FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

About M.R. James and Ghosts & Scholars


(1) What makes a story "in the M.R. James Tradition"?

(2) Which are the most popular M.R. James stories?
(3) Which are the least popular M.R. James stories?

(4) What are your own favourite and least favourite M.R. James stories?
(5) I suppose a Jamesian story should have a Victorian setting?
(6) Can a Jamesian story be set in America?
(7) Is it possible for something to be Jamesian that predates M.R. James?
(8) M.R. James never married and women don't feature prominently in his stories. Was he a misogynist?
(9) Did M.R. James believe in ghosts?
(10) M.R. James wrote most of his stories for children or teenagers, didn't he?
(11) What's the meaning of the "FUR/FLA/FLE/BIS" inscription in "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad"?

(12) Is M.R. James still in copyright?
(13) Are M.R. James's ghost stories currently in print?
(14) Are there any biographies of M.R. James or bibliographies of his writings?

(15) Are any commercial DVDs or videotapes of the various TV adaptations of M.R. James's stories available?
(16) Is the Rosemary Pardoe/Richard Dalby book, Ghosts & Scholars (1987), still available?
(17) Where can I get copies of the out-of-print editions of Ghosts & Scholars magazine and the other Haunted Library booklets?
(18) Would it be possible to obtain photocopies of out-of-print numbers of G&S?
(19) Is there any chance of G&S's early issues being reprinted?
(20) What sorts of submissions is G&S most in need of at the moment?
(21) In what way is Ghosts & Scholars connected with the Ghost Story Society?

(1) What makes a story "in the M.R. James Tradition"?

Many people have applied their minds to this question, but never with complete success. Some hints can be found in M.R. James's introduction to the collection Ghosts & Marvels (1924). Here he was discussing ghost stories in general, but his 'rules' (not that he called them that) can be applied specifically to the Jamesian tale:

"Let us, then, be introduced to the actors in a placid way; let us see them going about their ordinary business, undisturbed by forebodings, pleased with their surroundings; and into this calm environment let the ominous thing put out its head, unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage...

"For the ghost story a slight haze of distance is desirable. 'Thirty years ago,' 'Not long before the war', are very proper openings. If a really remote date be chosen, there is more than one way of bringing the reader in contact with it. The finding of documents about it can be made plausible; or you may begin with your apparition and go back over the years to tell the cause of it... On the whole (though not a few instances might be quoted against me) I think that a setting so modern that the ordinary reader can judge of its naturalness for himself is preferable to anything antique..."

Earlier, in the preface to More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), MRJ put this more succinctly ("I think that, as a rule, the setting should be fairly familiar and the majority of the characters and their talk such as you may meet or hear any day"), before proceeding to make a further essential point:

"Another requisite, in my opinion, is that the ghost should be malevolent or odious: amiable and helpful apparitions are all very well in fairy tales or in local legends, but I have no use for them in a fictitious ghost story."

A malevolent ghost in a familiar setting: thus it can be seen that an antiquarian background is not at all vital. MRJ's tales are frequently antiquarian but only because he was an antiquary, and writing about his own familiar lifestyle. Nevertheless, such a background of ancient churches, colleges and libraries is often part and parcel of another necessary facet of the Jamesian story: the uncovering of hidden things best left buried. These might be actual artefacts or occult secrets (even, perhaps, secrets of the mind), but whatever they are, tampering with them can result in disaster for the (often innocent) protagonist.

Add in a helping of humour and you have a Jamesian ghost story. Or not! All rules are meant to be broken and MRJ broke his own with some frequency.

(2) Which are the most popular M.R. James stories?

Here are the results of a survey published in 1995 in Ghosts & Scholars 20, after questionnaires were returned by 78 readers (the question was: "What are your favourite three stories by M.R. James?"):

"Twenty-six stories were named. There were no shocks in the top two positions, with 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' receiving 37 votes, and 'Casting the Runes' a little way behind with 30. Third came the most popular of MRJ's later tales, 'A Warning to the Curious', which got 20 votes. A very respectable 14 were received by 'Count Magnus' and 'The Mezzotint'; closely followed by 'Canon Alberic's Scrap-book' on 13, 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas' on 12, 'Lost Hearts' with 11 (a surprisingly low score, considering it's the most anthologised MRJ story, according to Mike Ashley's researches), and 'Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance' on 10.

"Also well liked were 'An Episode of Cathedral History' (8 votes), 'The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral' (8), 'A View from a Hill' (8), 'Number 13' (6), 'The Tractate Middoth' (6), 'The Ash-tree' (5), 'The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance' (5), and 'Martin's Close' (4).

