Summoned to the Seance
Spirit Tales From Beyond The Veil -Edited by Emily Vincent
It not really clear if there is such a genre as 'Seance Fiction', distinct from Ghost Stories or Weird / Horror Tales. A common theme would be a seance with a medium, or perhaps someone using a planchette to make a deliberate attempt to contact the Dead. But even then not all the writings on offer here meet the definition.
This collection includes work by the famous;Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G.Wells and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Also by the forgotten, Lettice Galbraith, Florence Marryat, Emma Frances Dawson. There is a gender balance amongst those selected. Emily Vincent's Introduction is extremely informative and probably could have been longer. I would like to have read more concerning how the above selections were made. Were they chosen for literary merit or historical interest?
Ms Vincent offers some insight via her Introduction and pieces explaining the background to each individual tale. Considering how Spiritualism emerged from the spirit rapping of the Fox Sisters in 1848 through to the post World War 1 mass grieving, with the bereaved trying to find solace by being in touch with the other world. Ms Vincent mentions how scientists such as Sir Oliver Lodge and William Crookes were Spiritualists.Also there is a mention of how women could be mediums. It would be great to read her views concerning how Spiritualism connected to radicalism, and to the emergence of interest in Eastern mysticism. Also looking at the class background of Spiritualism- was the movement some sort of 'alternative religion' to the existing churches?
It's not a surprise to have Dickens included with Well Adjusted Rappings (1858). After all Dickens's A Christmas Carol is perhaps the most famous ghost story in the English language. And his short story The Signalman has become a major text for modern day Hauntology . Well Adjusted Rappings explores the banality of so much alleged contact with spirits, and is jolly funny. An extract from Robert Browning's Mr Sludge,(1864) a savage attack on the most controversial medium of the era, Daniel Dunglass Home, is slightly off-kilter. Home is the one medium nobody so far has managed to bust.The 'paranormal' events he generated via his trance workings have not been sufficiently explained. H.G.Wells contribution even references Mr Sludge in the chapter from Love and Mr. Lewisham (1899). As H G Wells had the dubious honour of being allegedly contacted by a medium during a seance who assumed he was already dead, his piece is more on the sceptical side.
Lettice Galbraith's In the Séance Room (1893) and Seance (1940) by Olga. L. Rosmanith are quite pro-feminist tales of women out for revenge against abusive men via a Spiritualist channel. At first this reader was unsure about the inclusion of F.Scott Fitzgerald but his short story The I.O.U ( written in 1922 but only published in 2017) is humorous but also a ruthless exposure of a Spiritualist who attempts to exploit post -World War 1 grief. By contrast Katherine Drake's The Séance at Radley Manor : A Warning (1926), is a Christian depiction of Spiritualism as dangerous, leading to deception, misery and even insanity.
Probably the most unusual offering is Arthur Conan Doyle's Playing With Fire (1900). Conan Doyle was a late convert to Spiritualism. Playing with Fire seems to get very near to magical working, emphasising how thought can materialise into an actual form via a seance type setting. With quite alarming results. Strangely incomplete and inconclusive. The Light of Pentraginy (1897) by Elizabeth D'Espérance, is about a girl with second sight, set in a fishing village in Cornwall and is quite a charming though tragic story. Not a medium or seance in sight. But included as the author was a leading Spiritualist herself.
Overall, an important collection with a range of writings from the 1850's through to 1940. Not necessarily the greatest literature, but demonstrates how Spiritualism motivated or even inspired the writers of this era. Quite a demanding read at times but extremely worthwhile.
Links
British Library Publishing Tales of the Weird series
Other posts from this blog
The Mina Scarletti Mysteries A series of novels set in 1870's Brighton with plenty of seance and medium busting.
Other blogs from this writer
Instagram Mr bleak
I am trying to update news about this blog and other 19th century history on Bluesky : Do join me.
Michael Bully @bleakchesneywold.bsky.social
Comments
Post a Comment