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Robert Aickman: An Attempted Biography
Robert Aickman (1914-1981) is remembered today as the author of fascinating ‘strange stories’, and also as one of the saviours of Britain’s inland waterways. In Aickman’s mind these two apparently different interests were allied; he was an idealist and a Romantic who sought the ‘world elsewhere’ of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, because the modern world was not for him. Aickman believed that an alternative realm could exist in life and the creative arts, and he sought to offer this in his fiction, and to build a Utopia through the restoration of Britain’s inland waterways.
Aickman wrote two volumes of autobiography, The Attempted Rescue and The River Runs Uphill, and both are full of colourful personal details. However, his own versions of events cannot always be relied upon.
In this first full biography of Robert Aickman, R.B. Russell disentangles and examines the myths that have surrounded Aickman and his life. What is revealed is a man of vision and various talents. Determined to realise his ambitions, he often made enemies, but he also had a great capacity for love and friendship. Robert Aickman’s life and attitudes were far from conventional, but his legacy in literature and on the inland waterways of Britain is far-reaching.
Aickman wrote two volumes of autobiography, The Attempted Rescue and The River Runs Uphill, and both are full of colourful personal details. However, his own versions of events cannot always be relied upon.
In this first full biography of Robert Aickman, R.B. Russell disentangles and examines the myths that have surrounded Aickman and his life. What is revealed is a man of vision and various talents. Determined to realise his ambitions, he often made enemies, but he also had a great capacity for love and friendship. Robert Aickman’s life and attitudes were far from conventional, but his legacy in literature and on the inland waterways of Britain is far-reaching.
- GenresBiography21st Century
396 pages, Hardcover
First published May 4, 2023
About the author
R.B. Russell
82 books46 followersR.B.RUSSELL has only recently started writing fiction seriously, having previously written lyrics, composed music, and drawn in pen and ink for his own amusement. He runs Tartarus Press with Rosalie Parker from their home in the Yorkshire Dales.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 22, 2022
five stars plus. If there were more, I'd award them along with all manner of superlatives to this book.
Full post here:
http://www.nonfictionrealstuff.com/20...
My introduction to Robert Aickman's stories came some years back via the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories with "The Trains" in volume one. I remember sitting there mentally scratching my head, wondering what was going on there and puzzling over it until I gave up, deciding that I'd definitely have to come back to it another time. My inability to decipher "The Trains" might have made for a frustrating experience and turned me off Aickman for good, but no, the opposite happened -- not only did I make my way back to "The Trains," but little by little I also started picking up his story collections and little by little I became a huge fangirl of his work. I'm still mystified by many of his tales, but as Russell quotes author Sacheverell Sitwall in Chapter 22 (whose words from his For Want of the Golden City Aickman originally chose as the epigraph in Cold Hand in Mine), I've come to realize that "In the end, it is the mystery that lasts and not the explanation."
Aickman wrote two volumes of autobiography entitled The Attempted Rescue (1966) and The River Runs Uphill, published posthumously in 1986. While "both are full of colourful personal details," we are told, Aickman's "version of events is not always to be relied upon." As the dustjacket notes, in An Attempted Biography, Russell "disentangles the myths that have surrounded Aickman and his life." He also focuses on Aickman's long-lasting legacy of two great achievements: his work for the Inland Waterways Association and his writing. He also reveals much about the man himself -- Aickman was more than a bit over the top politically, often a downright cad when it came to how he treated women (most notably his wife Ray Gregorson who somehow managed to stay with him for sixteen years), great company and charming with some people while unpleasant, rude and opinionated with others. Somewhere in this book or elsewhere I've seen the word "polarizing" to describe Aickman, and that would be about right. Through countless interviews, correspondence, his subject's own writing and many other sources, Russell has written what just might possibly turn out to be the definitive biography of Robert Aickman.
As has been the case with each of R.B. Russell's books I've read, the writing is excellent, but of course, the true star of this book is Robert Aickman himself, a man who was "determined to realise his ambitions" and in so doing "often made enemies," as well as a man with "a great capacity for love and friendship." It's obvious that Russell has not only done an incredible volume of research, but while doing so, has come to know his subject very well.
An Attempted Biography now enjoys a place of honor on my favorites bookshelf -- I am just completely in awe of what Russell has accomplished here. Nicely done.
Full post here:
http://www.nonfictionrealstuff.com/20...