"Nine tales got 1 or 2 votes. Of the Collected Ghost Stories, only 'Rats', 'Two Doctors', 'There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard' and 'After Dark in the Playing Fields' managed no votes at all."

In 2007 the G&S M.R. James Newsletter published the results of a new survey: see here.

(3) Which are the least popular M.R. James stories?

According to the 1995 G&S survey (responding to the question: "What are your three least favourite stories by M.R. James?"):

"Twenty-seven stories were named. Again there were no shocks at the top of the list, the outright winner being 'Two Doctors' with 28 votes. In second place was 'After Dark in the Playing Fields' (20 votes). Equal third were 'An Evening's Entertainment' and 'There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard' (12).

"Some of the following middle-rankers scored moderately well both here and in the previous question!: 'The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance' (9), 'The Experiment' (7), 'Wailing Well' (6), 'Martin's Close' (5), 'Rats' (5), 'The Haunted Dolls' House' (4), 'Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance' (4), 'A School Story' (4), 'The Diary of Mr Poynter' (3), 'Lost Hearts' (3), and 'A Vignette' (3). Those with 2 votes were: 'The Malice of Inanimate Objects', 'A Neighbour's Landmark', 'The Residence at Whitminster', and 'The Uncommon Prayer-book'."

In 2007 the G&S M.R. James Newsletter published the results of a new survey: see here.

(4) What are your own favourite and least favourite M.R. James stories?

The former vary according to which tale I'm researching at the time! Always high on my list, however, are "Canon Alberic's Scrap-book" and "Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance", with "Count Magnus" close behind. At the bottom of the list would have to be "Two Doctors" and "The Experiment", but even these, failures though they are, have naggingly intriguing aspects.

(5) I suppose a Jamesian story should have a Victorian setting?

Go and read the answer to Question 1 again! Some of MRJ's tales are set in Victorian times, because he was writing when that era was still current or a recent memory. Some, such as "A Warning to the Curious", are much more recent, while others go back as far as the seventeenth century ("Martin's Close"). When considering stories for Ghosts & Scholars I tended to look askance at those with a Victorian setting unless there was a good reason for it.

(6) Can a Jamesian story be set in America?

Why not? One of the two best novel-length Jamesian tales, Fritz Leiber's Our Lady of Darkness, is set in San Francisco.

(7) Is it possible for something to be Jamesian that predates M.R. James?

There is a tendency to lump all antiquarian ghost stories into the Jamesian category, as a result of which a number of pre-MRJ writers have been described as Jamesian. G&S doesn't subscribe to this view, but at the same time it would be foolish to claim that MRJ wasn't influenced by earlier authors, some of whom could quite reasonably be called pre-Jamesians. The most notable of these has to be Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, about whom MRJ once wrote: "Upon mature consideration, I do not think that there are better ghost stories anywhere than the best of Le Fanu's". MRJ's favourite was "The Familiar", but for me the best tale by Le Fanu is the marvellously Jamesian "Schalken the Painter".

(8) M.R. James never married and women don't feature prominently in his stories. Was he a misogynist?

Not really. He had a number of female friends of whom he was very fond, though he probably preferred the company of men. He seems to have been the archetypal confirmed bachelor, and there is no suggestion that he felt strongly physically attracted to either men or women. On the very rare occasions when he made an admiring comment about someone's appearance, the subject was invariably female. As for the women characters in his stories, there may not be many of them, but they are all rather well portrayed, ranging from charming and intelligent young ladies such as Mary Oldys ("The Residence at Whitminster"), to splendid elderly women like Lady Wardrop ("Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance"). I have a particular soft spot for Mrs Anstruther in "The Rose Garden" - a glorious dragon! See also David Rowlands' G&S 15 article "M.R. James's Women" in the G&S Archive.

Having said that, it must be admitted that MRJ thought women should know their place and that they didn't belong in an academic environment. He voted against degrees for women at Cambridge in 1896. His reaction in Classical Review (February 1917) to a paper on "The Head of John the Baptist" by Jane Harrison of Newnham College can be and has been cited as an example of this (see the two articles by Shelley Arlen: "Jane Ellen Harrison: M.R. James's Nemesis", G&S 31, 2000, pp.38-42; and "'For Love of an Idea': Jane Ellen Harrison, heretic and humanist", Women's History Review Vol.5, No.2, 1996, pp.165-190). However, this may reflect not so much his attitude to women as to comparative mythologists such as Harrison and Sir James Frazer in general (his dismissal of Frazer's Golden Bough in "Casting the Runes" is notable in this context).

