Green Tea and Other Ghost Stories

LeFanu is highly thought of by a lot of horror aficionados, so I was exciting to have a chance to read this book. Dover’s edition is not the full volume that was published in the 40s; this book has four stories in it. “Green Tea” is the tale of a man haunted because he’s overstimulated his brain and body with, well, green tea; a demon of sorts follows him everywhere. “Squire Toby’s Will” is the tale of a father and two sons, and what happens when a parent favors one child too much over the other, creating hatred that transcends the grave. “The Fortunes of Robert Ardagh” and “Sir Dominic’s Bargain” are both deals with the devil tales, the second being a superior story. ‘Ardagh’ fails to deliver the creepiness for some reason.

LeFanu’s prose is lovely, if slow, to read. It comes from the era where something being ‘a fast read’ wasn’t a concern. It’s ornamental and lyrical in high Gothic manner. It creates an air of extreme tension in ‘Green Tea’, and dread in the others. If you like old school horror, try these tales.

If I mention Poe, Lovecraft, or Bierce, I end up having a long conversation on them but if I mention Le Fanu sometimes I get "who"? It is really a shame as he was a master of the gothic tale and his tales are just as wonderful as the other masters of classic horror. His stories are always original, and I love the style of writing. it takes a little getting used to but it worth it. I have to admit that I took my time with this one and read the stories late at night. Don't miss these wonderful tales of gothic horror. I received a copy of this book via the publishers and Netgalley for free in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the treat.

The Victorians wrote some of the best ghost stories still in print, and Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was widely considered to be one of the best tellers of the ghost tale ever to put pen to paper. Novels like Uncle Silas. Carmilla (which I read last year), and The House by the Churchyard are some of his best and best-known writings, but Le Fanu also wrote dozens of shorter stories, Gothic tales and supernatural mysteries, hauntings and deals with the devil. Four of the best have been collected in a slim Dover Thrift Editon for years now; in the mood to rekindle the long-lost past-time of telling ghost stories around yuletide, it's one of two ghost story collections by Dover I picked up.

The first story, "Green Tea" (1872), spends a bit too much time on setup before arriving at a very interesting idea. It's one of the stories about occult detective Dr Hesselius, who is approached by a preacher with a unique affliction: wherever he goes, he's followed by a spectral demon that takes the form of a dark, red-eyed monkey. It's even began to speak to him, urging him to evil deeds and shrieking during his sermons, and the man is having trouble holding it together. Is this patient doomed by the sinister apparition---or is there a more mundane explanation for his visions? There's a bit of pseudo-scientific babble here, but it shows Le Fanu's keen psychological insight and subtle ability to build dread. It was called one of the best ghost stories at the time, and remains a decent tale.

The next one is not just one I prefer, it's one of my faves. "Squire Toby's Will" (1868) has the Gothic atmosphere and eerie creep-factor that Le Fanu does best. When Squire Toby Marston passes on, he leaves his manor not to his eldest son---the disfigured, and subsequently hostile Scroope---and instead, younger son Handsome Charlie inherits the estate. The two brothers get to feuding, and by the end, Scroope's lost everything in court fees, and while Charlie retains the ancestral home, he's also crippled in a hunting accident. A few months later, living in the old manor with but a few of his father's loyal servants, he finds a strange but subservient dog moping around. The head butler urges him to destroy the animal, but Charlie enjoys its subservience and takes it into his care. And that's when his dreams turn to nightmares, and images of his brother and dead father surround the strange hound... A creepy and effective story, with some interesting developments and a rich atmosphere of ancestral decay.

"The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh" is the first of two consecutive tales featuring deals with the devil, and the inevitable downfall that such deals lead to. Robert Ardagh is an Irish lord with a penchant for gambling; he always seems to win, based on a Faustian bargain he's made with a mysterious stranger. When the stranger returns to Ardagh's castle, he brings ruin in his wake. There's some good atmosphere here, set in the Gothic castle in rural Ireland; it's a fascinating twice-told-tale where Le Fanu first tells the "traditional" legend before telling a more intimate version "authenticated by human testimony." That makes the tale intentionally enigmatic, withholding or obscuring some necessary facts.

