Status
Available
Call number
Call number
ML
Publication
Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England ; New York, N.Y. : Penguin Books, 1982.
Original publication date
1982
Physical description
iv, 198 p.; 20 cm
Local notes
Presents an entertaining and witty collection of eighteen stories about ghosts, including such notable literary apparitions as Ibsen and Charles Dickens
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member xicanti
Robertson Davies spent eighteen years as the Master of Massey College at the University of Toronto, and every year he wrote a ghost story for the College Christmas party. HIGH SPIRITS collects every one of these tales and presents them just as they were originally written.
Davies's prose is, as
Many of the pieces are heavily informed by classic ghost stories. Davies makes good use of his source material; the reader can see where he's coming from, yet the author's own voice is always present. I loved how he wrote himself into each story, too; it made it a lot more personal, and left plenty of room for his characteristic humor to shine on through. There's a lot of parody here, with self-parody at the heart of it. Despite the source material, Davies isn't really trying for horror here. It's humor all the way.
The trouble is, a lot of it is insider humor. Davies keeps it to a minimum in the earlier stories, delivering a good tale that just so happens to contain several jokes aimed at friends and colleagues. But as the years pass, he leans more and more heavily on characters and situations that I don't doubt were hilarious to his target audience but which leave most other readers, (meaning me), out in the cold. I recognized the jokes. I just didn't get them.
He also includes more than a little political commentary as the years pass. Again, I'm sure this was very topical and absolutely hilarious in 1974, and I'd love to hear what modern political historians think of Davies's efforts, but it didn't do a whole lot for me.
The collection is certainly worth reading, though. Davies's writing is a delight, and some of the stories are great. My favourites were "Revelation From A Smoky Fire," in which Davies encounters his first Massey ghost, and "The Xerox in the Lost Room," about a Poor Relation who becomes the Family Ghost. But nothing really leaped out at me; nothing demanded that I keep the collection around just so I could read it again someday. I've passed it along to someone else, who I hope will enjoy it as much as I did.
Davies's prose is, as
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always, addictive. The man's got a real feel for language, and I dearly wish I could have heard him read any one of these stories aloud. As Davies says in his introduction, the tales were meant to be heard, not read, and the writing reflects this.Many of the pieces are heavily informed by classic ghost stories. Davies makes good use of his source material; the reader can see where he's coming from, yet the author's own voice is always present. I loved how he wrote himself into each story, too; it made it a lot more personal, and left plenty of room for his characteristic humor to shine on through. There's a lot of parody here, with self-parody at the heart of it. Despite the source material, Davies isn't really trying for horror here. It's humor all the way.
The trouble is, a lot of it is insider humor. Davies keeps it to a minimum in the earlier stories, delivering a good tale that just so happens to contain several jokes aimed at friends and colleagues. But as the years pass, he leans more and more heavily on characters and situations that I don't doubt were hilarious to his target audience but which leave most other readers, (meaning me), out in the cold. I recognized the jokes. I just didn't get them.
He also includes more than a little political commentary as the years pass. Again, I'm sure this was very topical and absolutely hilarious in 1974, and I'd love to hear what modern political historians think of Davies's efforts, but it didn't do a whole lot for me.
The collection is certainly worth reading, though. Davies's writing is a delight, and some of the stories are great. My favourites were "Revelation From A Smoky Fire," in which Davies encounters his first Massey ghost, and "The Xerox in the Lost Room," about a Poor Relation who becomes the Family Ghost. But nothing really leaped out at me; nothing demanded that I keep the collection around just so I could read it again someday. I've passed it along to someone else, who I hope will enjoy it as much as I did.
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LibraryThing member lilithcat
Every story in this book is a joy. Davies spoofs himself, as, in his persona as Master of Massey College of the University of Toronto, he narrates them. It seems that there is something about Massey College that is attractive to ghosts, famous, infamous and not famous at all. "Every part of our
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great University strives for distinction of one kind or another, but it is everywhere admitted that in the regularity and variety of our ghostly visitations Massey College stands alone." Even Little Lord Fauntleroy puts in an appearance! Splendid stuff. Show Less
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
It would have been worth doing a Ph. D. at the University of Toronto in the 1960s and 70s to have been invited to the Christmas Party at Massey College. Massey College was newly built with a generous donation from the Massey Foundation when Robertson Davies was brought in as the first Master in
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1963. It is one of only three residential graduate colleges in Canada. It seems like a very convivial place to study having special dinners a couple of times a month, a Christmas dance, the aforesaid Christmas party and other opportunities to eat, drink and discuss. Yes, it is haunted, as Davies was to discover, but the ghosts are the very best kind of spirit. Several royal personages, a couple of Canadian Prime Ministers, notable scientists and dramatists--that's the calibre of haunting in Massey College. Fortunately Robertson Davies was there to chronicle every manifestation and he would entertain the gathering at the annual Christmas party with the news. Since Davies is the amanuensis there are witticisms and puns in every story. I probably didn't catch everything because I suspect some remarks were meant to be understood only by those in attendance. One I certainly did understand is contained in the story "The Pit Whence Ye Are Digged". In it all the attendees at a special dinner are thrust back in time to the year 1774 where they become their own ancestor. One person was wearing a black band on his left arm and he told his neighbour that it was in morning for the Scots poet Robert Fergusson who had died recently. He declared "The name of Fergusson will never die." which was met by a murmured comment "No, never so long as it is linked with the name of Massey." As a farm girl I was very familiar with the line of farm equipment made by the firm Massey-Fergusson! Show Less
LibraryThing member letranger
I love Davies' interplay of character, but I read these ghost stories (annual Christmas gifts to his students) to my children on a two-day train ride West. I think it did much to make them good readers.
LibraryThing member Bagpuss
Canadian author, Robertson Davies was the founding Master of Massey College, and this book is made up of short stories which he wrote to be read out at the College’s annual Christmas celebration. The book was chosen as one for my Book Club. Whilst I really didn’t think much of the book, it did
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actually make for some good discussion over dinner, so that was good! Some of the stories were clever but some where just downright bizarre. I’m sure that if I were present at each dinner I would eagerly look forward to each telling, but as a book I found them rather dull and a bit of a struggle to get through as I didn’t’ feel like picking the book up! Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
Wonderful ghost stories that are not scary in the least.
LibraryThing member mrgan
This collection of ghost stories (sort of) written for and set in the academia of the University of Toronto is well-written but ultimately rather dull stuff. These tales were meant to be read out loud by Davies to his peers at the college, and I'm sure all the inside-baseball killed there and then.
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But here and now, I can't really recommend this unless you happen to be a professor at the University of Toronto. Do you? Show Less
Awards
World Fantasy Award (Nominee — Collection / Anthology — 1984)