Episode 2 – Lost Hearts

10/05/11 • 35 min

1 Listener

A Podcast to the Curious - The M.R. James Podcast

This week we tackle Lost Hearts by M.R. James, a spine-chilling tale featuring ghostly orphans! Talking rats! Diabolical alchemy! Gore! A shower scene! (sort of).

Also in this episode:

Mike tweaks his hurgy gurdy around the house
Will says ‘Dun Dun Duuunnn!’ more than is strictly necessary
We both says ‘evocative’ more than is strictly necessary and then get really, really depressed

A big THANKS goes out to Kirsty Woodfield who brought a much-needed touch of class to the proceedings by doing an excellent job with the readings.

Show notes:

This week we tackle Lost Hearts by M.R. James, a spine-chilling tale featuring ghostly orphans! Talking rats! Diabolical alchemy! Gore! A shower scene! (sort of).

Also in this episode:

Mike tweaks his hurgy gurdy around the house
Will says ‘Dun Dun Duuunnn!’ more than is strictly necessary
We both says ‘evocative’ more than is strictly necessary and then get really, really depressed

A big THANKS goes out to Kirsty Woodfield who brought a much-needed touch of class to the proceedings by doing an excellent job with the readings.

Show notes:

Previous Episode

Episode 1 – Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook

1 Recommendations

In Episode 1 your hosts Will Ross and Mike Taylor discuss M.R. James’s first published ghost story, Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook, in which crocodiles are purloined, religious pimping staffs brandished, sinister tomes examined and unholy terrors unleashed on an unsuspecting scholar in the darkest depths of rural France.

Also in this episode: Mike grumbles bitterly about carnival folk while Will insults Bury St. Edmonds before whipping out his Testament of Soloman and scrawling a cock and balls in the margin.

Show notes & links:

Next Episode

Episode 3 – The Mezzotint

1 Recommendations

Episode 3 sees us tackle ‘The Mezzotint’ by M.R. James and delve into the world of sinister collectable artwork of a kind not often featured on the Antiques Roadshow.

In this episode:

Terror!
Art!
Golf!
Alternative endings!
How NOT to choose a babysitter!
Mike gets all sentimental about his university days.
Will moans a lot and bellows “In your FACE Cambridge!”

Many thanks to our excellent reader Rob Douglas and to Stephen Gray of Thin-Ghost.org for providing the monstrous mezzotint photo above. Links:

Hauntography: The Mezzotint
Read the excellent commentary on ‘The Mezzotint’ by Tom at Freaky Trigger, including an interesting mezzotint-as-comic-strip interpretation.
Art in Horror Fiction
Interesting exploration of how art has been used as a plot device in horror fiction.
Golf as a Metaphor in the Ghost Stories of M.R. James
An extended essay looking at the role golf plays in various M.R. James stories, namely ‘Oh Whistle...’, ‘The Mezzotint’ and ‘The Rose Garden’.
Topographical Drawings at the British Library
The British Library contains a large collection of topographical drawings of the kind Mr. Williams curated.
Canterbury College, Oxford
James refers to the setting as ‘Canterbury College’, which existed up until the disillusion of the monasteries in the 16th Century but not at the time this story is set.
Annesley Hall, Nottinghamshire
Anningley Hall in Essex is not a real place. However there is an Annesley Hall in Nottinghamshire, built in the 13th Century and with a fairly spooky past of its own!