The Book Tower

Christmas is the time for a classic ghost story. At least in my mind it is, probably because I can remember the BBC’s Ghost Stories for Christmas always just starting as I was being led up to bed on Christmas Eve as a child. Later I remember reading ghost stories and finding something cosy about them; they weren’t really frightening in any way and I would associate them with the typical atmosphere of being safely snuggled up, the curtains drawn and a fire glowing. In adult life, add to the mix a glass of port and a fine cigar.

Here’s a passage from possibly the classic Christmas ghost story:

‘by this time you will fully understand, sir,’ he said, ‘that what troubles me so dreadfully is the question, What does the spectre mean?’
I was not sure, I told him, that I did fully understand.
‘What is it warning against?’ he said, ruminating, with his eyes on the fire, and only by times turning them on me. ‘What is the danger? There is danger overhanging, somewhere on the line. Some dreadful calamity will happen. It is not to be doubted this third time, after what has gone before. But surely this is a cruel haunting of me. What can I do?’

Can you guess what it is? Clue: if you were a child in the 1970s and were allowed to stay up and watch Ghost Stories for Christmas, think of Denholm Elliott in the role of the troubled man.

Comments [4]

Stop reading now if you’re bored with the whole Rachel Cooke and Susan Hill and John Sutherland debate. I’d read countless blog posts criticising Cooke’s views before I decided to go and read her original article for myself. Now I’ve read it I think it’s time I added my own tuppence worth.

Continue reading From One Disgruntled Pooter [3]

After reading the opening chapter of A Christmas Carol last night I considered that, like many of us, Ebenezer Scrooge lives in a comfort zone. He is comforted not just by the rewards of his avarice, but by his introverted existence; the locked doors and closed rooms of his friendless life (darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it).

When Marley’s ghost visits Scrooge he is disturbed most by the spirit’s restlessness and endless roaming. To be so unsettled and unset in one’s ways troubles him greatly:

“Seven years dead,” mused Scrooge. “And travelling all the time?”
“The whole time,” said the Ghost. “No rest, no peace. Incessant torture of remorse.”

Continue reading Scrooge and Marley