Episode 59 – The Haunted and the Haunters by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
A Podcast to the Curious - The M.R. James PodcastShow Notes
This episode Mike and Will cover ‘The Haunted and the Haunters‘ by Charles Dickens’s BFF, Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
M.R. James considered this story essential reading, saying “Nobody is permitted to write about ghost stories without
mentioning ‘The Haunted and the Haunters’.” (Some Remarks on Ghost Stories). Will it live up to our expectations?
Our reader for this episode is talented artist and family member, Peter Ross!
We also mention the new book from friend-of-the-podcast Patrick J. Murphy, Medieval Studies and the Ghost Stories of M. R. James, check it out!
Show notes:
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (Wikipedia)
Some basic biographical details about EBL’s life. A more detailed biography can be found at
www.victorianweb.org.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (www.bulwer-lytton.com)
Inspired by EBL’s famous clunker “It was a dark and stormy night…”, this competition challenges would-be writers
to come up with the worst possible opening line to a novel!
50 Berkeley Square, London (Wikipedia)
Often touted as ‘the most haunted house in England’, this place gained a fearsome reputation for ghostliness in the
latter half of the 19th century. It’s description and locations are tantilisingly close to the house described in
this story, although the story pre-dated the house’s notoriety.
The Haunted House (Wikipedia)
The ‘haunted house’ as a concept goes back for at least 2000 years, and has inspired writers for just as long.
‘The Haunted House’ by Charles Dickens et al (Wikipedia)
Could the publication of this story be connected in any way to the publications of ‘The Haunted House’, the
portmaneau story that was ‘conducted’ and published by EBL’s friend Charles Dickens in the same year that EBL’s
story was published?
Essay by Ellis Jordan (www.cherylblakeprice.com)
This essay on ‘The Haunted and the Haunters’ sheds some more light onto the story and EBL’s aims in writing it. It
also compared the two differing versions of the story that were published.
More from A Podcast to the Curious - The M.R. James Podcast
This episode Mike and Will examine Curfew by Lucy M. Boston, a childhood tale of haunted bells, unearthed coffins and post-Jamesian highjinx aplenty.
M.R. James said that sex had no place in a ghost story. But was he right? This episode we attempt to answer this question and more, as we cover The Nature of the Evidence by May Sinclair, a tale from 1923 about a couple who just want to enjoy their wedding night. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, yes.
Hold on to your mummy! This episode Mike and Will discuss Mark Gatiss’s recent Ghost Story for Christmas TV adaptation Lot 249, as well as the Arthur Conan Doyle short story it is based on.
This episode, Mike and Will grab their literary toboggans and gallop joyously out into the snow, only to be hit in the face by a terrifying fictional snowball in the form of Louisa Baldwin’s The Real and the Counterfeit!
Who would win in a fight between a man and a bed? Find the answer to this question and more in our new episode on The Weird of the Walfords by Louisa Baldwin! Also, if you like emotionally-repressed Victorian husbands, you will not leave disappointed.