My introduction to Robert Aickman's stories came some years back via the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories with "The Trains" in volume one. I remember sitting there mentally scratching my head, wondering what was going on there and puzzling over it until I gave up, deciding that I'd definitely have to come back to it another time. My inability to decipher "The Trains" might have made for a frustrating experience and turned me off Aickman for good, but no, the opposite happened -- not only did I make my way back to "The Trains," but little by little I also started picking up his story collections and little by little I became a huge fangirl of his work. I'm still mystified by many of his tales, but as Russell quotes author Sacheverell Sitwall in Chapter 22 (whose words from his For Want of the Golden City Aickman originally chose as the epigraph in Cold Hand in Mine), I've come to realize that "In the end, it is the mystery that lasts and not the explanation."
Aickman wrote two volumes of autobiography entitled The Attempted Rescue (1966) and The River Runs Uphill, published posthumously in 1986. While "both are full of colourful personal details," we are told, Aickman's "version of events is not always to be relied upon." As the dustjacket notes, in An Attempted Biography, Russell "disentangles the myths that have surrounded Aickman and his life." He also focuses on Aickman's long-lasting legacy of two great achievements: his work for the Inland Waterways Association and his writing. He also reveals much about the man himself -- Aickman was more than a bit over the top politically, often a downright cad when it came to how he treated women (most notably his wife Ray Gregorson who somehow managed to stay with him for sixteen years), great company and charming with some people while unpleasant, rude and opinionated with others. Somewhere in this book or elsewhere I've seen the word "polarizing" to describe Aickman, and that would be about right. Through countless interviews, correspondence, his subject's own writing and many other sources, Russell has written what just might possibly turn out to be the definitive biography of Robert Aickman.
As has been the case with each of R.B. Russell's books I've read, the writing is excellent, but of course, the true star of this book is Robert Aickman himself, a man who was "determined to realise his ambitions" and in so doing "often made enemies," as well as a man with "a great capacity for love and friendship." It's obvious that Russell has not only done an incredible volume of research, but while doing so, has come to know his subject very well.
An Attempted Biography now enjoys a place of honor on my favorites bookshelf -- I am just completely in awe of what Russell has accomplished here. Nicely done.
February 7, 2022
I don't remember which Aickman story I read first but my lifelong love of his work was cemented by the American edition of Cold Hand in Mine. I was active in the small world of "horror" fandom in the 70s and wise enough to do business with George Locke at Ferret Fantasy, so I've had signed copies of most of Aickman's books in places of honor on my shelves for almost 50 years. I have regarded him for most of my life as the paramount writer of weird fiction in the second half of the 20th Century, although I also believe he stands well outside any genre.
R.B. Russell deserves enormous credit for keeping Aickman's work in print, for rescuing some of it from total obscurity, and now for writing this comprehensive biography. Writer's lives are especially tricky, because so much of their existence is internal, but Aickman's work in the preservation of the inland waterways of England adds a bit more materiality. Accordingly, his two volumes of memoirs of his efforts there provide much of the substance of the book's first half. It's a fascinating story, both as a case study in resistance to modernity and as a picture of the inevitable infighting and life-or-death struggles in any small movement. The depiction of Aickman in this struggle is not always flattering.
Aickman's career as an author of strange stories comes to the foreground in the book's second half, which provides an excellent portrait of the development of an author who is an antiquarian but whose art reflects modern attitudes toward psychology and sexuality. The last third of the book also serves as an embryonic mini-history of the rise of weird fiction as a modern genre in the 70s and 80s, largely through the guidance of Kirby McCauley, the birth of the World Fantasy Conventions, paperback editions of the masters and mistresses of the genre, and burgeoning enthusiasms that have only grown stronger over time.
R.B. Russell deserves enormous credit for keeping Aickman's work in print, for rescuing some of it from total obscurity, and now for writing this comprehensive biography. Writer's lives are especially tricky, because so much of their existence is internal, but Aickman's work in the preservation of the inland waterways of England adds a bit more materiality. Accordingly, his two volumes of memoirs of his efforts there provide much of the substance of the book's first half. It's a fascinating story, both as a case study in resistance to modernity and as a picture of the inevitable infighting and life-or-death struggles in any small movement. The depiction of Aickman in this struggle is not always flattering.
Aickman's career as an author of strange stories comes to the foreground in the book's second half, which provides an excellent portrait of the development of an author who is an antiquarian but whose art reflects modern attitudes toward psychology and sexuality. The last third of the book also serves as an embryonic mini-history of the rise of weird fiction as a modern genre in the 70s and 80s, largely through the guidance of Kirby McCauley, the birth of the World Fantasy Conventions, paperback editions of the masters and mistresses of the genre, and burgeoning enthusiasms that have only grown stronger over time.
