Publisher's Synopsis
James's ghost stories are usually regarded as the most accomplished of their kind. They are not traditional ghost stories in the formal sense; James shied away from the shrouded wraith or the gothic chain rattler. His ghosts are of the monstrous kind, often hairy and with teeth, and they are always malicious. James's framework for the ghost story was set down in an introduction he wrote for Ghosts and Marvels (1924), edited by Vere H. Collins, and it admirably establishes James's approach. He refers to two key ingredients: the atmosphere and a "nicely managed" crescendo. He also believed that "a slight haze of distance is desirable." He usually created that effect through the study of old documents or buildings, or through a tale retold. The atmosphere involved characters going about their normal business before "the ominous thing" begins to intrude, "unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage." This approach is the trademark of all of James's ghost stories. One less apparent trait is the humor that pervades his stories. James traditionally read his stories at Christmas to students at King's College, Cambridge, where he was dean and later provost. Because James was a capable mimic, his deliberate mocking of local characters would come through in the narration. This helped provide a commonplace setting into which the ominous could intrude.
