Monday, 23 December 2024

“Shivering under a broad sky: Supernatural stories set in the East Anglian landscape” by J. S. Barnes (TLS; En)

And here is the actual recent piece in the TLS about two pillars of Jamesiana and East Anglian ghost lore, Edward Parnell (“Ghostland” and the editorial work for the Weird subscription for the British Library) and Robert Lloyd Perry aka Nunkie Theatre whose performance I was lucky to see a day ago.
The new book is edited by Edward Parnell, whose idiosyncratic memoir, Ghostland, (2019), revealed a deep knowledge of and affection for the supernatural fiction of England. Although one feels he is slightly constrained by the requirement to appeal to the general reader, he contributes a thoughtful introduction in which he notes that it is in part a “pressing sense of history” throughout the region that lends itself to accounts of hauntings (visible historical artefacts date back up to 800,000 years thanks to the discovery of hominid footprints “below the crumbling cliffs of Happisburgh in north-east Norfolk”).
[...]
He’s [Robert Lloyd perry—E.T.] been working away at what he calls the “M. R. James Project” for almost twenty years and he has a profound connection to the material. At times he seems to be channelling James himself; more than mere performance, it’s an act of literary revivification.
For those interested in Lloyd Parry’s process, his recently published book Shadows and Gestures: Scripts After M. R. James gives some valuable insights into how it is achieved. Collecting the scripts from which he has worked, they showcase his meticulous approach to his craft – a valuable glimpse into an enterprise that is close to heroic in its dedication to literary authenticity. ©

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