Riju Ganguly’s Reviews > Best Ghost Stories of J.S. Le Fanu > Status Update

"Carmilla" had been read and re-read by me on so many occasions that there was no particular need to go through it in this book separately. It IS a CLASSIC, and allows a reader to notice newer things and ask newer questions. For example, what is the significance of the heroine being one of the Karnsteins on a distant basis? Why did Le Fanu chose Styria as the background? Who was Carmilla's mysterious companion?

"Carmilla" had been read and re-read by me on so many occasions that there was no particular need to go through it in this book separately. It IS a CLASSIC, and allows a reader to notice newer things and ask newer questions. For example, what is the significance of the heroine being one of the Karnsteins on a distant basis? Why did Le Fanu chose Styria as the background? Who was Carmilla's mysterious companion?

Finished "Mr. Justice Harbottle". Le Fanu gives retribution a new meaning in this novella, as things slowly pile up against the vain & vindictive judge, flipping it all over in a dramatic finale.

Went past "Green Tea" and "The Familiar". The former excellent, the latter somewhat hesitant. Words are used precisely to build-up the atmosphere as realistically as possible, but the mumbo-jumbo pronounced by Dr. Hesselius were utter rubbish, and spoiled the old-fashioned charm that had been built up in the preceding passages. Also, his rather callous attitude towards the traumatised persons was quite reprehensible.

Succeeded in dragging myself through "The Haunted Baronet". God, this tale could have been told at one-fourth (or even lesser) length of the original, unless, of course, the great Le Fanu had to assume the role of pulp-style authors who got to be paid on the basis of word-count. How could an accomplished wordsmith keep on writing such stuff for pages & pages? But of course, I am not qualified enough to comment, am I?

Completed re-reading two more of the all-time best horror & ghost stories ("Schalken The Painter" and "Madam Crowl's Ghost"), and found them literally skin-crawlingly horrific, even after so-many re-reads.