Bill Ectric King

mysticism & science

The Modern Weird Tale

I’m really enjoying The Modern Weird Tale (McFarland, 2001) a critical study by S. T. Joshi of post-World War II writers of horror and the supernatural. In order to get back quickly to the book, I’m going to cheat in this blog entry and copy the blurb from the back of the book:

Joshi’s primary purpose is to establish a canon of weird literature, and to distinguish the genuinely meritorious writers of the past fifty years from those who have obtained merely transient popular renown. Accordingly, Joshi regards the complex, subtle work of Shirley Jackson, Ramsey Campbell, Robert Aickman, T.E.D. Klein, and Thomas Ligotti as considerably superior to the best-sellers of Stephen King, Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and Anne Rice. Other writers such as William Peter Blatty, Thomas Tryon, Robert Bloch, and Thomas Harris are also discussed.

Actor-turned-Writer Thomas Tryon. Seen here with Carol Ohmart in The Scarlet Hour, Tryon went on to write The Other, Harvest Home, Lady, and more.

Above: Actor-turned-Writer Thomas Tryon, with Carol Ohmart in The Scarlet Hour. Tryon went on to write The Other, Harvest Home, Lady, and more.

Bill Ectric

3 responses to “The Modern Weird Tale”

  1. Weird Fiction is Thriving on the Vine | Bill Ectric’s Place

    […] Gaiman, I see on Galleycat that “the journal will maintain a ‘symbiotic relationship’ with S.T. Joshi’s print journal, The Weird Fiction Review.” This is a very good […]

  2. Bill Ectric Avatar
    Bill Ectric

    Don’t feel bad, Dominic, I wouldn’t have know who they were either if I wasn’t reading the Joshi book. By the way, I don’t agree with everything Joshi says. Some things, yes, but not everything.

  3. dominic Avatar
    dominic

    I fared uselessly at this. I only got one and it was wrong. I thought the Shirley Jackson was an atypical photo of Sylvia Plath.
    (My only excuse is that I recently trod on my glasses and am waiting for a replacement pair).

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