Dark Arrows: Great Stories of Revenge

by Various (Editor, Introduction), Alberto Manguel (Editor)

DARK ARROWS is a collection of eighteen powerful stories with the tantalizing theme of revenge. Included are such writers as E.L. Doctorow, Frederick Forsyth, William Faulkner, Nadine Gordimer, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, and many others whose obsessed, diabolic characters commit mischief, mayhem, and murder against real - or imagined - injustices.

CONTENTS
"The Squaw" by Bram Stoker
"There Are No Snakes In Ireland" by Frederick Forsyth
"The Great Electrical Revolution" by Ken Mitchell
"Letter From His Father" by Nadine Gordimer
"The Isle of Voices" by Robert Louis Stevenson
"A Bear Hunt" by William Faulkner
"Sredni Vashtar" by H.H. Munro
"The Foundling" by Heinrich von Kleist
"Uncle Facundo" by Isidoro Blaisten
"Permission For Death Is Granted" by Edmundo Valades
"Emma Zunz" by Jorge Luis Borges
"Miss Esperson" by August Derleth
"Hop Frog" by Edgar Allan Poe
"A Women's Vengeance" by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly
"The Pirate of the Round Pond" by Lord Dunsany
"Willi" by E.L. Doctorow
"Torridge" by William Trevor
"Dayspring Mishandled" by Rudyard Kipling

Genres: Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Literature

314 pages, Paperback

Published June 3, 1987

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Scottholdensmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best story collections I've ever read. Each story is more engaging than the last. Even though I despise short stories, this collection is great.

[George Ilsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent anthology. As often, I started with the last story first. The final story here is "Torridge," by William Trevor. I then read the whole thing from start to finish, re-reading the most excellent "Torridge". I did skip a couple of selections from big names. I've never been able to read Faulkner (the words do not penetrate my thick skull) and Kipling's tale here also did not appeal. But the other tales make up for these Nobel prize winners. Perhaps some more new discoveries in place of the big names might have been a good idea.

Also intrigued by Manguel's assertion that revenge stories are uncommon in Canadian fiction. Really? It's certainly part of the oral tradition, but perhaps we are too cautious by nature to write these things down.

In any event, ever since reading this anthology I haven't stopped reading William Trevor!

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely anthology of short stories, all on the subject of revenge. This includes failed revenge, gloriously successful revenge and even revenge against oneself. Even includes the greatest revenge tale of them all, "Sredni Vashtar" by the incomparable Saki. Not to be missed.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this collection because Alberto Manguel was the editor of two of the most compelling and far-reaching collections of fantasy short stories I've ever read: Black Water : The Book of Fantastic Literature & Black Water 2 : More Tales Of The Fantastic. Manguel's surveys of that field showed a careful, wide-ranging and inclusive eye which greatly impressed me as traits one would desire in an editor. So, if he undertakes a collection themed on "revenge", I'm interested.

And what you get here is a wonderful collection. What impresses is the many ways in which the idea of revenge can be unfolded and examined - its motivations and manifestations. As might be expected, presented here are tales of murders avenged, but other instigating incidents span the range of crimes, insults, humiliations, cruelties, sullied honors, spurned loves. Exploitation of class, race, age, gender amd wealth all make themselves known. And the ways in which revenge is achieved is just as varied (violence is not always the answer).

Bram Stoker's "The Squaw", is a solid tale in which an unthinking action leads to an animal's death, and a mother's hideous revenge. Still a classic. Frederick Forsyth, more famous as a best-selling thriller author, is represented here with "There Are No Snakes In Ireland", in which a young Indian medical student is taunted by a racist fellow-laborer at his worksite, which causes him to go to great lengths to plan an environmentally impossible murder. There's a nice feeling in this one of how repaying evil with evil just escalates the problem for everyone. "The Great Electrical Revolution" is a humorous tale of the Depression and one old man's attempts to get free electricity - Ken Mitchell has a nice way with descriptions of physical slapstick. Nadine Gordimer redresses a great literary imbalance in "Letter From His Father", authoring a response from Franz Kafka's dad to a classic piece of writing by the latter (an "open letter" to his father which blamed the old man for everything that had ever troubled the sensitive writer). Gordimer finds this grossly unfair (not the least of which that the dead man never got to respond to "history"'s judgement), and so undertakes exactly that task for Father Kafka, exposing many of Franz's exagerrations and unfair assumptions. "The Isle of Voices" by Robert Louis Stevenson is one of his Hawaiian-native-culture set tales from late in his career after he had retired to the South Seas for his health (unwisely, as it turned out). Of all the stories here, it's the one I felt had the least to do with "revenge", per se, but it is a charming fantasy tale of a lazy young man, his wizardous father-in-law, magical treasure and cannibals (I especially enjoyed the image of the wizard, grown to gargantuan size, wading his way through the Pacific Ocean).

