Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book by M.R. James, 1895
The magic trick:
A protagonist who is scared
We’ve got a second M.R. James ghost story for you this week as we approach spooky season.
“Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book” was M.R. James’ first published ghost story. It’s a good one, too.
Our protagonist is visiting the south of France. He’s given an old text while checking out a cathedral, and, well, things get weird from there.
I struggle, I have to admit, to fully connect with the spooky mood in a story like this, where the ominous feelings rely almost entirely on reading about how spooked out the character feels. It’s almost like you have to just take his word for it. I guess this guy in the cathedral with the scrap-book is feeling pretty shaken. OK?
But even if I didn’t totally get submerged in the fear, I like a story that is based on that kind of description. The protagonist is scared. Sometimes that’s enough for me.
And that’s quite a trick on James’s part.
The selection:
I entirely despair of conveying by any words the impression which this figure makes upon anyone who looks at it. I recollect once showing the photograph of the drawing to a lecturer on morphology — a person of, I was going to say, abnormally sane and unimaginative habits of mind. He absolutely refused to be alone for the rest of that evening, and he told me afterwards that for many nights he had not dared to put out his light before going to sleep. However, the main traits of the figure I can at least indicate.
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