(9) Did M.R. James believe in ghosts?

It has often been maintained that MRJ definitely did not believe in ghosts, but there is no evidence for this degree of certainty. In an article in G&S 25 I collected together the references to real ghosts in MRJ's non-fiction writings and I think I was able to demonstrate that he had an open mind on the subject, but with a tendency towards belief (e.g. in 1931 he wrote: "...if there be ghosts - as I am quite prepared to believe..."). His last tale, "A Vignette", may possibly be an attempt to get down on paper an authentic supernatural experience of his childhood.

(10) M.R. James wrote most of his ghost stories for children or teenagers, didn't he?

Currently, this seems to be the most common assumption made about MRJ's ghost stories: I've seen it repeated all over the place. But it's just not true! He wrote "Wailing Well" for a camp of the Eton scouts, and "A School Story" for the King's College choristers. To these, I suppose one should add the handful of tales ("A Neighbour's Landmark", "There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard", "After Dark in the Playing Fields" and "The Malice of Animate Objects") which were written for - or at least first appeared in - Eton College ephemerals. This still leaves over 80% of his completed short fiction, all of which was produced for an adult audience.

(11) What's the meaning of the "FUR/FLA/FLE/BIS" inscription in "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad"?

No explanation of the inscription is given in Michael Cox's annotations for the story in Casting the Runes, but Christopher Roden sums up the various opinions, including some of the less likely ones, in the annotations in A Pleasing Terror (for details of these two books see Questions 13 and 14) . Although I have published several theories in Ghosts & Scholars, to my mind there are only two real possibilities.

There is some disagreement as to whether the words should be read "Furbis, Flabis, Flebis" or "Fur, Flabis, Flebis". I had always thought the former was most likely until someone pointed out to me that H.E. Luxmoore, who was present at M.R. James's reading of the tale in December 1903, referred to the story under the title "Fur Flebis" (see Michael Cox's "Oh, Whistle" annotations in Casting the Runes, p.312). This is pretty conclusive evidence, I think, that the second reading is correct and is what MRJ said when he actually spoke the inscription. Both are, of course, Latin. The first would read "You will steal, you will blow [it], you will weep" (but "furbis" would not be the correct Latin in this context, since "furari" - to steal - is a verb in the passive form); the second - more likely - reading is "O thief, you will blow [it], you will weep". Or in other words, "Thief - if you blow this whistle you'll be sorry"!

Other theories mentioned in the A Pleasing Terror note include: "You'll blow it, you'll be sorry, you'll go mad", and (covering all the bases!) "O thief, you will polish it, you will blow it twice, you will regret this, you will go mad". Both of these include the correct reading for "furbis" - you will go mad - but only work if the inscription is read as "Flabis, Flebis, Furbis"). It's just possible that as well as the chief meaning, MRJ also intended a punning reference to "bis" - twice - since that's the number of times the whistle is blown.

(12) Is M.R. James still in copyright?

In those countries where he was previously still in copyright, material published during MRJ's lifetime went into the public domain at the end of 2006 (seventy years from his death). It's important to note, however, that copyright on posthumously published items lasts for fifty years from the date of publication, so is still running for numerous items. To enquire about rights on these, contact the agents for MRJ's copyright holder: Michelle Kass Associates, 36-38 Glasshouse Street, London, W1B 5DL, England; Tel: +44 (0) 207 4391624; Fax: +44 (0) 207 7343394.

(13) Are M.R. James's ghost stories currently in print?

His Collected Ghost Stories is usually in print, sometimes in several cheap editions. However, this is not actually complete. The first comprehensive edition of MRJ's supernatural tales was A Pleasing Terror: The Complete Supernatural Writings, published by Ash-Tree Press in 2001. It contained annotated versions of all the Collected Ghost Stories, plus three more, and also those which exist only in draft form (for these, see also the 1999 Haunted Library booklet, The Fenstanton Witch and Others). MRJ's non-fiction writings on the subject were included, along with The Five Jars, his delightful supernatural fantasy novel for children. A Pleasing Terror is out of print at the moment but a revised edition may appear in the future. Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories (2005) and The Haunted Dolls' House and Other Ghost Stories (2006), edited by S.T. Joshi and published by Penguin Classics (USA), are a two-volume annotated "Complete Ghost Stories of M.R. James", which include all of MRJ's tales (aside from some of the unfinished drafts); and annotated selections of his non-fiction writings on the subject.