"A Bear Hunt" is William Faulkner's rural tale of how an Indian reservation and a case of virulent hiccups allow an old negro to avenge an aged humiliation. This features some nice dialect work. As might be expected, H.H. Munro (Saki) is represented by his classic "Sredni Vashtar" - and who couldn't relish this lean, compact, nasty tale of childhood paganism and the usurping of adult control (Conradin's secret world of animal gods strikes me as having something of an air of chaos magick about it). "The Foundling" is an almost Gothic story by Heinrich von Kleist of an ungrateful orphan's machinations against his adoptive family and his target's extreme drive for venegeance. A bit wordy, but a nice piece of 19th Century writing. A family's infamous black sheep returns to the fold, bringing trepidation at first, then an unexpected release of inhibitions, and finally hatred in "Uncle Facundo". Isidoro Blaisten's story is a nicely observed tale of family dynamics and psychology. Edmundo Valades, meanwhile, explores another form of mass psychology in the brutal, terse tale of oppressed Mexican peasants who believe in formalities even in the face of injustice in "Permission For Death Is Granted" and Jorge Luis Borges illuminates a coldy calculated plan for the vengeance of family honor (involving deflowering and a murder), in "Emma Zunz". While the outcome of August Derleth's "Miss Esperson" may be easy to predict, it's his sketch of small-town Louisiana life, a friendship between two boys and an old lady, and the horrifyingly prosaic child-abuse suffered by one of them, that makes the story shine. (I have to admit I generally consider Derleth a lesser talent when he's placed alongside genre greats like Lovecraft, only to find myself reminded again and again how good he was at touching, human, regional writing). "Hop Frog", Edgar Allan Poe's classic, is still a smoldering look at hatred and resentment that flares into hideous actions during a medieval masquerade. I originally read this in my youth as adapted by Berni Wrightson in CREEPY magazine and it still impresses. Finally, in "A Women's Vengeance", a young dandy follows a prostitute home, only to realize he recognizes her as a missing noblewoman. She regales him with the story of a passionless marriage, a brazen affair, a shocking murder and her ultimate revenge on her husband, the Duke. Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's decadent tale is savage in so many ways, it must have been beyond shocking at the time it was published, not the least for the Duchess using her own body and virtue as a weapon against fossilized systems of honor.

The gems of this collection are quite varied. Lord Dunsany tells an atypical tale of "The Pirate of the Round Pond", as schoolboys plot a model-ship war. Dunsany's capturing of the concerns and worldview of the young boys is masterful, authentic and utterly charming. "Willi" by E.L. Doctorow is a powerful, oedipal tale of boy's terrible discovery. I was immensely entertained reading "Torridge" by William Trevor (a writer of whom I'd never heard - and there's Manguel's skill again), in which English public school bullying and adolescent sexual assignations eventually bear bitter fruit in middle-age. Trevor's style is clear and straight-ahead, with deft characterization, humorous touches and a cynical, biting tone - reminding me of something Saki may have written if his age had been more open about same-sex relationships. Equally as good is "Dayspring Mishandled", an absolutely masterful story by Rudyard Kipling in which two hack writers pursue different careers, one moving onto fame as a Chaucer scholar. But a long-forgotten insult fuels a complicated, well-plotted fraud designed to ensnare a pompous ego. The wonderful thing about "Dayspring" is that just as the reader feels like he knows where it's going, Kipling unfolds another plot kink that makes perfect sense. Quite simply, a must read!

Yet another great Manguel anthology. Now I have to track down a copy of The Oxford Book of Canadian Ghost Stories!

