Il grande libro dei fantasmi

by Richard Dalby (curatore)

Perché le storie di fantasmi non smettono di affascinare i lettori? Forse perché ciascuno di noi, nel segreto del suo cuore, spera e teme di incontrarne uno. Intanto questa splendida raccolta rinchiude tra le sue pagine apparizioni misteriose, anime vagabonde, amanti che non trovano pace, vendette oltre la morte, paure irragionevoli e mille altri deliziosi e stuzzicanti ingredienti del terrore.
Tutte le autrici, più o meno famose, si sono concesse una breve vacanza ai margini del credibile, nelle misteriose regioni dove è possibile incorrere in avventure del tutto fuori dal comune. La tensione cresce inesorabilmente, un racconto dopo l'altro, e le sensazioni diventano sempre più agghiaccianti. Da non prendersi prima di andare a letto è il titolo di una storia ed è una raccomandazione da non dimenticare.
Raccolti in ordine cronologico, dagli anni venti a oggi, i racconti sono firmati da Willa Carther, Edith Wharton, Rebecca West, Ruth Rendell, Penelope Lively e molte altre signore della scrittura abilissime nel creare sottili atmosfere di paura e dominare l'oscuro territorio dove il mistero assume i colori della vita quotidiana.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Anthologies, Paranormal

708 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Richard Dalby (1949-2017) was an editor and literary researcher.

Reviews

[Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read the book of gohost stories my favriot storie was a storie about two young teenagers out haveing fun in there car driving out in the middle of the night suddley the car shut down so the driver got out to see what was going on so the rest of them stayed in the car and talked for a while and relzed that he had been goon for 2 hours so then they start to call him and see whats happening and whats taking so long then they start to hear a sceche on the side of the car then lighting starkes and the see a man holding there friends head and then they looked the door and then in the other hand was the keys to the car. The storie was called the hook and i really like it cause how scary and dicripive it was and how they were traped in the car with a murder with the keys on the out side i loved this book cause i love stories about ghost and all the scary stories the the stories in the book were good but that one was just the best

[Rj · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not only a compendium of fantastic classic ghost stories exquisitly translated and restored, but has what I consider to be by far the best single piece of poetry based in the supernatural in existence.
The very first work that the reader comes across is a poem by Anon., fittingly entitled simply as "Ghosts". It is not a poem of grotesquery, nor a poem of fanciful flights into the idylic spirit realms. It is rather a look at the anguish and unsightly posibility of 'the other side' for the spirits of our departed loved ones.
I would recomend this book for the sole reason that you as a reader should own that four page poem. But the rest of the books is also well worth any amount of money.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read: around 2010?
Second read: 2022/10/02 - 2022/12/29

Although this isn't a perfect collection (some stories are good, but others just aren't), I will always have a fond memory of it because this was the book which started my love for ghost stories. I picked it up on a whim at the library, mostly because of the gorgeous design and cover, and it turned out to be a greatly enjoyable reading experience, which introduced me to one of my favourite genres.
My favourite stories are those from:

Ellen Glasgow
Mary Webb
Elizabeth Walter
Edith Wharton
Violet Hunt
Margaret Oliphant
Rosa Mulholland
Celia Fremlin
Margaret Irwin

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A study in verbosity. All the ghosts I have encountered meant me no harm and I enjoyed reading about the experiences of others.

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The metric for a chilling story has changed considerably in the last 200 years. Nevertheless, this is a good insight into the development of horror from the 19th century and through to the late 20th. Interesting too, to see the origins of numerous prolific and notorious writers if their times.

[Gary · Rating 2 out of 5]

29 mostly forgettable ghost stories from the Victorian era by English and American authors. Some were good-not many.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great!

[Adrienne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my kind of ghost stories but I refuse to remove it from my shelf. Maybe I'm darker than I thought.

[Amber]

My book with this ISBN is The Great Novels of Charles Dickens.

[Miria TheBookHunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Piccola raccolta di storie inquietanti di fantasmi, spettri, presenze e quant'altro, racconti tutti scritti da scrittrici che si cimentano in questo genere.