(14) Are there any biographies of M.R. James or bibliographies of his writings?

There have been two full-length biographies: M.R. James: An Informal Portrait by Michael Cox (Oxford University Press, 1983); and Montague Rhodes James by Richard William Pfaff (Scolar Press, 1980). The first concentrates on the man himself and gives a fair amount of space to his ghost stories; the second deals more with his heavyweight scholarly writings. Both are recommended, as are Michael Cox's introduction and chronology in M.R. James: Casting the Runes and Other Ghost Stories (Oxford World's Classics, 1987, 1999, currently in print), and his introduction to The Ghost Stories of M.R. James (OUP, 1986). In addition, an early biographical work was A Memoir of Montague Rhodes James by MRJ's friend, S.G. Lubbock (Cambridge University Press, 1939). This was reprinted in full in Ash-Tree Press's A Pleasing Terror (see Question 13). MRJ himself wrote an autobiographical reminiscence of his life at Eton and King's (Williams & Norgate, 1926), which was reprinted at the end of 2005 by Ash-Tree Press.

See also some of the entries in the Bibliography of Writings about M.R. James's Ghost Stories.

There are pocket biographies of MRJ on a number of web sites, but by no means all are to be relied upon. For the better ones, see the "Recommended Jamesian Links" section on the G&S Home Page.

As far as bibliographies are concerned, my A Bibliography of the Writings of M.R. James, due to be published by the Haunted Library early in 2007 (for more information, see here), is an attempt at a definitive bibliography incorporating all the material from previous biblios, as well as new research (nearly 500 entries in all). The ghost story entries from this have also been separated out and can be found on the G&S web site: A Chronological Listing of M.R. James's Ghost Stories. Previous bibliographies included: a useful select biblio of MRJ's ghost stories and writings on supernatural fiction in Michael Cox's Casting the Runes; A.F. Scholfield's Elenchus, based on MRJ's own rough scribbled list and reprinted in an enlarged version at the end of S.G. Lubbock's 1939 Memoir; the bibliography in R.W. Pfaff's biography, which confines itself solely to MRJ's scholarly output; and the detailed (but still incomplete) one compiled by Nicholas Rogers for The Legacy of M.R. James (ed. Lynda Dennison, Shaun Tyas/Paul Watkins Publishing, 2001). There is an on-line bibliography, compiled by Robert A. Kraft mainly from the Pfaff and Rogers listings, here.

(15) Are any commercial DVDs or videotapes of the various TV adaptations of M.R. James's stories available?

Yes, some of them have been released in recent years (mostly DVD Region 2). Follow the links on my M.R. James on TV, Radio and Film page. Sadly, the ITV "Mystery and Imagination" dramas of the '60s seem to have been completely lost.

(16) Is the Rosemary Pardoe/Richard Dalby book, Ghosts & Scholars (1987), still available?

I'm afraid it's long out-of-print, and only occasionally turns up on the second-hand market. For some reason it is still listed as in-print by some sources. This is not the case. For more information and to read selected contents, see the G&S Book section of the G&S Archive.

(17) Where can I get copies of the out-of-print editions of Ghosts & Scholars magazine and the other Haunted Library booklets?

Not from me! Recommended dealers who might have back issues of G&S and/or the Ghosts & Scholars book are: Mythos Books and PDW Books in the States, and Cold Tonnage Books and Fantastic Literature in Britain.

(18) Would it be possible to obtain photocopies of out-of-print numbers of G&S?

Sorry, no.

(19) Is there any chance of G&S's early issues being reprinted?

Probably not. However, some time in the future, Ash-Tree Press looks set to publish a volume collecting together a selection of the best material (stories and articles) from the entire run of G&S.

(20) What sorts of submissions is Ghosts & Scholars most in need of at the moment?

G&S itself ceased publication with issue 33 at the end of 2001. However, articles - long and short - on MRJ, his writings and his associates, are always needed for the Ghosts & Scholars M.R. James Newsletter which began in 2002. Also needed are reviews, letters, queries and some artwork. See the Newsletter Guidelines page. The Newsletter does not publish new fiction.

(21) In what way is Ghosts & Scholars connected with the Ghost Story Society?

G&S and the Haunted Library are completely independent of the Ghost Story Society. There is no link between us. The Ghost Story Society originally sprouted from G&S, and I was one of the co-founders, but whilst I remain a supporter, I am not now actively involved with it.

Last altered August 24, 2007. Copyright © 2000-2007 Rosemary Pardoe. Not to be reproduced without permission.
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