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most often, our need for revenge is pure and simple, hard and fast. We see it over and over in the movies we watch and thenovels we read. Writers know a successful formula when they see one. However I appreciate a good revenge story when authors show the process of emotion grow and percolate inside a character over time. The true artist, I think, can create a slow burn inside of a character while on the outside change time, place and experience. We as readers get to look past the emotion of the moment, and get a more convincing glimpse of people 19s lives. The revenge does not go off with a 1CBANG! 1D, but it rises to an art form.
For William Trevor and William Faulkner, revenge isn 19t quick, and to tell you the truth, revenge isn 19t clear. In fact, it 19s very dark. In both of their stories in this anthology, I 19m not sure there is any relief in sight.
In Faulkner 19s 1CBear Hunt 1D, a proud Mississippi black man waits twenty years for his revenge on a repulsive, mean-spirited white man that terrorized him in his youth. Through the story 19s narrator named Ratliff we learned of the brutality of Faulkner 19s Mississipi - drunk KKK types to riding into black community gatherings and terrorizing random victims at gun point. In the beginning of 1CBear Hunt 1D, a whiskey fueled bigot named Provine held a gun in one hand to a colored man 19s temple while with the other hand burned a trail of holes in his collar with a lit cigarette, and there was nothing anyone was going to do about it.
That is, not until twenty years late when this same Raitliff is participating on a 1Cbear hunt 1D, and this same Provine comes down with an annoying case of the hiccups. We are not sure of Ratliff 19s motives, but he thought it would be funny to see if he could scare Provine out of his hiccups. He sent him on a midnight hike through the forest to a nearby Indian village for a remedy knowing full well the hostile feelings Indians harbored towards the white man. Jaja. This was going to be funny, he must have thought.
Jaja. What Raitliff didn 19t think about, or know about, was Provine 19s history with the black servant of one of the hunters. Ash was a quiet ex-soldier that drew little attention to himself. Ash, the same black man who suffered Provine 19s drunken assault twenty years earlier takes off in the darkness to settle his score. That 19s right, Provine is going to get the scare of his life, but he doesn 19t know from whom.
Faukner never really details the rage, violence, and/or retribution in the darkness, but that 19s why the story works. Everyone is left grinding. Everyone gets what they deserve.
The other William 19s story is equally as uncomfortable. In 1CTorridge, 1D the school geek in an English private school takes all the abuse thrown his way and does little to defend himself or fight back. For most of his youth, he literally becomes a kickball of his closest friends. They build themselves up at his expense. They joke about him. They play pranks about him. They talk about him behind his back. Because Torridge took it, I suppose, his friends seem to rationalize their cruelty. He didn 19t complain, then. And he didn 19t complain, now.
That 19s why they like him. These jerks grow up remembering Torridge 19s shortcomings, and forgetting their own. Trevor builds the story over the next twenty years; as each of these guys becomes fat and middle aged, they develop fantasies of their past. They all look to their times with Torridge as the time they wielded their most power. They got away with everything. When they plan a reunion of sorts with their families in tow, they look forward to seeing their school chum once again. They 19ve developed a legend in their minds that they 19ve shared with their wives and kids. Here, Trevor is at his most brilliant. Where Faulkner settled his score under the moonlight, Trevor creates the most typical of family settings, with white tablecloths, wine cocktails, and smiling kids. Torridge shows up not so different from the expectations of his school mates. Everyone there is ready to pick up where they left off. The families who have been hearing stories about Torridge are primed to be entertained.
But Instead of reaffirming the stories everyone wanted to hear, Torridge provided them with the most brutal truth that shames everyone within the range of his voice. Dryly, he makes implications of his companions 19 sexuality with the story of a homo friend who hanged himself. The wives recoil in horror. The kids stare at their dads in disbelief.
Is is Hamlet who said, Revenge is a dish best served cold? Torridge shows know signs of animosity or bitterness, but he cuts and slices his friends up without drawing a drop of blood. In Trevor 19s world, everyone suffers. Only Torridge walks away.

[Djrmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The important thing to keep in mind when reading this collection is that the subtitle is "Great Stories of Revenge", not Stories of Great Revenge. As Manguel points out in his introduction, ...."there are many different types of revenge...", and it soon becomes apparent that what one culture calls revenge, I might call justice. A few of the stories go to the darker extremes, such as Henrik Von Kleist's "The Foundling" (so over the top, you'll think it was written by Alexadre Dumas); and August Derketh's "Miss Epperson" where the crime goes on and on but the retribution is swift. All of the writing is good (even the Faulkner story that I had to force myself to read), and this is a great way to get a taste of the darker side of some of the world's better and lesser known authors.