A Good, Short, Ghost Story!

[Log]

http://voxday.blogspot.com/2012/04/deported.html

A thought provoking experience. I was pleasantly surprised; the author is a (self-acknowledged) narcissistic jerk.

The subtext I perceive is this question: when does the degree of improbability attaching to specified events tip over into awareness of intelligent intervention?

[Kenngo1969]

You're right, Log. It was quite good. The author invited his readers to guess in whose style it was wriitten, and as I was reading some of the names thrown out in the comments afterward, I had given up hope of recognizing the style. I don't read enough of that genre to be familiar with most of those names, but when the correct guess was made I realized that, yes, in fact I have read the author which this author strove to imitate.

[Log]

I have not read Guy de Maupassant, myself.

[volgadon]

I have not read Guy de Maupassant, myself.

You should. One of my favourite authors. His short stories are very good at showing up hypocrisy and self-righteous, they arfe also very entertaining. If it weren't for Maupassant, then no Chekhov, no Saki, no Maugham, etc., etc.,.

[Calm]

I was thinking of Saki, but only in a general way. Figured it could be him if it was supposed to be a close match. I will have to check out Maupassant.

add-on: looks like lots of options for him on the Open Library...

http://openlibrary.org/search?q=maupassant&has_fulltext=true

Edited April 12, 2012 by calmoriah

[volgadon]

I was thinking of Saki, but only in a general way. Figured it could be him if it was supposed to be a close match. I will have to check out Maupassant.

add-on: looks like lots of options for him on the Open Library...

http://openlibrary.o...s_fulltext=true

Saki is one of my absolute favorites. My grandmother gave me a collection of his stories many years ago and I still have it, worn and battered as it is. No exaggeration, but I think I've read it 50 times.

As for Maupassant, some stories I recommend would be Ball of Fat; In the Wood; How He Got the Legion of Honour; A Vagabond; The Mountebanks; The Devil; The Debt; That Pig of a Morin; The Necklace; The Venus of Braniza; A Family; Love; Mademoiselle Fifi.

Some of the stories such as Ball of Fat, the Vagabond, the Mountebanks, and the Devil are shocking accounts of human vice, cruelty and hypocrisy. The Venus of Braniza shows not only the deletrious effects of spousal neglect, but also of teaching that man is hopelessly wicked. Like Ball of Fat, Mademoiselle Fifi and the Debt feature prostitutes who deep down do have integrity and moral impulses. The Debt is particularly moving when it relates the story of self-sacrifice, compassion and gratitude. In the Wood is much lighter, but still very touching.

[Log]

You should. One of my favourite authors. His short stories are very good at showing up hypocrisy and self-righteous, they arfe also very entertaining. If it weren't for Maupassant, then no Chekhov, no Saki, no Maugham, etc., etc.,.

I am comparatively uncultured and uneducated, apparently.

[volgadon]

I am comparatively uncultured and uneducated, apparently.

No, I'm just a nerd. But I do recommend all the above-mentioned authors.

[LDS_RM]

I know a ghost story, and I also know it is true or rather I have a firm testimony it is true. And it gives me the willies typing these few sentences about it.