Thrawn Janet

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Thrawn Janet is a short story written by Robert Louis Stevenson. The story follows the character of a young man named Archie Weir, who has been sent to work as a shepherd in the Scottish countryside. While there, he becomes acquainted with a woman named Thrawn Janet, who is known to be a witch by the locals.As Archie spends more time with Thrawn Janet, he begins to notice strange occurrences happening around him. He becomes increasingly convinced that Thrawn Janet is indeed a witch and that she is using her powers to harm him and those around him.The story is a classic tale of superstition and fear, set against the backdrop of the Scottish countryside. It explores themes of belief, morality, and the power of the unknown. With its vivid descriptions and haunting imagery, Thrawn Janet is a gripping read that is sure to leave a lasting impression on readers.THIS 24 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE Stories by English Authors Scotland, by Robert Louis Stevenson. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1417900334.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Horror, Gothic, Fiction, 19th Century, Audiobook

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1881

About the author

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of English literature. He was greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling and Vladimir Nabokov.

Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their narrow definition of literature. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson's popularity and allow him a place in the Western canon.

Reviews

[Eloy Cryptkeeper · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Janet venía bajando por la aldea —ella o alguien que se le parecía, nadie podría decirlo con certeza— con el cuello torcido y la cabeza colgándole a un lado, como un cuerpo que ha sido ahorcado, y una sonrisa en el rostro como la de un cadáver sin enterrar"

"—¡Bruja, diablo! —gritó—, te ordeno en nombre de Dios que te vayas a la tumba si estás muerta o al Infierno si estás condenada"

3.5*
Una interesante historia sobre Brujería y posesión.
En ciertos aspectos parece también evocar algún proceso de zombificación(original).
*Fue el primer cuento de este gran autor escocés en ser publicado

[Janete on hiatus due health issues · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a plain horror tale for me. It was an OK reading for me. Audiobook in Portuguese.

Wikipedia: "Thrawn Janet" is a short story, written in Scots, by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. He wrote the story in the summer of 1881 while he stayed at the rented Kinnaird Cottage in Kinnaird, a hamlet near Pitlochry, with his parents and wife. When he read the story to his wife Fanny, she said of it that it "sent a cauld grue [shudder] along my bones" and "fair frightened" Stevenson himself. It was first published in the October 1881 issue of the Cornhill Magazine. It is a dark tale of satanic possession.

The story was later included in Stevenson's 1887 collection The Merry Men, and Other Tales and Fables.

In 1712, a newly graduated preacher arrives in a small town, and hires Janet, an old crone, as his housekeeper—a woman whom many of the townspeople believe to be in league with the devil. When some of the local women attempt to dunk Janet in the river to prove that she is a witch, the preacher rescues her and has her abjure the devil before them. From the next day forward, Janet's appearance is altered; she has a thrawn (twisted) neck, with her head on one side, like someone who has been hanged. Later, after an encounter with a strange "black man" in the churchyard, the preacher finds Janet's corpse hanging by a thread from a nail in her room. He is pursued by the dead woman's body, until he invokes the power of God. The body turns to ash, and the black man, believed to be the devil, leaves town. Thereafter, the preacher often frightens his flock with the intensity of his admonitions against the forces of evil."

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story, but not quick read. Stevenson wrote this in Scottish dialect and it took reading aloud and slow going to get through it. It is a story of evil and possession, and while well-written, not my cup of tea.

However, with the reading of it I have finished the 50 short stories compiled by Milton Crane and enjoyed them with few exceptions.

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lovely story written by Stevenson in Scots dielect. If you are unfamiliar with the dielect and words be patient with it. Take it slow and enjoy the story.

[Philip · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an extremely difficult read. I could not understand the slang until more than 3/4 of the way through the book I found that it was easier to fill in my unknown words if I skimmed through rather than slowly try to figure out what each word meant. Reading aloud did not help me at all.
Although I only understood a tiny portion of the ending, this small part made the plot appear somewhat interesting.

[Steffi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich kann gar nicht sagen, ob ich die Geschichte als solche so überragend finde. Andere Bücher von Stevenson, wie The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde oder The Bodysnatcher mochte ich mehr.

Aber die Übersetzung, bei der ich vermute, dass ein schottischer Dialekt in eine Art Norddeutsch übersetzt wurde, hat mich gleichermaßen gefordert, manchmal überfordert, und doch überzeugt und entzückt.

Daher gelten meine 4 Sterne eher dieser Ausgabe als dem mir unbekannten Original.

[Cerys Acton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read this book cause it was 8 pages long and then at the end i found out it was literally written in scottish and there was a reason i didn’t understand what was going on the whole time.

[José Cruz Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly one of Stevenson’s lesser tales. I read a Spanish translation, so I didn’t have to struggle with the Scottish dialect that he used in this story.

[Ajeje Brazov · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Con tutto quello che aveva per la testa, era difficile che il reverendo Soulis riuscisse a prendere sonno. Si girava senza requie, perchè il letto fresco su cui s'era disteso sembrava una graticola per le sue carni. S'appisolava un po', ma subito dopo era desto; sentiva battere le ore, poi l'ululato d'un cane nella brughiera che sembrava annunciare la morte di qualcuno; talora gli pareva di percepire all'orecchio il brusio degli spiriti, talaltra di scorgere folletti per tutta la stanza. Pensò senza dubbio di essere malato. E malato lo era davvero... anche se non s'immaginava la natura del morbo."

[Piero Marmanillo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mis notas en Epsilon-literario.blogspot.com

Janet la torcida fue la primera obra de Stevenson que se etiqueta como novela de terror, publicada en 1881.

Qué sucedió la noche del 17 de agosto de 1712 al reverendo Murdoch Soulis es lo que nos narrará el autor tejiendo lentamente mente sobre nosotros un manto negro que al caer nos hará lanzar un grito.

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read this story three times now. There's some good elements in it, but try as I might, there is only one thing that comes to mind when I stick down to arrange my thoughts. So. . .

I have arranged my takeaway thoughts on this story into a haiku:

"Use of dialects
May enrich, but run the risk
Of pulling focus."

[Lee Foust · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a decent eerie story, but the Scots-English dialect puts it totally over the top. Just wonderful.

[Marina Di Clemente · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bellissimo racconto breve, con un'ambientazione interessante ed assolutamente consigliato per gli amanti del genere.

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story is written in Scottish dialect, and it is one of the hardest things I have ever read! At times I felt that Scottish was an entirely different language.

But. I still understood the story. I drew upon every little bit of knowledge hanging out in the back of my head from Shakespeare, the Bible, Middle English, and who knows what else. I sounded out the words in my head, and I did get it in the end, even though some words still eluded me. Even though I didn't understand every word, I was still able to understand what was happening in the story.

This is a scary story! I should have saved it for Halloween. It involves a bargain with the devil and some other creepy stuff. I still can't decide if the dialect made it spookier, because it increased the mystery, or if it kept me from having nightmares by blurring over the details.

[Stephanie | Books_and_Steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

{Rated PG-13: Demon/Devil Possession and Suicide} This short story is so heavily accented in deep Scottish language that I found it extremely hard to read. So, I hoped on YouTube and found a Scottish gentlemen who read it aloud. Granted, listened to him read it was much easier to understand than trying to read it myself, but it was at times still hard to follow. I did get the gist of the story though.... People in a small town believe that Janet is evil and is a witch. One day they try drowning her to prove that she is a witch, but a young preacher saves her and hires her to become his house keeper. And of course, strange things ensue from there. This short stay would probably be awesome, if it was easier to understand, but with the Scots language, it was a difficult one to follow.

[M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Luckily I had hardly any problem with the Scottish accent, except for the word "ken" which was used quite often. I may have to look over it again today because I read it last night in a rather sleepy state. Slightly on the creepy side. One reviewer said she felt like she kept hearing noises in her house that night and I must say I did as well. If I hadn't have been so tired it probably would have freaked me out too.

