Nightshade: 20th Century Ghost Stories

by Robert S. Phillips (Editor/Introduction/Contributor), Ilse Aichinger (Contributor), Ellen Glasgow (Contributor)

A riveting collection of spectral chills and ghostly tales by twenty-seven masters of twentieth-century literature. The phantasms, shades, and specters in this volume of ghost stories by contemporary writers like Alison Lurie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Joyce Carol Oates, and William Trevor as well as such modern literary giants as Henry James, Isak Dinesen, Franz Kafka, and Rudyard Kipling write letters, carry lanterns, ride bicycles, patrol halls, run motorboats, rake leaves, and deliver mail. They also inhabit dolls and sticks of furniture. Some of them merely haunt houses, while others invade the darkest corners of the soul. Throughout this expertly edited collection, a companion to Robert Phillips's equally successful anthology, the very popular Omnibus of 20th Century Ghost Stories, writers as distinctive of their decade as Edith Wharton and Muriel Spark or the incomparable Max Beerbohm and the up-and-coming Max Eberts explore the literary possibilities of the classic ghost story to deliver taut suspense, psychological terror, and eerie mystery. The irresistible mix of chills and artistry, of terror and genius, make every tale in this volume worth the visit.

CONTENTS
Ghosts On The Lake by Ilse Aichinger
Sonata For Harp And Bicycle by Joan Aiken
Enoch Soames by Max Beerbohm
The Happy Autumn Fields by Elizabeth Bowen
Oh Father, Father, Why Have You Come Back? by John Cheever
Dead Women's Things by Kathy Chwedyk
The Upper Berth by F. Marion Crawford
The Supper At Elsinore by Isak Dinesen
Lost Lives by Max Eberts
The Shadowy Third by Ellen Glasgow
A Shape Of Light by William Goyen
W.S. by L.P. Hartley
The Astral Body of a U.S. Mail Truck by James Leo Herlihy
The Bus by Shirley Jackson
The Friends Of The Friends by Henry James
Blumfeld, An Elderly Bachelor by Franz Kafka
"They" by Rudyard Kipling
The Highboy by Alison Lurie
The Ghosts Of August by Gabriel García Márquez
The Doll by Joyce Carol Oates
Wolfie by Robert Phillips
A Spiritualist by Jean Rhys
Owl by Elizabeth Spencer
A Gracious Rain by Christopher Tilghman
Mr. Acland's Ghost by William Trevor
The Leaf-Sweeper by Muriel Spark
Pomegranate Seed by Edith Wharton

Genres: Short Stories, Horror, Fiction, Ghosts, Fantasy, Anthologies

466 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

American poet, author and editor, usually publishes under the name Robert Phillips.

Robert S. Phillips was born 1938 in Milford, Delaware and is the author or editor of some 30 volumes of poetry, fiction, criticism, and belles lettres and publishes in numerous journals. A graduate of Syracuse University's creative writing program, he is currently (May 2007) a professor of English at the University of Houston; he was also director of the Creative Writing Program there from 1991 to 1996. His honors include a 1996 Enron Teaching Excellence Award, a Pushcart Prize, an American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, a New York State Council on the Arts CAPS Grant in Poetry, MacDowell Colony and Yaddo Fellowships, a National Public Radio Syndicated Fiction Project Award, a Syracuse University Arents Pioneer Medal, and Texas Institute of Letters membership. In 1998 he was named a John and Rebecca Moore Scholar at the University of Houston.
[Portions of biographical sketch taken from Mr. Phillips' faculty home page at the University of Houston, http://www.uh.edu/cwp/faculty/phillip..., retrieved 11 May 2007.]

Source

Reviews

[Shawn]

PLACEHOLDER REVIEWS

In Edith Wharton's "Pomegranate Seed", newlywed Charlotte Ashby is bothered and puzzled by the occasional letters her husband Kenneth receives from an unknown source, addressed in a feminine hand. Could it be an old entanglement? Or is he seeing another woman? Finally succumbing to the desire to ask her husband, the discussion reveals nothing and goes nowhere, as he is deliberately obfuscatory... I read this years ago - it's an anthology perennial, just the kind of story to baffle a child looking for something scary, as it deals with adult relationships and expectations. Having said that, it may be a tad overwritten, or at least "extended" a bit more than it needs. Interesting.

[P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

If like me you read a lot of spooky story collections, you will come across the same stories every so often. But it's okay. If you're like me and don't have the best memory for the plot points of what you've read years before, it's almost like reading it for the first time with a slight sense of deja vu. Nightshade is a solid collection of "ghost" stories from "classic" writers of the 20th century, so... Joyce Carol Oates, Shirley Jackson, Franz Kafka, etc., and as such it provides a lot of variety concerning what is or is not a ghost, and it has a lot of slow burns, and that's why it's a successful collection, if you're like me.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite its promising line-up of well-known authors, this anthology is completely forgettable. The stories are almost all banal and over-written. They don't work as short stories, let alone as ghost stories. Not recommended.

[E.B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun stories

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, good mix of stories, would get it again around Halloween.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nightshade is an interesting combination of varying length ghost stories. Some of the stories were tens of pages long, some were only two pages long. Just as they varied in length, they varied in my enjoyment. Though I read through all of the stories, some really bored me. I think part of the reason was that some were more literary for literary sake, rather than frightening or enjoyable ghost stories. Others, though, were great, such as The Highboy, which was about a haunted and evil piece of furniture. The book had a nice combination of authors from various backgrounds and writing subjects, some rather famous such as Franz Kafka and Ray Bradbury. Most of the authors I had never heard of, though that isn't saying much.
Overall, there were probably more good stories than bad, but it was close.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a mixture of good stories and so-so stories in this collection. It certainly whetted my appetite for ghost stories with the opening two stories, first about a motorboat that would never stop running, keeping its owner trapped driving around the lake, and second, a charming story about two lovers trapped inside an office building, never able to meet each other. From there, it varied greatly, some stories that I just didn't get and others that were delightful.

It's definitely worth a read, but got a little tedious at times. Three stars.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's fair to say that this collection of ghost stories has something for everyone. The unfortunate downside of that is it also has something that everyone will hate. I thought there were some excellent stories in here (particularly those by Aiken, Jackson, and Lurie) - but there were some as dull as ditchwater, and I stand amazed that they were ever published at all, let alone gathered up for reprints.

[Lisa Greer · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far... okay. I am hanging in there. I had to quit the first story because it was bad and boring. But I'll keep reading and see where it ends up...

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of ghost stories from some of the 20th centuries best authors, including Joyce Carol Oates and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

[Daisy]

Adding this not because Halloween is approaching but because I've just heard of Ilse Aichinger -- and look at the other contributors.

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disapointing collection of ghost stories.