February 9, 2022
Having never read Aickman's fiction, I am really not qualified to discuss questions of art and aesthetics explored in An Attempted Biography. Likewise Aickman's work for Inland Waterways. Author R.B. Russell has clearly spent a long time with a very uncongenial fellow human, and written about him at length with skill, sympathy, patience, and a sense of humor.
June 2, 2022
Absolutely fascinating biography. Russell is a great writer, he writes with authority but also entertainingly. Highly recommended!
February 3, 2022
Anyone who knows Aickman’s fiction will know that they they are rather odd; allusive, elliptical and at times frustrating in their incomprehensibility. If you have read the first volume of his autobiography ‘The Attempted Rescue’ (do so! It is great) you also get the sense that he is an odd chap in himself, despite your (possible) knowledge that he was very grounded (if that the right word given the context) in his work for to help save the inland waterways. a battle described in his second autobiographical volume ‘The River Runs Uphill’, a book I have not read.
We are informed by this author that both volumes were deliberately very selective in their reminiscences and although it is perhaps scarcely surprising that Aickman's own portrayal of some of the characters he deals with are portrayed in a less than fair light, until this book one could almost believe that he was unmarried as his wife is scarcely mentioned despite the huge supporting role she played in his life. Thus this biography attempts to set the record straight by drawing on various archives, including Aickman’s own, along with new, recently conducted interviews with those who knew him.
As any good biographer should in my opinion, we rattle through the Aickman forebears and schooldays at a fast clip pausing to note that he is a relative of Richard Marsh, author of ‘The Beetle’(1897) - and that he was very impressed by his rich relatives’ house which helped instill the ideas that was how (his) life should be lived and that the past was better the the present. Although his parents seemed to be at some sort of war each other he was well educated, especially in literature, theatre and shortly after opera (he would later become Chairman of the London Opera Society) providing entres into ‘bohemia’. It is also apparent that he always wished to be a writer and established the literary Agency Richard Marsh Ltd in 1941, having escaped conscription by claiming to be a conscientious objector, partly on the (almost certainly untrue) grounds of religious belief. It was via the agency that Aickamn was to meet the psychic investigator Harry Price, Aickman was deeply interested in the paranormal and suggested to him that maybe he and Price should set up a trust to manage the remains of Borley Rectory, ‘the most haunted house in England’. Price declined but Aickman had more success when he suggested something similar in 1945 to the author L.T.C. Rolt, author of the classic, and still very readable ’Narrow Boat’. At that time Britain’s canals were very neglected, having been run down their owners (often rail companies who wished to stimulate freight transport by train) and Aickman suggested that a ‘group of enthusiasts (but not fanatics) could do much to better the state of the canals’, by acting as a pressure group This would lead to the birth of the Inland Waterways Association. As I came to Aickman via his fiction, the ups and downs of the I.W.A. which obviously take up a considerable proportion of the book, should, in principle, not be of great interest, so it is to Russell’s credit that he succeeds in making this important element of his life suitably absorbing, not least as one might pick up some tips about how to deal (or not!) with Government organisations.
Aickman believed that he had organisational and leadership abilities and it is certainly true that he as Chairman of the I.W.A. (with the help of others- not least his wife Ray, who had been written out of ‘The River Runs Uphill’ and is now duly recognised in this biography) understood how to wage a good campaign against a largely indifferent government, seeking to protect the entire network as opposed to cherry-picking parts of it, fighting battles on grounds chosen by themselves rather than the canal owners and organising large and successful public events that both bought in members and raised awareness.
However it also true to say that he rubbed much of the membership up the wrong way, differing on some fundamental points of the I.W.A. objectives. Rolt wanted to help preserve the way of life of the canal-workers whereas Aickman took a more romantic view of the canals as being part of a lost way of life that ‘modernity’ was destroying. Aickman was also autocratic and did not suffering fools gladly, if you had nothing to offer he wasn’t interested in you, although he could be swayed if the person was female, young, pretty and titled. to the extent of being something of a snob. This latter is tied to his elitist view of the world and shows him to be rather right of centre in his attitude. Although it would be too much to say he was a fascist there are moments when one feels he is sailing very close to those winds.
However, for those he did get on with, he must certainly have had considerable charm as when he began his affair with author (and fellow I.W.A. member) Elizabeth Jane Howard the Aickman’s and her all rubbed along fairly genially on various barge cruises although Ray admittedly did rather object to taking Robert and Elizabeth breakfast in bed.
