost re-read the whole thing, it's quite good but really needs to be read in-depth. A psychiatrist investigates a man who seems to have gone mad after moving into the town beside a chalk giant.
The Weimar Spider
This was a really impressive story, incorporating the decadent and surreal, and bringing Schulz and Meyrink to mind. The theme of loss is strong here, lost eras and places and chances. A young man inherits the property of his aunt, mostly old books and papers, but he soon realizes has something someone else wants badly.
The Rose-White Water
On the surface this is a somewhat more traditional story of a "haunted wood," but it's also a lament for the man's depressing destruction and sterilization of the natural world. This brings to mind Arthur Machen's best work and the end is quite well done. An ambitious young woman moves into a country house beside a wood that is seemingly haunted.
The Very Thought of You
This one wasn't one of my favorites, I thought when the supernatural appears it is a bit too overt, although there are subtler nods to it at times. However, the rest of the story is unmistakably great. A young man uncovers secrets of his father's military past which haunt his whole family.
Flower of the Sun
This was a fun story, although it stretches credulity a bit more than on the average here. This story has a little humor, and is told with a bit of a wink. A woman discovers the diary of her husband, confined to an insane asylum ever since participating in a secret project during the Second World War.
Waving at the Train
This is another story that's a more or less conventional ghost story, and yet it has some eerie touches at the end which put it above the average. A man who recently suffered the loss of both his wife and child goes on a vacation in the country, but finds the houses he's rented to be haunted by their own tragedies.
The Appassionata Variations
This is one of the most decadent tales here, full of horrific implications. After a few stories that weren't among my favorites, this is another great one. "These variations hold a mirror up to the town and through them, you will see its secret squalors and depravities laid bare. They are back alleys that ramble and divert, past the façades and gates of twisted wrought iron, to lead you to the hidden rooms."In the midst of the Second World War a hotel pianist in London discovers music which unmasks the disgusting lechery of those around him.
The Dear Dead Days
This is a shorter story, without supernatural elements, but playing on the theme of dark family secrets with a Gothic feel. A blind piano tuner with a tragic past is asked to play nostalgic songs for an elderly woman, with whom he has a strange connection.
Apple Blossom Time
This is another ghost story, a bit like "Waving at the Train" but with a bit more menace and horror. A young couple buy an old farm house which is haunted by a dark past.
The Bellman
A great story to end on, one of the best and most intricate, although there were some others I liked more. Like many stories here, this one is about the intrusion of the haunted past into our world, but with so many other creepy details and touches. A man with a museum devoted to London's past, uncovers a strange ritualistic frolic that presages disaster.
February 17, 2018
An Extraordinary collection from Colin Insole. A whole world is contained within these pages –beautiful, poetic and chilling. These stories are awash with symbolism and half suggested mystery. Dreams infuse reality, landscapes, towns and objects glitter with their own secret language which is never quite revealed. Everything in here is wonderful. Some of my favourites originally appeared in collections by Ex Occidente Press (The Weimer Spider is especially good), but many are original to this volume - 'The Madness of a Chalk Giant' and 'The Candles of Wildondorf' being especially impressive.
July 13, 2022
Elegies and Requiems is poetically beautiful, subtly unnerving, and masterfully written. It’s a collection of short stories that skirt the edge of reality and occasionally dip into a dreamlike place, the laws of the world still apply but everything is off kilter and there’s a depth of meaning to the pervasive strangeness. I loved this book and really took my time with it, occasionally picking it up to enjoy a story and only returning when I had time to fully appreciate it.
September 14, 2020
Some stories are 10/10 though
January 7, 2021
One of the truly great dark fiction collections.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.
February 19, 2014
During some insanity during the Holidays the book has been misplace. Ive read about 50 pages and what I read I really liked.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews