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The Old Weird: Series Introduction
Over my long Christmas break, I decided to read some H. P. Lovecraft. Of course, I’d read a few Lovecraft stories here and there in anthologies, but I’d never read his work in any systematic way. I found a great complete (?) works e-text at Cthulhu Chick and started reading. It contains 63 short stories, novelettes, and novellas. As you can imagine, one can only read so many Lovecraft stories in a row before (1) the plots all start to run together or (2) one begins to question his or her own sanity. Between reading Lovecraft stories, I did what any good English professor does: Research! This led me to a host of Lovecraft precursors and contemporaries who wrote ghost, occult and supernatural stories—the writers of Victorian Gothic, horror and weird. I’m calling this series The Old Weird in order to show the readers that this will not be a blog dedicated to China Miéville and contemporary writers. In my exploration of the Old Weird, I discovered texts by William Hope Hodgson, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Robert W. Chambers, Seabury Quinn, M. R. James, and many others which I will explore as they set forth the parameters for the occult and horror stories that thrill us today.
Mini-Series: The Occult Detective
I want to begin this series with a mini investigation that looks at a specific type of character, the occult detective. Before Scooby and the gang investigated false hauntings, before Kolchak was the Night Stalker, and before Jim Butcher wrote The Dresden Files, there were many occult detectives whose adventures appeared in British and American periodicals like Cavalier, Pearson’s, The Idler and Weird Tales. When I started researching this topic, I was amazed at the number of supernatural and occult detectives that were appearing in print in the years between 1850 and 1930. Several websites have helped me track down the names of detectives and their texts. The most helpful have been:
- Wikipedia
- Tim Prasil’s Chronological Bibliography of Early Occult Detectives
- Pulp and Adventure Heroes of the Pre-War Years by Jess Nevin
Also, Larry Latham at Lovecraft is Missing has a series on Occult Detectives, which stretches to the present. I even found a dissertation by Sage Leslie-McCarthy, which I will be reading with great care because I don’t want any of the mysteries revealed to me before I read the primary texts. Of course, I will have the same consideration for my readers. I will not reveal the mystery’s solution or whether the occult occurrence is real or staged (unless, of course, the text itself reveals this early).
I plan to proceed in more or less chronological order (based on Tim Prasil’s site and a list I compiled). I will look particularly at series and books rather than single stories. Since many of these novels and stories are hard to find, my blog will discuss the original publications and the availability of print and e-texts. As I proceed though the list, I will try to make comparisons between the detectives and their approaches to the occult and to the mystery.
So… first up will be The Notting Hill Mystery (1862) by Charles Felix (pseudonym of Charles Warren Adams) and The Dead Letter (1866) by Seeley Regester (pseudonym of Metta Victoria Fuller Victor).
6 Comments
I’m very much looking forward to this! As I discovered compiling my Chronological Bibliography, trying to pin down what qualifies as an occult detective is sometimes tough and always open to debate. (In fact, I disagree with some of Sage Leslie-McCarthy’s choices, but that’s a very valuable resource.)
I found it helpful to begin to break down the character type into more specific categories: the novice-detective, the doctor-detective, and the clairvoyant-detective. The latter might not even pursue supernatural phenomenon, but s/he uses a supernatural means of detection.
Thanks for the mention, and I certainly hope you might clue me into a few more of the early occult detectives!
This sounds great! Check out Lovecraft’s essay “Supernatural Horror in Literature” for his own take on his influences…
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/essays/shil.asp
Thanks, Tim. Your website is great and very helpful!
Scott, I’ve glanced at it. It seems to me that Lovecraft gives away a lot of plot in his analysis, so I’ve saved it to read after I’ve read Dunsay, et. al. If I am wrong about this let me know–I just hate to have endings ruined.
After years of hearing music, art and literature referred to as ‘Lovecraftian’ I’ve also recently started to read Lovecraft (from the same source as you). I’ll look forward to your updates with some interest.
Somehow this post slipped through my observation net! I’m also looking forward to this series!
I’m busy reading S.T. Joshi’s magnificent Penguin collection of Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories. Apart from “The Hound” I’ve never really read Lovecraft seriously, despite the many references and influences I’ve been exposed to with some of my favorite authors, such as Wolfe (in particular An Evil Guest) and Miéville. It will be very cool to delve deeper into the occult influences in “dark fiction.”
I’ve inherited a wonderfully old hardcover first edition collection of Algernon Blackwood from my grandparents, but sadly never got round to reading it. Perhaps with this series I might just do so.
Emil.
The only thing I’ve read by Blackwood is Carnacki, The Ghost Finder, which is one of the two books that made me want to write this series. My Carnacki blog will appear later. I’m working through some precursors first. I look forward to reading more Blackwood.
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