Classics and Contemporaries: Some Notes on Horror Fiction

Joshi (The Evolution of the Weird Tale) displays his encyclopedic knowledge of horror fiction in this provocative collection of more than 40 book reviews and essays written over a quarter of a century, some of which, not specifically identified, have been rewritten. The author deserves credit for his unwillingness to pull punches; even writers he holds in high esteem, like Ramsey Campbell, get low marks for sub-par work. On the other hand, some might wish for more context in the case of such lesser known writers as T.E.D. Klein and David Case, whom Joshi praises and condemns, respectively. Given Joshi's punctiliousness-he faults a Lovecraft edition for leaving out the hyphen in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath-he lays himself open to criticism for minor mistakes himself (e.g., the identity of the serial killer in Thomas Harris's Red Dragon is not kept secret until the book's end). More attention to merging the different texts that make up the volume might, for example, have led to his avoiding calling Campbell's The House on Nazareth Hill on one page ""a triumphant return to the supernaturalism that had seemed to be becoming increasingly rare and attenuated in Campbell's recent novels"" and ""a return to supernaturalism, which was wholly absent in some of Campbell's recent novels"" on the next. Despite such human lapses, Joshi's serious and scholarly approach can only add to informed reading of genre fiction.