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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 7, Summer 1945

Page 158

158
FANTASY COMMENTATOR

Forgotten Creators of Ghosts

by
A. Langley Searles

III - Cecily Hallack

It has been noted by several critics, Lovecraft among them, that supernatural fiction written by authors who believe in the ghostly phenomena whereof they treat are, as a rule, less effective than stories on the same themes produced by materialists, to whom such conceptions appear awesomely impressive violations of the world's natural order. Despite the numerous striking examples which might be quoted against such a dictum, on the whole it appears to be generally true, so that veteran readers in the field who approach such works as Hallack's Candlelight Attic (1925) expecting to be disappointed usually will find that their pessimism has been justified.

Aside from the basic reason just mentioned, two others contribute to the lack the reader-response commonly encountered by tales having this background. Firstly, they all too often show a religious weft---which in itself would not be objectionable were it not almost invariably interwoven with a moral. It is simply a fact that the moral tale is completely out of fashion nowadays; didactic homilies are passe in a world where most adults read fiction for entertainment and not for allegorical instruction. Secondly, writers such as Franciscan Tertiary Cecily Hallack are forever prefacing their timid excursions into terrae incognitae either with claims that the truth of the incidents to be related is vouched for by themselves and personal friends, or else with roundabout verbiage that amounts to the same thing and which infers in addition that only the stubborn denseness of the materialistic readers addressed prevents the matter from being stated in unequivocal terms. It would be difficult to imagine a method more likely to evoke a prejudiced response, however unbiasedly such fiction is approached.

In all justice to its author, however, let it be said that evaluation of an example of supernatural fiction does not involve consideration of its parallel in reality; rather, any story of this type should be judged solely on the basis of the emotional reaction it produces in the reader, such emotional reaction being decided by the writer's success in presenting a sensation-arousing supernatural concept cloaked in that plot, development and stylistic vehicle which best suits it. Whether the author intended his work to have the effect that it does is entirely irrelevant and immaterial; the results are obviously the only criteria to be taken into account.

Weighed thus, the tales of Candlelight Attic are found to be wanting that essential "high point" which all successful weird fiction must have. Indeed, despite the claim of the book's subtitle that it contains "...Seven True Stories of the Supernatural..." it is stretching the imagination to label three of them as supernatural at all. The other four deal primarily with visitations of various sorts, and with the possible exception of "The Mind of God" are all exceedingly tame. The high ratio of coincidence to probability present also operates against these tales, so that Hallack's capable, pictorial prose, sharp characterization, and well-written conversation are completely wasted as far as followers of the outre are concerned. The plan of allowing a story to introduce itself from casual drawing-room conversation has been utilized to good effect by other writers in the genre---especially in Benson's Mirror of Shalott---but when (as here) the introductions exceed the tales proper in length such a literary device becomes more of a burden than an aid.

It is to be doubted, in fact, that the author here is capable of employing the malevolent climax most commonly found to be effective in ghost sto-

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158 FANTASY COMMENTATOR Forgotten Creators of Ghosts by A. Langley Searles III - Cecily Hallack It has been noted by several critics, Lovecraft among them, that supernatural fiction written by authors who believe in the ghostly phenomena whereof they treat are, as a rule, less effective than stories on the same themes produced by materialists, to whom such conceptions appear awesomely impressive violations of the world's natural order. Despite the numerous striking examples which might be quoted against such a dictum, on the whole it appears to be generally true, so that veteran readers in the field who approach such works as Hallack's Candlelight Attic (1925) expecting to be disappointed usually will find that their pessimism has been justified. Aside from the basic reason just mentioned, two others contribute to the lack the reader-response commonly encountered by tales having this background. Firstly, they all too often show a religious weft---which in itself would not be objectionable were it not almost invariably interwoven with a moral. It is simply a fact that the moral tale is completely out of fashion nowadays; didactic homilies are passe in a world where most adults read fiction for entertainment and not for allegorical instruction. Secondly, writers such as Franciscan Tertiary Cecily Hallack are forever prefacing their timid excursions into terrae incognitae either with claims that the truth of the incidents to be related is vouched for by themselves and personal friends, or else with roundabout verbiage that amounts to the same thing and which infers in addition that only the stubborn denseness of the materialistic readers addressed prevents the matter from being stated in unequivocal terms. It would be difficult to imagine a method more likely to evoke a prejudiced response, however unbiasedly such fiction is approached. In all justice to its author, however, let it be said that evaluation of an example of supernatural fiction does not involve consideration of its parallel in reality; rather, any story of this type should be judged solely on the basis of the emotional reaction it produces in the reader, such emotional reaction being decided by the writer's success in presenting a sensation-arousing supernatural concept cloaked in that plot, development and stylistic vehicle which best suits it. Whether the author intended his work to have the effect that it does is entirely irrelevant and immaterial; the results are obviously the only criteria to be taken into account. Weighed thus, the tales of Candlelight Attic are found to be wanting that essential "high point" which all successful weird fiction must have. Indeed, despite the claim of the book's subtitle that it contains "...Seven True Stories of the Supernatural..." it is stretching the imagination to label three of them as supernatural at all. The other four deal primarily with visitations of various sorts, and with the possible exception of "The Mind of God" are all exceedingly tame. The high ratio of coincidence to probability present also operates against these tales, so that Hallack's capable, pictorial prose, sharp characterization, and well-written conversation are completely wasted as far as followers of the outre are concerned. The plan of allowing a story to introduce itself from casual drawing-room conversation has been utilized to good effect by other writers in the genre---especially in Benson's Mirror of Shalott---but when (as here) the introductions exceed the tales proper in length such a literary device becomes more of a burden than an aid. It is to be doubted, in fact, that the author here is capable of employing the malevolent climax most commonly found to be effective in ghost sto-