The Vampyre, The Werewolf and Other Gothic Tales of Horror [Paperback]

Other than John Polidory's "The Vampyre" (available in many other horror anthologies), the other stories in this book are mostly unknown. 2 stories are by anonymous authors. "The Werewolf" by Clemence Housman is a virtually unknown story written in 1896, but worthy of standing next to Polidory's "The Vampyre" (1819). Both stories have a strong gothic flavor & Christian morality, especially "The Werewolf". It is a tale of selfless brotherly love in the face of rejection that crosses the border into a Christ-like martyrdom. All the other stories have that gothic feel to them, byzanthine plots, mistaken identities, etc. These stories and their language are archaically old-fashioned, but beautiful in a poetic kind of way. I would recommend this book to someone who is an avid reader, has language skills, likes to study our cultural past and/or has appreciation for gothic literature (1750's - 1860's). Everyone else might find it tedious & boring.

My recollection of this collection is a bit spotty and this is because my own personal schedule interfered with progress. Alas, it is complete and I can say a few words.

I picked up this book in the clearance section of Barnes and Noble. Vampire fiction is hot right now, and I've always been a fan of Gothic literature so I was hoping this might indulge my curiosity.

Only one of the stores was ones I've heard of before but never read, the Vampyre. The rest were all new. I was hoping for more of a collection of Wylde's party, meaning, Frankensteign, Vampire, Werewolf and others, but it wasn't like that. There were only 2 monster stores "Vampyre" and "Werewolf". There was one doppelganger story "Monos and Diamonos" which I didn't suspect at all and really liked. It was supernatural in nature and rightfully so. But there were two very similar stores "The Curse" and "The Astrological's Prediction", neither or which was really supernatural (at least not to our culture today), but instead were psychological. Only one story had a happy ending, "The Vindictive Monk."

So it was a short and diverse collection. I just wish I had a bit more scary stories in there.

The writing was a bit hard to read. It's mostly very very long sentences with lots of commas and semicolons, but I managed to get through it. There is nothing that can be done, because that was the style of writing at the time.

I gave this collection 4 stars bc it seems to capture this period in literature (mostly 1810's to 1830's and one in 1890's) very well and the stories were interesting. But I wish the stories were more spooky, more ominous, more supernatural, and more, well, GOTHIC.

If you really want to dig deeper into Gothic literature, I'd recommend a larger, more thorough, and more diverse collection. This is like a quickie - it gives you a bite but not enough to satisfy.