IF THE DEAD KNEW. The Weird Fiction of May Sinclair. Edited by S.T. Joshi
New York: Hippocampus Press, 2019. Octavo, original pictorial wrappers (trade paperback format). 296 pp. Issued as a volume in the publisher's "Classics of Gothic Horror" series. "First Edition" and correct number code on copyright page, but the "Lightning Source" colophon on the terminal leaf identifies this as a print-on-demand paperback. A fine copy. Item #314599
¶ This volume contains the weird stories of May Sinclair (1863–1946), a British writer whose many novels and tales established her as a leading figure in English literature in her time. Her two collections of weird tales, Uncanny Stories (1923) and The Intercessor and Other Stories (1931), contain a number of works that feature her central literary concerns: an emphasis on interpersonal relationships and an intense focus on the shifting psychological states of her characters. Sinclair utilized such central weird motifs as the ghost, the revenant, and psychic transference to underscore her keen insight into human frailty.
Table of Contents:
Introduction, by S. T. Joshi
The Intercessor
The Flaw in the Crystal
Fright
The Villa Désirée
The Token
The Victim
Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched
The Nature of the Evidence
If the Dead Knew
The Finding of the Absolute
Jones’s Karma
Heaven
The Mahatma’s Story
Bibliography.
Price (CAD): $30.00