I guess my motivation throughout is to learn: To understand. I feel that when we read things that ot...
I guess my motivation throughout is to learn: To understand. I feel that when we read things that others have written we can get a real sense of the authors mind. I find it fascinating to gain understanding of the individual psyche in this way.
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Supernatural Tales is an anthology of short stories from the early 20th century horror writer John Buchan. Although the collection is mainly made up of those stories which have to do with strange goings-on, in my opinion a better title would be “Arcane Tales", because most of the stories are more queer and unsettling than terrifying or even overtly fantastical, and they almost all share an emphasis on "ancient secrets".
Baron Buchan the author was a British imperialist. (colonial administrator of South Africa, and governor general of Canada, anyone?) This shows through in his writing style with the tone of an old gentleman and connoisseur – Rule Britannia! Guide the Savage- protégée and be a man! (think Rudyard Kipling's style) I’m sure this would annoy a lot of people, but I don’t care enough to argue with someone just because we were born in different centuries, so personally I can laugh through it. Even beyond Buchan's outdated views however, not only was every one of his main characters an old Oxford swell/cove/bod, but they also all enjoyed “fishing, hunting then smoking a large cigar”. The author's antagonists meanwhile, tend to be part of the exotic Other ; those alien to the British empire.
However, Buchan has a saving grace in that he’s completely in love with the mysteries and secrets of these other “older races” and so whether he’s describing the ruling class of Indians, an ancient Phoenician temple, or the Picts and their language he comes across as almost as utterly fascinated as a teenager learning about the non-existent secrets of the “opposite-sex” for the first time.
Unlike your typical adolescent however, John Buchan has a huge, expansive vocabulary and an exquisite turn of phrase. In fact, when it comes to death by forbidden knowledge, to my mind Buchan stands second only to that master of the horrific short story, Lovecraft.
A second main impact on Buchan’s storytelling comes from his upbringing. He was born and educated in Scotland, and he seems to feel spiritually and biologically linked to the place. This means several of his stories are set “on the borderlands of Scotland” and several also have a Celtic background.
Allow me to illustrate my point. The following excerpt is from “No-Man’s Land”, one of my most favouritest of the stories, which describes a young scholar of the histories and languages of Northern Europe (a Celticist) stumbling upon an ancient and forgotten people…
"I spoke a word or two in my best Gaelic, and they closed round me inquiringly. Then I was sorry I had spoken, for my words had brought them nearer, and I shrank at the thought. But as the faint echoes of my speech hummed in the rock chamber, I was struck by a curious kinship of sound. Mine was sharper, more distinct, and staccato; theirs was blurred, formless, but still with a certain root resemblance.
Then from the back there came an older being, who seemed to have heard my words. He was like some foul grey badger, his red eyes sightless, and his hands trembling on a stump of bog oak.
The others made way for him with such deference as they were capable of, and the thing squatted down by me and spoke.
To my amazement his words were familiar. It was some manner of speech akin to the Gaelic, but broadened, lengthened, coarsened. I remembered an old book tongue, commonly supposed to be an impure dialect once used in Brittany, which I had met in the course of my researches. The words recalled it, and as far as I could remember the thing, I asked him who he was and where the place might be."
Hopefully that’s not too lengthy an excerpt, but it should give you an idea of what I mean by Buchan’s fascination with the ancient. A couple of other things to bear in mind as you read: the prose-style continues in this vein all the way through most of the stories. Also, after the style of the time (go read the Jungle Book) there is a (boring) poem at the end of each of the stories. To my mind these things make the book quite good for reading out load, although perhaps not to your younger children. I would also probably not recommend it as reading-alone material for children or anyone else with less advanced reading-skills.
Also, beware the direct speech! Sadly Buchan uses hardly any foreign languages throughout the book, with two exceptions. His place and people names tend to have an evocative and authentic-sounding meaning in the vernacular language of the place he's writing about, although they’re also usually completely false. However Buchan does also occasionally try and portray some of his “simple but kindly and wise peasants” as speaking Scots. (the English dialect/English sounding language, take your pick!) This can be quite broad Scots occasionally, and so hard to get more than a general sense of. As a general guide, if you know the two different meanings of muckle you’ll be fine, if not, go look them up because muckle’s apparently the most common adjective used in shepherd-speech!
I’ll finish off with a brief summary of the plots of each of the fifteen stories, so you can get an idea as to whether they would be to your taste. I’ll try not to give away any plot-endings, but if you’re completely adverse to spoilers you should scroll on down and meet me at the conclusion!
The first is The Watcher By the Threshold. This is the story of a man who becomes possessed by the a demon of ancient Mannan (One of the British/Ancient Welsh speaking regions in Medieval Scotland). The Kings of Orion meanwhile, moves us to the Dubai, and the philosophy that inside each of us there is a “sometimes evil, sometimes good, but always great” king who comes out only in the face of adversity. Tendebant Manus is about a man who becomes haunted by his dead twin brother and No-Man’s Land is the story I quoted from above, about the young historian who falls in with the Picts. Fountainblue is a rather boring tragic love-story, and The Far-Islands is about a young Scottish man who falls under his family’s ancestral curse. The Outgoing of the Tide is a much better tragic-love story which sees the damning of a goody-goody young Christian girl’s soul. The Wind in the Portico is a truly excellent story about the consequences of worshipping long-forgotten Celtic gods, and The Grove of Ashtaroth is just as good, except it’s about the dangers of worshipping long forgotten Phoenician gods who have somehow made it to South Africa. The Lemnian is a one-of-a-kind story set in Ancient Greece, although I’m afraid better knowledge of Greek than mine will be needed to understand just what’s going on, and even read the main character’s name. The Green Glen is another Scottish-Border tragic love-story and The Herd of Standlan is a strange story about one man’s bravery and his preview of the afterlife. Space brings us to a strange set of conceptual stories, this one about a young Oxford student who found that the space around us isn’t as empty as it seems (and consequently went mad), with the Rime of True Thomas being about a shepherd who (just like True Thomas) chanced upon forgotten knowledge and was doomed for it. Finally A Lucid Interval explores the consequences for the Liberal party of interfering too much in Indian politics, when they all get poisoned with a substance which changes their personalities.
The best three stories in the book for me are easily No-Man’s Land, The Wind in the Portico and The Grove of Ashtaroth which are probably the main three which deal with something ancient being found in the present, and the unease that this causes. For me, this is where Buchan’s work is both at its best, and its most eerie, and I would encourage you to try to preview one of these stories before you buy to see if you want to see if you’ll enjoy the book. (Hint: some of these can be found online, since older editions of Buchan’s work are technically out of copyright.)
I would recommend Baron John Buchan’s “Supernatural Tales” to anyone looking for good short stories, particularly those who can overlook the author’s colonial biases and appreciate his fascination for the exotic, and perhaps even those who know how much a muckle is. Obviously these stories aren’t going to terrify you in the way that one of those scary gratuitous axe murderer movies might, but at times the reader of Supernatural Tales will be just as delighted with the weird, eerie atmosphere that Buchan creates.
Supernatural Tales is available on Amazon for £16.98. (wow, expensive Amazon!) the rrp is £8 but I got mine in a second hand book shop for £3… For a £13 profit I am now tempted to resell though!
N.B. To briefly comment on the edition, the B¬W edition I am reviewing contains a boring introduction by a Rev. James CG Greig. You can safely skip that unless you’re studying the book for English or Psychology class.
Pictures of Supernatural Tales - John Buchan
Supernatural Tales - John Buchan
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