(1867-1940) UK author, brother of A C Benson and Robert Hugh Benson and by far the most prolific of the three as far as fiction is concerned, with dozens of attractive, realistic novels and romances to his credit, and a number of novels involving the supernatural, the most telling of these being perhaps his first in this mode, The Judgment Book (1895), which shows the influence of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (July 1890 Lippincott's Monthly; exp 1891). Benson's fantasy stories are well known, and some verge on sf: they can be found in The Room in the Tower and Other Stories (coll 1912); The Countess of Lowndes Square (coll 1920); Visible and Invisible (coll 1923), which includes "And the Dead Spoke ..." (October 1922 Hutchinson's Magazine) about recording memories from dead brains, "In the Tube" (December 1922 Hutchinson's Magazine) where images are sent back from the future, and "The Horror Horn" (September 1922 Hutchinson's Magazine) featuring Yeti-like Monsters of retarded Evolution in the Alps; and Spook Stories (coll 1928) and More Spook Stories (coll 1934). In The Inheritor (1930), Pan and Dionysius cause conniptions in Cornwall. The Tale of an Empty House (coll 1986) is a convenient posthumous collection, while The Flint Knife (coll 1986) edited by Jack Adrian assembles mostly uncollected material, including "Sir Roger de Coverley" (December 1927 Woman), an sf tale which reflects the time theories of J W Dunne. [JC]
see also: Fantasy Entries.
Edward Frederick Benson
born Wokingham, Berkshire: 24 July 1867
died London: 29 February 1940
works (selected)
- The Judgment Book (New York: Harpers, 1895) [hb/]
- The Luck of the Vails (London: Heinemann, 1901) [hb/]
- The Valkyries (London: Dean and Son, 1903) [hb/nonpictorial jacket over illustrated boards]
- The Image in the Sand (London: Heinemann, 1905) [hb/]
- The Angel of Pain (Philadelphia: J B Lippincott, 1905) [hb/]
- The House of Defense (New York: Authors and Newspapers Association, 1906) [a 1906 Canadian edition is also reported: hb/]
- David Blaize and the Blue Door (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1918) [hb/]
- Across the Stream (New York: George H Doran Company, 1919) [hb/]
- Colin (London: Hutchinson, 1923) [hb/]
- Colin II (London: Hutchinson, 1925) [hb/]
- The Inheritor (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1930) [hb/Peggy Morris]
- Ravens' Brood (London: Arthur Barker, 1934) [hb/]
collections
series
Collected Spook Stories
- The Terror by Night (Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1998) [coll: edited by Jack Adrian: Collected Spook Stories: hb/Douglas Walters]
- The Passenger (Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1999) [coll: edited by Jack Adrian: Collected Spook Stories: hb/Douglas Walters]
- Mrs Amworth (Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2001) [coll: edited by Jack Adrian: Collected Spook Stories: hb/Douglas Walters]
- The Face (Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2003) [coll: edited by Jack Adrian: Collected Spook Stories: hb/Douglas Walters]
- Sea Mist (Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 2005) [coll: edited by Jack Adrian: Collected Spook Stories: hb/Douglas Walters]
individual titles
- The Room in the Tower and Other Stories (London: Mills and Boon, 1912) [coll: hb/]
- The Countess of Lowndes Square (London: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1920) [coll: contains three supernatural stories: hb/]
- Visible and Invisible (London: Hutchinson, 1923) [coll: hb/]
- "And the Dead Spake –" and The Horror-Horn (New York: George H Doran Company, 1923) [coll: chap: hb/]
- Spook Stories (London: Hutchinson, 1928) [coll: hb/]
- More Spook Stories (London: Hutchinson, 1934) [coll: hb/]
- The Horror Horn: The Best Horror Stories of E.F. Benson (London: Panther, 1974) [coll: edited by Alexis Lykiard: pb/Bruce Pennington]
- The Tale of an Empty House (London: Black Swan, 1986) [coll: pb/Julek Heller]
- The Flint Knife (Wellingborough, Northamptonshire: Equation, 1988) [coll: edited by Jack Adrian: pb/]
- The Collected Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson (London: Robinson, 1992) [omni: edited by Richard Dalby: omitting The Flint Knife: pb/]
- Ghost Stories (New York: Random House Vintage Classics, 2017) [coll. cut vt of the above: pb/]
links
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