Biographical Inventory of Books for August 4, 2020

The Adventures of Jules de Grandin; The Hellfire Files of Jules de Grandin; The Skeleton Closet of Jules de Grandin, by Seabury Quinn. Quinn was a writer for ‘Weird Tales’ during the great era of the pulps, where he created the investigator of the unusual, Jules de Grandin and his sidekick Dr. Trowbridge. “He fought ghosts, werewolves, and satanists in over ninety stories, and one novel, between 1925 and 1951, assisted by Dr. Trowbridge (serving the same narrative purpose as Dr. Watson). Jules de Grandin and Dr. Trowbridge lived in Harrisonville, New Jersey. De Grandin was a French physician and expert on the occult and a former member of the French Sûreté who resembled a more physically dynamic blond, blue-eyed Hercule Poirot. Often, the supernatural entities in the mysteries are revealed not to be supernatural at all but the actions of insane, evil and depraved human beings.” – Wikipedia. These are three from a series of reprints from the 70’s; I lack three others, “The Casebook of Jules de Grandin”, “The Horror Chambers of Jules de Grandin”, and “The Devil’s Bride”. The books include a map of ‘Harrisonville’ and portraits of the two protagonists. I must admit that I’ve read little of these books, but their position in the genre seems to hold out promise of at least an ‘entertainment’. Ranking: Dispensable. File Code: Anthology. Mystery. Paperback. Weird.

The Fantastic Imagination and The Fantastic Imagination II, Edited by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski. These two anthologies contain a gathering from the fantasy idols that were popular in the 70’s, largely due, I imagine, to Lin Carter’s efforts with Ballantine in their Adult Fantasy series. These are Avon books. Good browsers with some tales from my favorite authors not available elsewhere in my library. Ranking: Keepers. File Code: Anthology. Fantasy. Paperbacks.

The Siege and Fall of Troy, Retold by Robert Graves. In this little book (from the mid-60’s) Graves gathers all the old tales of the Trojan War (and there are many, not just Homer’s) and puts them in a simple and straightforward narrative, “from the egg to the apples”, as the old saying goes. Another old second-hand copy, which from the markings seems to have been from a classroom. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Legend. Paperback.

The Legendary Adventures of Alexander the Great, Translated by Richard Stoneman. A new little book, from Penguin Epics, no less. The Greek Alexander Romance grew up from the death of Alexander to about 300 A.D. Full of wonder tales and legends, the influence of these stories for centuries (for a long time in the credulous ages they were considered to be history and science fact). A nice little epitome. I … must confess I haven’t read it all, but it’s nice to have it handy. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Legend. Paperback.

The Hazlitt Sampler: Selections from the Familiar, Literary, and Critical Essays, Edited by Herschel M. Sikes, Ph.D. Why do I like Hazlitt? Because of insights like this: “The description of persons who have the fewest ideas of all others are mere authors and readers. It is better to be able neither to read nor write than to be able to do nothing else. A lounger who is ordinarily seen with a book in his hand is (we may be almost sure) equally without the power or inclination to attend either to what passes around him or in his own mind. Such a one may be said to carry his understanding about with him in his pocket, or to leave it at home on his library shelves. He is afraid of venturing on any train of reasoning, or of striking out any observation that is not mechanically suggested to him by passing his eyes over certain legible characters; shrinks from the fatigue of thought, which, for want of practice, becomes insupportable to him; and sits down contented with an endless, wearisome succession of words and half-formed images, which fill the void of the mind, and continually efface one another.” Another elderly, crumbly copy. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Essays. Paperback.

The Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens. Dickens first real book, humorous, rambling, humane, and of infinite impact; he put everything he had into this grab-bag. I was influenced by Dickens years before I followed the trail upstream and found the original sources. The character of Samuel Weller is just superb. And the story of the automated sausage maker? Immortal! A big, thick brick of a book that really repays the attention you give it. “Let us leave our old friend in one of those moments of unmixed happiness, of which, if we seek them, there are ever some, to cheer our transitory existence here. There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast. Some men, like bats or owls, have better eyes for the darkness than for the light. We, who have no such optical powers, are better pleased to take our last parting look at the visionary companions of many solitary hours, when the brief sunshine of the world is blazing full upon them.” Ranking: Essential. File Code: Novel. Classic. Paperback.

Flatland, by Edwin A. Abbot. An imaginative classic. Abbot uses his “romance of many dimensions” to get across a metaphysical message about the limitations of human perception and a comment on Victorian hierarchy. The two-dimensional citizens of Flatland cannot imagine what is happening when a three-dimensional figure enters their world and tries to make them understand what that means. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Fantasy. Satire. Paperback.

Peer Gynt, by Henrick Ibsen. Translated by Michael Meyer. “I selected Peer Gynt to illustrate today's list because I couldn't resist the chance to show Leo McKern's beautiful mug, lit up by that delightfully impish mood. McKern was a great--I was about to say character actor, and while he was that, he was a great actor, period. I've never seen anything that he was in that he didn't elevate, and that includes Help! and The Omen. Demonic energy, wry humor, keen intelligence, rough tenderness...all these make him the perfect actor to interpret Peer among the trolls. This book was published in 1963, which makes it and me exact contemporaries.” What I’ve read of it I found interesting. Ranking: Dispensable. File Code: Drama. Paperback.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This copy was originally Mike’s. One day while I was stuck in the back seat of his Impala with nothing else to do (for hours it seemed – not an unusual situation for high school) I started to read it and was hooked. Magical realism! Another toehold in serious literature for fantasy. Translated by Gregory Rabassa. Cannot stress enough the glory and wonder of this family chronicle. Probably time to get another, less worn copy. [I do, in the drawers. I’d forgot. So, 2 copies.] Ranking: ESSENTIAL. File Code: Magical Realism. Novel. Paperback.