Aickman officially resigned as Chairman in 1951 but continued to be involved for years afterwards but is via his relationship with Howard that his tales in ‘We are for the Dark’ were published that same year. For a while it was unclear as to who had authored each story which generated interest in their authors resulting in his own work beginning to be published as solo volumes, which the author described as ‘strange’ rather than ‘ghost’ stories. However, Aickman had a good knowledge of supernatural fiction and edited the first eight books of the Fontana ‘Great Ghost Stories' anthologies controversially including his own works in some of them. This literary work and its legacy take up much of the final third of the biography and offers some analysis of some of his major tales which, if you have come to Aickman via canals, I imagine this would be of interest as his stories are seldom straightforward and take some getting used to. Of course we are also given details of his subsequent relationships including that with his long term partner Jean Richardson- Aickman detested marriage thinking that it ‘spoilt’ women. It also details his work grew in standing within the genre of ‘weird fiction’ during his lifetime and his subsequent post-mortem reputation since his death in 1981
The question I always ask myself after reading a biography is; would I have liked its subject had I met him? In Aickman’s case, the answer is no I would not, his snobbery and politics would have been offensive to me but then I imagine he would have just ignored me anyway. But did I enjoy this book? I did.
Russell has a long association with his subject as he jointly runs Tartarus Press who have republished Aickman’s books in h/b and generally helped raise awareness of his work. Whilst obviously a fan of his fiction, this does not appear to cloud his judgement of the man himself.
It is very readable and, unlike some biographies, feels ‘exhaustive’ rather than ‘exhausting’. I imagine this book will remain the 'definitive' biography for quite some time and If you have any interest in Aickman it is surely an essential purchase.
We are informed by this author that both volumes were deliberately very selective in their reminiscences and although it is perhaps scarcely surprising that Aickman's own portrayal of some of the characters he deals with are portrayed in a less than fair light, until this book one could almost believe that he was unmarried as his wife is scarcely mentioned despite the huge supporting role she played in his life. Thus this biography attempts to set the record straight by drawing on various archives, including Aickman’s own, along with new, recently conducted interviews with those who knew him.
As any good biographer should in my opinion, we rattle through the Aickman forebears and schooldays at a fast clip pausing to note that he is a relative of Richard Marsh, author of ‘The Beetle’(1897) - and that he was very impressed by his rich relatives’ house which helped instill the ideas that was how (his) life should be lived and that the past was better the the present. Although his parents seemed to be at some sort of war each other he was well educated, especially in literature, theatre and shortly after opera (he would later become Chairman of the London Opera Society) providing entres into ‘bohemia’. It is also apparent that he always wished to be a writer and established the literary Agency Richard Marsh Ltd in 1941, having escaped conscription by claiming to be a conscientious objector, partly on the (almost certainly untrue) grounds of religious belief. It was via the agency that Aickamn was to meet the psychic investigator Harry Price, Aickman was deeply interested in the paranormal and suggested to him that maybe he and Price should set up a trust to manage the remains of Borley Rectory, ‘the most haunted house in England’. Price declined but Aickman had more success when he suggested something similar in 1945 to the author L.T.C. Rolt, author of the classic, and still very readable ’Narrow Boat’. At that time Britain’s canals were very neglected, having been run down their owners (often rail companies who wished to stimulate freight transport by train) and Aickman suggested that a ‘group of enthusiasts (but not fanatics) could do much to better the state of the canals’, by acting as a pressure group This would lead to the birth of the Inland Waterways Association. As I came to Aickman via his fiction, the ups and downs of the I.W.A. which obviously take up a considerable proportion of the book, should, in principle, not be of great interest, so it is to Russell’s credit that he succeeds in making this important element of his life suitably absorbing, not least as one might pick up some tips about how to deal (or not!) with Government organisations.
Aickman believed that he had organisational and leadership abilities and it is certainly true that he as Chairman of the I.W.A. (with the help of others- not least his wife Ray, who had been written out of ‘The River Runs Uphill’ and is now duly recognised in this biography) understood how to wage a good campaign against a largely indifferent government, seeking to protect the entire network as opposed to cherry-picking parts of it, fighting battles on grounds chosen by themselves rather than the canal owners and organising large and successful public events that both bought in members and raised awareness.
However it also true to say that he rubbed much of the membership up the wrong way, differing on some fundamental points of the I.W.A. objectives. Rolt wanted to help preserve the way of life of the canal-workers whereas Aickman took a more romantic view of the canals as being part of a lost way of life that ‘modernity’ was destroying. Aickman was also autocratic and did not suffering fools gladly, if you had nothing to offer he wasn’t interested in you, although he could be swayed if the person was female, young, pretty and titled. to the extent of being something of a snob. This latter is tied to his elitist view of the world and shows him to be rather right of centre in his attitude. Although it would be too much to say he was a fascist there are moments when one feels he is sailing very close to those winds.