"Sir Dominick's Bargain" is a bit too similar to the preceding story, which is a shame as it's the better of the two. Our unnamed protagonist is traveling through Ireland, stopping at a wayside inn to rest his horses. A curious chap, he spends part of the afternoon inspecting the dilapidated ruins of a manor-house, wherein he finds a hunchback who tells its ancient story---the tale of Sir Dominick, a man falling into debt. In desperation, Sir Dominick agreed to serve the devil for seven years, after having the devil serve him for seven years first. As the end of the first seven years draws to a close, Sir Dominick attempts to evade his end of the bargain---but these deals always have strings attached, and escape does not come easy. Another tale with lush atmosphere---here, the Irish wilds and the ruined estate---as well as a fine sense of eerie unease and a chilling twist. It's one of the finest ghost stories of its time.

If you're familiar with writers like Robert Chambers, Algernon Blackwood, or M. R. James but have yet to read anything by Le Fanu, you really ought to pick up one of his volumes and see what you're missing. Jumping into Victorian lit can be a sharp change of pace for modern readers, but the Victorians had such beautiful finesse when handling dark Gothic themes. And Le Fanu remains one of the best, his atmosphere rich and decadent, his settings eerie, his mysteries left unexplained---as it should be.

A collection of four long short stories by the great Victorian writer most known for his ghost stories though he did write over a dozen Gothic novels. I like LeFanu though I've only been reading him for the last few years. He's a bit hit and miss with me. I love his signature ghost stories, his stories of the macabre and those that fall under the label Gothic. His writing can be a bit too descriptive for my tastes and some topics too metaphysical for my likes, but I'll always give him a go. This collection is a good sampling of what he has to offer, especially if you are not familiar with him. It's certainly not a "Best of" but does showcase some different plots (as I've mentioned) and lengths of his tales.

1. Green Tea (1869)- Well, I can't say I'm too taken with this one. A man starts seeing a little monkey, who eventually gets aggressive and speaks telling him what to do. (an imp? a demon?). A doctor believes it to be some sort of spiritual manifestation which we bring upon ourselves and in this case, the man opened his sight to this world through overdrinking green tea. Weird and strange but not in a way that entertained me. (2/5)

2. Squire Toby's Will: A Ghost Story (1868) - Now this is more like it! Much too dense of a tale to summarize but briefly; an old Squire prefers his youngest son over his eldest, he's a drunken, hateful old man and dies the same. Leaving his almost impoverished estate to his youngest brings about a vicious feud between the brothers, but in his death, the old Squire seems to have seen the error of his ways toward his eldest but hasn't lost his meanness. He haunts his youngest son and after an accident, the eldest joins him and the youngest lives a life of terror haunted by these nasty ghosts. Very well done. (5/5)

3. The Fortune's of Sir Robert Ardagh, Being a Second Extract from the Papers of the late Father Purcell (1838) - This is more of a Gothic ghost story with an old atmospheric house and a dark, moody, brooding man. The first half of the story is a narrative of the legend of Sir Ardagh's mysterious reclusive life and strange death while the second half is a retelling of the truth from an eyewitness of his real life, how he became reclusive and his strange death. The truth is very different from the legend and yet each is no stranger nor mysterious than the other. This is all very creepy with no explanations whatever, which I wish there were. (4/5)

4. Sir Dominick's Bargain: A Legend of Dunoran (1872) - This is the shortest story in the collection but LeFanu is a master dramatist at filling his tales to overflowing with plots. A bit of a tale within a tale, our narrator comes upon a rundown house in the woods and meets an old hunchback who proceeds to tell him a story of the last owner of the house, a man who sold his soul to the devil. The beginning is a bit too flowery with description for my tastes but once the plot gets underway LeFanu has me in his hands. (3/5)