Russell Kirk's Christian Ghost Stories

I've been reading Russell Kirk's Ancestral Shadows collection.  The stories are chillingly full of terrible justice.  Highly recommended for the Christian supernaturalist.

Comments

[Ethan C.]

Yes, absolutely. I checked a copy out from the library, and my brother's dog promptly tore off the back cover. What a fortuitous purchase that's been!

I think the last one, "There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding," is likely the best.

[Hunter Baker]

"Uncle Isaiah" is pretty great, too.

[Andrew]

In a similar vein, don't forget about Charles Williams. All Hallows' Eve and Descent Into Hell are especially recommend.

[Beth from TN]

Oh, I just finished this the other day! If anyone is interested in a brief review, I wrote a little about it, especially what he says in his essay about "the ghostly tale," at http://inscapes.blogspot.com/2009/05/ghost-stories-by-russell-kirk.html

And Charles Williams is excellent; his novels have changed my life. I taught _Descent into Hell_ in my freshman English class this last semester, and they seemed to enjoy and learn from it. _The Greater Trumps_ will always be my favorite, however . . .

[Ethan C.]

The only Williams I've read is The Place of the Lion, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

[Hunter Baker]

I need to read Charles Williams. Haven't caught up with him, yet.

[Beth from TN]

Oh, Mr. Baker, you must! Start with either _All Hallow's Eve_ or _Descent into Hell_. I think the latter is generally considered his best work.

[Hunter Baker]

Hey, you got me, Beth! I'll move it up the list.

[Rob G]

Five years ago I did a piece on Kirk's stories for Touchstone, upon the occasion of their first complete reprinting. For anyone who's interested you'll find it here:

http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=17-05-042-b

For an interesting and enlightening contrast, I'd recommend the short stories of Thomas Ligotti, who was raised Catholic but is now a philosophical pessimist, if not exactly a nihilist. His stories, like Kirk's are subtle and well-written experiments in the "moral imagination," but they come at the thing from precisely the opposite POV theologically/philosophically speaking. Some of his best stories, minus the fantastic "Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story," are available in the recent collection "Teatro Grottesco."

[Beth from TN]

Thanks for that recommendation, Rob; I'll have to look up Ligotti. And thanks for the link to the article; I look forward to reading it. I don't remember it, so it must have been just before I started reading TS.

And Hunter, enjoy!

[Jennifer]

I've got the two volumes of Kirk's Ghost Stories that Ash Tree Press put together early in the 'aughts--Off the Sand Road and What Shadows We Pursue.

"Saviourgate" will make you weep; its dark counterpart, "Ex Tenebris", will make you shudder.

[Rob G]

Yes, Jennifer -- those are the volumes I reviewed in the Touchstone piece I linked above.