However, for those he did get on with, he must certainly have had considerable charm as when he began his affair with author (and fellow I.W.A. member) Elizabeth Jane Howard the Aickman’s and her all rubbed along fairly genially on various barge cruises although Ray admittedly did rather object to taking Robert and Elizabeth breakfast in bed.
Aickman officially resigned as Chairman in 1951 but continued to be involved for years afterwards but is via his relationship with Howard that his tales in ‘We are for the Dark’ were published that same year. For a while it was unclear as to who had authored each story which generated interest in their authors resulting in his own work beginning to be published as solo volumes, which the author described as ‘strange’ rather than ‘ghost’ stories. However, Aickman had a good knowledge of supernatural fiction and edited the first eight books of the Fontana ‘Great Ghost Stories' anthologies controversially including his own works in some of them. This literary work and its legacy take up much of the final third of the biography and offers some analysis of some of his major tales which, if you have come to Aickman via canals, I imagine this would be of interest as his stories are seldom straightforward and take some getting used to. Of course we are also given details of his subsequent relationships including that with his long term partner Jean Richardson- Aickman detested marriage thinking that it ‘spoilt’ women. It also details his work grew in standing within the genre of ‘weird fiction’ during his lifetime and his subsequent post-mortem reputation since his death in 1981
The question I always ask myself after reading a biography is; would I have liked its subject had I met him? In Aickman’s case, the answer is no I would not, his snobbery and politics would have been offensive to me but then I imagine he would have just ignored me anyway. But did I enjoy this book? I did.
Russell has a long association with his subject as he jointly runs Tartarus Press who have republished Aickman’s books in h/b and generally helped raise awareness of his work. Whilst obviously a fan of his fiction, this does not appear to cloud his judgement of the man himself.
It is very readable and, unlike some biographies, feels ‘exhaustive’ rather than ‘exhausting’. I imagine this book will remain the 'definitive' biography for quite some time and If you have any interest in Aickman it is surely an essential purchase.
June 16, 2023
I super enjoyed this, but I don't think most people would. I am constantly entranced by the stories of Robert Aickman - I think he's the finest short story writer in Weird Fiction since Lovecraft - so I was very curious about his life and where the stories might have come from.
Instead, what I read was a very long description of his lifelong adventures supporting the British canal and waterway system - lots of internal and external politics, lots of sour grapes and power jockeying, lots and lots of boat trips. Not what I expected! But still interesting nonetheless.
He seems to be a man of three essential parts: Aickman the politician whose guiding star was the British canal system; Aickman the consummate conversationalist who formed many close friendships (especially with unavailable women); and Aickman the author, who produced some truly incredible stories that were never fully appreciated in his lifetime.
If the first part is of particular interest to you, this book will satisfy. If the second two parts are the subject of your curiosity (like mine), you'll be left wanting a bit. But either way, it's a fascinating look at an author whose reputation is slowly building in the 21st century, as Weird Fiction rises in profile thanks to YA/the Marvel universe/etc.
Instead, what I read was a very long description of his lifelong adventures supporting the British canal and waterway system - lots of internal and external politics, lots of sour grapes and power jockeying, lots and lots of boat trips. Not what I expected! But still interesting nonetheless.
He seems to be a man of three essential parts: Aickman the politician whose guiding star was the British canal system; Aickman the consummate conversationalist who formed many close friendships (especially with unavailable women); and Aickman the author, who produced some truly incredible stories that were never fully appreciated in his lifetime.
If the first part is of particular interest to you, this book will satisfy. If the second two parts are the subject of your curiosity (like mine), you'll be left wanting a bit. But either way, it's a fascinating look at an author whose reputation is slowly building in the 21st century, as Weird Fiction rises in profile thanks to YA/the Marvel universe/etc.
April 22, 2024
Ray Russell should be commended for his remarkable research into Aickman's life. There's narrow boatloads of material here on his activities, his influences, his friendships, his relationships, and his dedication to rescuing the British canal network. The discussions of the stories are less convincing - Russell is very good on Aickman's publishing history, but you won't find particularly revealing analyses of his fiction. Maybe that's wise - some of his tales are impenetrably odd, others seem obscurely allegorical - but it would have been helpful to get a clearer sense of Russell's understanding of them. After all, he has done such marvellous work in getting Aickman back into print and establishing his reputation as Britain's greatest post-war writer of 'strange stories'. A well written and (as ever with Tartarus Press) beautifully produced book, but one which leaves readers with many unanswered (perhaps unanswerable) questions about the stories themselves.
January 3, 2026
A fascinating look at an often overlooked author of unusual stories.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews