The Burial of the Rats: And Other Tales of the Macabre by Bram Stoker

Gilded Nightmares – Timeless British Library Books

by Bram Stoker, Xavier Aldana Reyes (Editor)

I knew the site of the hut and the hill behind it up which I had rushed, and in the flickering glow the eyes of the rats still shone with a sort of phosphorescence.

Beyond the genre-defining influence of Dracula , Bram Stoker was also a master of the short story form. This new collection of the author’s tales represents his diverse interests in the macabre and uncanny, ranging from the hallucinatory and dreamlike in ‘The Shadow Builder’ and ‘In the Valley of the Shadow’ to the more overtly horrifying in the mini- masterpieces of ‘The Judge’s House’ and ‘The Burial of the Rats’.

Alongside acknowledged classics of the horror short story canon, this new volume also includes obscurities such as the darkly comic ‘Old A Mystery’ and the morbid fairy tale ‘The Castle of the King’ to reflect the full brilliance of the legendary writer.

Genres: Horror, Classics, Collections, Short Stories, Fiction, Gothic

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 23, 2023

About the author

Irish-born Abraham Stoker, known as Bram, of Britain wrote the gothic horror novel Dracula (1897).

The feminist Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely Stoker at 15 Marino crescent, then as now called "the crescent," in Fairview, a coastal suburb of Dublin, Ireland, bore this third of seven children. The parents, members of church of Ireland, attended the parish church of Saint John the Baptist, located on Seafield road west in Clontarf with their baptized children.

Stoker, an invalid, started school at the age of seven years in 1854, when he made a complete and astounding recovery. Of this time, Stoker wrote, "I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years."

After his recovery, he, a normal young man, even excelled as a university athlete at Trinity college, Dublin form 1864 to 1870 and graduated with honors in mathematics. He served as auditor of the college historical society and as president of the university philosophical society with his first paper on "Sensationalism in Fiction and Society."

In 1876, while employed as a civil servant in Dublin, Stoker wrote a non-fiction book (The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, published 1879) and theatre reviews for The Dublin Mail, a newspaper partly owned by fellow horror writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu. His interest in theatre led to a lifelong friendship with the English actor Henry Irving. He also wrote stories, and in 1872 "The Crystal Cup" was published by the London Society, followed by "The Chain of Destiny" in four parts in The Shamrock.

In 1878 Stoker married Florence Balcombe, a celebrated beauty whose former suitor was Oscar Wilde. The couple moved to London, where Stoker became business manager (at first as acting-manager) of Irving's Lyceum Theatre, a post he held for 27 years. The collaboration with Irving was very important for Stoker and through him he became involved in London's high society, where he met, among other notables, James McNeil Whistler, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the course of Irving's tours, Stoker got the chance to travel around the world.

The Stokers had one son, Irving Noel, who was born on December 31, 1879.

People cremated the body of Bram Stoker and placed his ashes placed in a display urn at Golders green crematorium. After death of Irving Noel Stoker in 1961, people added his ashes to that urn. Despite the original plan to keep ashes of his parents together, after death, people scattered ashes of Florence Stoker at the gardens of rest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker

Reviews

[alisandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of Stoker's melodrama, moralism, and uniqueness, this short story collection has a lot of tales that are striking and interesting, and some that don't quite live up to the promise of the title. Tales of the Macabre made me think all of the stories would be horror -- and while that's not necessarily true, the ones that were more unsettling were very captivating.
The first story, The Crystal Cup, had me spellbound with its atmosphere, and was a strong opening piece. The second story, Saved by a Ghost, was a very Stoker ghost story, and had me interested for more.
The following three stories were all taken from a collection of Stoker's fairy tales, and abruptly changed the tone of the collection. It honestly halted my progress for quite some time, as it felt more of a slog to get through stories I wasn't anticipating. Had I sought out Stoker's fairytales, I would've accepted them readily -- however in looking for more macabre, they took the tempo to a lull.
A Gipsy Prophecy eased me back into the stories I had come here for -- while not horror, it still had dark enough elements to justify including in this collection. Then The Dualtists smacked me in the face like a baby being swung at another baby. Seriously, I think that imagery will stay in my mind forever -- I've never read anything quite like it, and it's still shocking nowadays. The Judge's House returned to more classic horror. I don't remember much about The Secret of the Growing Gold -- that one didn't stay with me as strongly, and I can't remember why. The Squaw, while predictable in its outcome, was delightfully gruesome.
Old Hoggen might be my favorite in this collection -- equal parts horror and comedy, it was wonderfully absurd. A Dream of Red Hands was again Stoker moralism, and less horror, though it dealt with subjects like murder and redemption. Admittedly I did skip The Man from Shorrox'. I thought I was fine with dialect in stories, but this made me realize my limit is a story being told entirely in a dialect I'm not overly familiar with.
The titular story, The Burial of the Rats, was not quite as interesting as I'd hoped. Really I thought there'd be more actual creepy rats, but I suppose we already got that in The Judge's House. Most of the story amounted to a very long chase scene, however the imagery of the rats killing and devouring so swiftly that the bones of the person they killed were still warm is a very compelling image. Concepts like that are Stoker's strength when it comes to his uniqueness.
The standouts in this collection are truly novel, interesting, and worth reading. It has some misses, but the hits make up for it, and overall I found myself enjoying this collection more than I felt bogged down by it in the slower parts.

[Matty Stoked · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant! Stoker's vibrant and bold use of language makes reading his books feel like they were written yesterday. One thing - which is barely a criticism as these stories are >100 years old - but all of Stoker's women are hilariously frail. They're all seconds away from fainting and are only really present to stir the men on to heroic deeds. It's quaint more than offensive, but certainly something I noticed more than once.

I'd not read any of his shorts before, but there's some harrowing and haunting work in here. Particular favourites are The Gypsy Prophecy, The Dualitists, The Squaw and the titular Burial of the Rats.

[Sam Levy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some solid stories in here (it’s always a pleasure to revisit The Judge’s House, The Squaw has a suitably horrible ending for its horrible victim, and The Dualitists contains some content that’s still shocking today) but there’s also a couple that feel like filler, or like an interesting look into Stoker’s writing even if they aren’t as much fun to read. Three excerpts from his more simplistic and moralistic children’s stories in particular stop the book dead for 40 pages or so.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I love the mystery and intrigue of Bram Stoker as well as classic tales, I confess that I usually read older stuff on audiobook for a reason. I struggle to keep up with the language, pronunciation, and intonation of pre- 20th century literature. I'm sure I would have given this a better rating if I would have listened to it...

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just adore his storytelling and writing style. I truly feel transported whenever reading his words. While his stories can be gruesome, eerie, and heartbreaking, his stories always comment on some greater political truth that’s reminiscent of the era. The meanings behind his works are always complicated, compelling, and transcendent…I love gothic lit.

[Layla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these were pretty decent, a little tame for nowadays but must have been massively shocking in the 1800s. Some of the stories were a little too thy, thee, thou for me, but besides that I enjoyed a little blast from the past.

[Blake Milton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology of short stories is part of the Gilded Nightmares series from the British Library, written by the creator of Dracula.

Several of these tales are particularly gruesome, presenting small, dark gems that come highly recommended.

blakemilton.co.uk

[Stanzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ngl I haven't read all the stories in the collection. Not really dark and more fairytale-like. Not my cup of tea then.

[Joana Rodrigues · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad

[mia ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was another book by stoker that i thoroughly enjoyed reading and i loved both the ambience and genre that this book offered :)

[Richie Bannister-Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have read THE BURIAL OF RATS so atmospheric and had me turning the pages wanting to see what the outcome was. Would highly recommend