Wilkie Collins was in such pain from rheumatic gout when dictating The Moonstone, a succession of secretaries gave up, unable to endure his cries and groans. The last parts of the novel were written under[…]
THE BLACK CAT
by American writer Edgar Allen Poe. A study of the psychology of guilt, using Poe’s favourite technique of the ‘unreliable narrator’ (telling the tale from prison).
YUKIKO AND THE LITTLE BLACK CAT
from Miroslav Novak’s collection Fairy Tales from Japan (1970).
THE CAT-WITCH
An African American tale. In Southern states, to be “hagridden” or “a witch riding your back” was to have sleep paralysis or nightmares. (Excuse the accent!)
A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA
Originally titled The Innocent Voyage by Richard Hughes, published in 1929 and thereafter called A High Wind In Jamaica, this is probably the first dark modernist novel of childhood. Can pirates be trusted? Can children?[…]
LITTLE LOUSE and LITTLE FLEA
Läuschen und Flöhchten, from the original Folk & Fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm
STRAW, COAL and BEAN
Strohhalm, Kohle und Bohne auf der Reise, from the original Folk & Fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm
THE TWO WOMEN WHO FOUND FREEDOM
from traditional Inuit and Eskimo stories collected by Angela Carter
SOMERSSUAQ
from traditional Inuit and Eskimo stories collected by Angela Carter
THE MOUSE, THE BIRD and THE SAUSAGE
Von den Mäuschen, Vögelchen und der Bratwurst, from the original Folk & Fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm
BLUBBER BOY
from traditional Inuit and Eskimo stories collected by Angela Carter