[Jo Berry ☀️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is hard to read because it’s written in broad Scots (to get you started, thrawn means twisted). However, I could just about follow the story and it’s a decent bit of folk horror set in Scotland.

[Priya · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would have probably liked this book if it has written in English.

[Fatima Zahra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old superstitions will always do it for me.
With every turn of page, the terror grew upon me, and as the narrator describes it in his old Scottish dialect; I could but hear “the dunt-dunt-duntin’” of my heart.
And although Thrawn Janet is a very short story, I struggled immensely with the language. I hardly could dissect the dialect,thus it took me an unanticipated amount of time to read it, I had to read aloud and re-read each paragraph, each sentence, and each word.
At last, my exertion did not go unrewarded, for I could admit that i enjoyed it.

[Caroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok my review might not be very fair, cause I had such a hard time understanding the story - Literally! It was very difficult for me to read. There were a couple of footnotes, but it would have been better if just the whole thing was translated.
As for the story itself, I guess it would have been creepy / scary at the time, but for me no, haha.

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think the story was good and the reason why I say, I think, is because it was just so damn hard to understand. Its like he wrote it using an extremly thick scottish accent. It was another scary story, I think.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very hard to read in the old Scotts language. I suggest reading it out loud with a scottish accent - I know it sounds ridiculous, but I understood the words better out loud. This was so freaky once I understood it, that right after reading it noises in the house were scaring me to death!

[Jacob Dicello · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this and still have no idea what it’s about since it’s written in Scottish.

[Sylvie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me think for a moment, because I'm quite lost for words.
First of all, I had no expectations of this book. I hadn't read a summary or got any idea what it would be about.
Secondly, wow this was weird.
The story is, in exception of the dialogs, fully written in a Scottish accent. Which made it very hard to read. That English isn't my first language made it even harder.
It's a story about superstition, fears and beliefs. I hoped it would go in details more about these main subjects, but it was (in my opinion) just a story about a man that meets a woman and slowly starts to believe she is a witch (the rest of village already believes this).
He starts noticing odd things about Thrawn Janet and tries to find out what that weird feeling he has is about.
It was sad to me that Stevenson didn't include clear parts of wisdom. A lot of questions are floating through my mind.

Like, were the villagers right about there immediate beliefs about Janet?
Was the man right to doubt that?
Should he have acted differently?
Should one rely on ones beliefs or superstitions?
What does death have to do with all this?
Show me what I'm supposed to feel and know!

But maybe it's just not that deep. Everyone just did what they did and this was the outcome.
I just don't know and will try to forget that, because, besides that, I still loved the way Stevenson led me through the story. Of course you should read it, it's short so why not:)

[honor · Rating 3 out of 5]

of all the gothic stories i've had to read this week, i struggled with this one the most, but i still enjoyed it! the fact that i was listening to it as an audiobook combined with the fact that the text is written in mostly scots rather than english probably didn't help. however, i still got a good idea of the plot, which was super interesting and spooky!

[Alana]

I think I’m just gonna DNF this for now because Stevenson decided to be cute and write this in a Scottish accent, so that mixed with this being written in the 19th century is uhhh not easy on my brain. The words are just all blending together on the pages, so I think I’ll leave it for another time.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

First story I've read in Scots! The language was definitely a challenge, and I relied on the footnotes and an online dictionary pretty heavily. Spooky 18th century moorland witch hunt vibes 🧙‍♀️🔮 Have a feeling that this would have hit harder with Stevenson's largely European and Christian audience, but still a great story (and challenge) to get into Spooky Season

[Mel Rose (Savvy Rose Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounding down because wow was that unnecessarily hard to read.

[Gavin Reub · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story. It's written in Scots and pretty tough to read. Would love to find a good audiobook version. I'm sure there are tons out there.

[Hustlehoff]

*an fingernägel kauen*