Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Die Gestalt der Angst
Für wen es gedacht ist
Readers who love short ghost stories, haunted houses, loyal dogs and kind-hearted washerwomen will find a whole shelf of chills and tenderness here, along with a lively, humorous voice.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Why would a man scream when the lights go out, and why would a ghost care about grammar? The Shape of Fear by Elia Wilkinson Peattie gathers thirteen ghostly tales, from frozen Lake Superior to the Kansas plains and a Philadelphia drawing room. Some haunt you with dread. Others warm you with longing. Peattie writes with humor, pity and a sharp eye for ordinary people. Begin with the title story, where a gentle drunkard named Tim O'Connor lives in terror of one thing.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A gentle drunkard fears Fear itselfFree
- 2Ice and a fairy ring lead the living
- 3Loyalty and loneliness leave marks on the plains
- 4Strange pictures and a child in the rain
- 5Houses keep a memory of wrong and want
- 6Music, onions and weaving bring the dead back
- 7A ghost of manners and what the tales share
Punkt 1 von 7
A gentle drunkard fears Fear itself
The title story introduces Tim O'Connor, a newspaper man who once wrote tender verses and was meant for the priesthood. Now he drinks, gambles and keeps company at Jim O'Malley's saloon, yet he still looks like a saint and writes clear, noble English. The woman who holds him cares for him and guards his money, and she cannot understand him.
Tim's secret is that he cannot bear the dark. He wants every electric light turned high, and he screams if he wakes in the night without one. His friends at the office tease him, but they kindly let him reach the lit corridor before they turn off the gas over his desk.
One dawn, after a night of talk with his friend Rick Dodson, Tim says that Fear has a Shape. Rick jokes at first, then asks how Tim's fear of ghosts fits his agnosticism. The story asks what a man like Tim has been running from, and it makes you wonder what each of us would see in a dark room.
That’s 1 of 7 key points.
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Questions about Die Gestalt der Angst
What is The Shape of Fear about?
It is a collection of thirteen short ghost stories by Elia Wilkinson Peattie. They range from a journalist afraid of the dark to a homesick farmer and his collie, a child's fairy games and a polite spirit with strong opinions about taste.
What is the Shape of Fear in the title story?
Tim tells his friend Rick Dodson that Fear has a Shape. He says he fears Fear itself, and his dread of darkness gives their conversation an uneasy edge.
Are the stories in The Shape of Fear all frightening?
No. Some are eerie, but others are tender or funny. Their Dear Little Ghost is warm and sad, An Astral Onion is comic and touching, and A Grammatical Ghost is a light satire on manners.
Is The Shape of Fear easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that each story is short and self-contained, so you can read one at a time. Peattie uses clear, lively language, vivid settings and quick, funny dialogue.
Where and when are the stories set?
The settings include Michigan, Kansas, Minnesota and Philadelphia, as well as the ice around Sault Ste. Marie and Echo Bay in Canada. An Icelandic storyteller in North Dakota tells a tale set in Iceland.